Wednesday 20th October

Today I laser cut my publication with the help of the team at Cut By Beam. Yesturday I printed a couple copies of the pages I was to laser cut today. I managed to finish all the making of my book in time for the exhibition of our publications tomorrow. I cut and glued the book today so that its dry for tomorrow. I cut the pages and cover down using the electric guillotine we have access to on campus.

I used the sheet of wood under the paper so as to stop the burn marks being so bad on the back of the paper. The laser had three setting that needed to be checked; the speed it cut at, the distance is was from the paper, and the power of the laser. For the ticker paper of my book cover I had to turn the speed down a bit so it fully cut through the paper.

This evening I binded my book using the basic resources I had at home. I used a small stiff brush to lightly spread the PVA glue down the spine of my pages. I held them pressed tightly together with a stack of heavy books and a couple paper clasps as shown in the photo.

I measured where the spine of my cover would be and folded it to the thickness of my publication. After the two coats of glue on the spine of the pages had dried, I glued the cover onto the spine. This was my first time perfect binding a book. I then left it pressed under the pile of books for the night to be sure the PVA glue had properly dried.