DIY Bookbinding MAKE: PROJECTS Introduction Magazines aren't really built to last, and in the rush to digital delivery, some folks might argue that they're all but obsolete anyway. But for makers who work with their hands and bibliophiles who still appreciate the physical artifact of the written word, there will always be something special about print. If you're one of these stubborn Luddites, you might just want your library of magazines to last. You might even want your digital content (even this very document) to take on new life as an aesthetic object that survives as a dead-tree edition. When you've completed this 32-page project (when printed double- sided, it's an even signature), you'll have a durable, attractive hardcover copy of this booklet (or your favorite magazine, in the event that the two are not one and the same) that will last forever and lie flat, allowing future generations to carry on the craft and tradition of preserving bona-fide pieces of printed matter. Most thick magazines or paperback books (such as MAKE, used as an example in this project) are perfect bound: individual leaves (a leaf represents two pages, front and back, on one sheet of paper--just like what you'll have if you print this article on 8½" x 11" paper) are collected and glued directly to the spine, where the front and back cover (a single continuous wrapped sheet) meet. Shorter magazines are often saddle-stitch bound (longer sheets, representing two leaves each, are folded and stapled at their spine), which actually cuts out a number of steps for hand binding. If you've decided to bind a saddle-stitched magazine (or several into a single book), you've saved yourself a lot of trouble and can skip ahead to stitching the signatures on page 9.