BOOKBINDING
“After printing, it's not scary anymore. There won't be fatal mistakes. You can relax now”, Nakagawa-san said to me.
I arrived at Neutral Colors at 10 am to fold 252 pages.
When I began to fold the papers, Katoh-san asked, “Is everything alright?”
“Yes! Everything's good!” Then, he walked back to the editing room on the opposite side of the wall.
A few minutes later, Katoh-san appeared again, “Are you folding with your hands? There's a folding machine...”
“Um... Nakagawa-san told me to fold like this...” Katoh-san disappeared behind the wall again. (The fingertip of my thumb began to hurt... I still have around 210 pages.)
Later, Katoh-san searched for something on the risograph printer next to me, “You can use this” and handed a bone folder to me.
Later on, I learned that the way we printed, every sheet of paper had a different misalignment, so it was better to fold by hand.
A mundane task. I put my earphones on and listened to a podcast about rice fermentation. The printed images triggered a wave of emotions. I could no longer absorb information, so I took my earphones out, folded quietly to face my feelings directly. No matter how incapable I am, these experiences and their words have supported me this far. I don't know why I couldn't hold back my tears.
From 10am to 4pm, non stop folding.
One A3 page consists of 8 pages, and two of them make a 16-page section.
In total, the book consists of fourteen 16-page sections.
The pages were cut manually first with a cutter knife along the bleeds. Then, we used the cutting machine for accurate alignments.
Bookbinding begins!
Poking holes. Four per section, 64 holes for one copy.
Sticking the cover onto the first page.
This book is already relatively thick, so a thinner thread is used. Although thick ones are harder to break.
For one copy, two 130cm threads are needed. Put wax on it to avoid tangles, although it still tangles.
While sewing the book, it's better to press the pages strongly and tighten the thread constantly. Use a weight to prevent pages from misalignment.
My first book!!! (I had to take all the thread out and rebind since it was too loose…)
A presser was used for the second book.