Spine-Gluing Adventures

Here's a technique you might want to try when binding books with FlexBond:

All the necessary supplies: block-in-press, brush,
glue with applicator, pre-creased cover

After painting, glue is lumpy
and white. Don't worry!
It will dry evenly.

1. Bind the block by itself without the cover, and paint on the spine. It'll leave a nice white coat that will dry within 20 minutes. *Tip: I push the block up an eighth of an inch to avoid gluing the book block to the press.
2. While it's drying, score and fold the cover so that the spine will rest between the folds perfectly.
3. Remove the block from the press as soon as the glue is clear; otherwise it'll take part of your press with it because it's so strong! (Not a problem if you followed the Tip in Step 1.)
4. Then paint a very light coat on top of the dry spine, and hand-press it into the cover.

Drying pressed after the spine has been glued.

If you have presses to spare like press-Yoda Hamish MacDonald does, you could pop the finished book back into a press to dry. The glue tends to bubble at the top and bottom, so I wipe it gently with a napkin. The book spines on my novel didn't have any bubbles or warping this way, but I also used a double ply cover with cardstock and specialty paper.

This tester was made with standard copy paper and a single ply card stock.