Previously, I explained how to cut the cover boards and spine piece, how to cut the decorative paper and book cloth, and how to assemble the case for a photo album.

In this section, I’ll explain how to case in the album block. This is the last step!

Rather than stopping to take pictures every few minutes while I was dealing with fast-drying glue and trying to hold the book in position at the same time, I decided to create a video tutorial.

Once the block is cased in, leave the book at least 8 hours or overnight with the blotter paper between the pasted-down page and the rest of the book block.

Here are some parting tips:

If you’re making several books at the same time, do each step for all the books in order: first cut all of the spine pieces and cover boards and sand them; next cut all of the decorative paper and book cloth; next glue the spine pieces to the book cloth; and so on. You can do all of the cutting one evening, glue all the cases together one evening, and case in the text blocks one evening. Once you’re organized to perform a certain task, it’s as easy to do it for five books as one.

I usually make my albums the same way each time, and I have the measurements written down for the book cloth and decorative paper. I buy book cloth by the yard, and cut the width I need from the entire width of the book cloth, rather than cutting one book’s worth at a time. Since I use certain colors frequently, this saves a lot of prep time. I do the same thing for decorative paper if it’s a pattern I use often, or if I’m getting near the end of a sheet.

I order book blocks in sets of five. When they arrive, I cut cover boards and spine pieces for all of the books and store them with the the book blocks. If I need a quick gift I can choose paper and book cloth from my stash and put together a customized gift quickly: I make the case one evening, case in the text block the next morning before leaving for work, and the book is ready to be wrapped when I get home.

I save the scraps from the decorative papers and use them to make cards, gift tags and bookmarks. But that’s a story for another post.