Video summary
The creator documents the intricate process of producing a special edition hardcover version of her book, focusing on three distinct finishing techniques: sprayed purple edges, metallic foil application using heat transfer vinyl (HTV), and wrapping with real book cloth. Initially excited about the new sparkly foil material which avoided previous flaking issues, she soon realized that the edge finish required multiple layers for perfection. A significant portion of her journey involved selecting the appropriate book cloth; while one option had a coating too plasticky to accept HTV designs properly, another type with less shine proved more suitable despite still requiring careful handling. She meticulously covered both books in cloth and allowed them to dry overnight before attempting further steps, emphasizing that rushing this process often leads to poor results like glue failure or damage during folding.
The application of the metallic foil design presented substantial challenges due to inconsistent adhesion between the vinyl and the book cover. The creator struggled with peeling back the protective plastic layer; sometimes it came off cleanly only for parts of the foil to remain stuck, while at other times previously adhered sections would suddenly detach upon cooling or re-peeling. She experimented with different iron temperatures, discovering that following online tutorials suggesting higher heat settings caused the vinyl to crinkle and distort rather than adhere smoothly. Although she followed instructions regarding wait times between heating cycles and used parchment paper correctly this time, some areas still showed glue bleeding through where the adhesive spread beyond the intended design boundaries. Ultimately, she found that while traditional irons were difficult for achieving consistent coverage on metallic HTV, a Cricut heat press would likely have resolved these issues more effectively, though she chose not to invest in one given her specific circumstances.
Beyond technical difficulties with materials and tools, the project was deeply affected by significant personal hardships occurring simultaneously, including marital separation, divorce proceedings, selling their home, and multiple family health crises. These interruptions caused a loss of momentum, leading her to forget tips learned during earlier attempts each time she returned to work on the books after weeks apart. Consequently, while she successfully completed four special edition copies with sprayed edges in two variations (purple and silver) and applied HTV designs despite imperfections, the final aesthetic did not meet her high standards for a gift-worthy item or something suitable for sale due to international shipping costs from Australia making them prohibitively expensive at around fifty dollars each. Despite the frustration regarding the imperfect finish of the foil sections and the difficulty in fitting end pages without removing the text block first, she views the experience as valuable learning that has given her greater admiration for professional bookbinders who achieve such flawless results on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
Read the full video transcript
so I've now got two versions of my hard
cover one with sprayed purple edges and
the other one with the foil metallic
finish which um I'm really liking like
this this new foil I got is sort of
sparkly I think I could oh in fact now
that I've unwrapped it and I'm looking
at the details I'm like oh the edges
could be a bit better so um I might do
another layer of foil on this but
definitely don't have the same like
flaking and peeling issue I had before
the pages came apart so easily you can
see like when I flick the pages part you
can see little bits coming off but it's
like sort of glitter showering around
but the um overall effect still looks
really good so now I want to cover this
pretend cloth with actual real book
cloth I have two types of cloth that I
bought the first one is this um Buck
which I bought because that seemed to be
the most common thing so so I assumed it
was good the problem is now that I see
it in person it's like got some sort of
coating so I don't think the design I
want to apply to it is going to work
because I'm going to use heat transfer
vinyl for the foil design so I don't
think that'll stick to this the other
problem is that it's not tall enough so
technically it is taller than the book
but there isn't enough excess for it to
fold around the edges properly so we're
not going to use this one the other one
I've got is um I'm not actually sure
what type of cloth this is I just
checked my order and it was called CC
not sure what that means but I'll put
the details like in the description or
on the screen um this you can still you
can see there's still some coating cuz
there's still a bit of a shine but it's
definitely less like it feels less
plasticky than the other ones so I'm
hoping this one will work a little bit
better with the heat transfer vinyl the
other thing is this is obviously a lot
bigger so it's going to wrap a lot
better so
let's cover some books using
[Music]
this so I've CED the outside of both
books in book cloth I'm going to let
them sit overnight like weighed down by
some heavier books because I think it's
just good to let them sit for a bit and
I'd like that um to be really really
like I'd like the glue to be dry for it
to be really stuck before I try folding
and potentially um doing damage and
there are other things I've rushed in
this process and the result hasn't been
great so let's stop
[Music]
rushing so remember all of that time I
spent trying to figure out illustrator
and the Cricut software and couldn't get
anywhere so I probably
spent I'm going to say between 8 and 10
hours all up trying to figure it out
then my husband who has a graphic design
background also spent probably more time
than me actually cuz he was reformatting
the original design and neither of us
could get it to work so I ended up
Outsourcing to a freelancer and upw work
I paid $30 and it was sort of Within a
day so I think um there is a lot of
Merit in persevering to learn new skills
but there are certain things where it's
like just find someone who knows how to
do it so now I have a design that works
and we're going to print it out on the
Cricut and start applying it to the
cover of the
[Music]
book
[Music]
so printed that out in the cricket this
morning just peeled it back or weeded it
to use the industry terminology and now
I'm trying to apply it to the cover of
the book so it's heat transfer vinyl So
in theory I should be able to iron it on
the package of the vinyl didn't have
instructions but online people say they
usually use the wool setting on the iron
which is what I'm using but um the
plastic is not peeling back very well so
I'm going to Google for some help I
don't know if I just need to wait for it
to cool and then peel the plastic back
or what but like I just tried to peel
back the corner and it was coming back
Really cleanly which was good but there
was a little bit on the border that
where the foil was still attached to the
plastic instead of the book so I put it
down ironed it some more and then when I
tried to peel it back again the corner
that previously came off cleanly did not
like it was sticking to the plastic
instead so maybe the Heat's too high
but yeah I don't know such a shame cuz
it looks so good I just want it to
attach to the book okay we have an
update I just looked at the instructions
online apparently for the metal um vinyl
which is what I'm using I'm supposed to
have the heat between cotton and linen
so much hotter than I had it and then I
need to let it cool down before I peel
the plastic off so I'm going to run the
iron over it again and fingers crossed
it peels
okay
okay so it's peeling and the foil is
stuck to the cover there is a little bit
in the Middle where it wasn't adhering
very well so I'm going to go over that
with the iron again um I can see that
the plastic shifted at some point when I
was ironing possibly between when like
the first round I did which was at the
wall setting and then when I went back
again with the cotton and linen one
because um you can see in the corner
that like you've sort of got the DNA
design and then you can see the glue of
the DNA design where it was previously
sitting I'm going to try and get the
middle bit to stick a bit better but I
don't think there's anything I can do
about the bit where the glue is showing
I might Google a little bit this isn't
going to be perfect but I think like now
that I know the instructions now that I
know the heat I should use and now that
I know I need to wait for it to cool
before trying to peel I think the rest
of it should be better so I'm going to
iron and finish peeling this and then
I'll do the back and spine and see how
it all
[Music]
looks so just in case you can't tell the
peeling isn't going well or there are
some bits that are coming off really
cleanly but I noticed when I ironed the
plastic started crinkling so it was
really clear there were some bits where
the metal or foil was still attached to
the plastic instead of the book so um I
waited for it to cool and tried peeling
to see what would happen and of course
those bits aren't sticking so now I'm
like re ironing those bits to help them
stick
but I
am am not feeling good about this one so
I did do the correct Heat this time I
covered it in some uh baking paper or
parchment paper which you're meant to do
which I didn't do last time but
um the official website so keep the iron
on it for 5 to 10 seconds whereas a
YouTube tutorial I looked at said keep
it on for like 25 seconds and I kept onp
the 25 seconds which I think I should
have done the 5 to 10 because I then
found a YouTube tutorial from the
company that does the vinyl and they
said you can overpress it and I think
that's why everything's crinkling
so not
good
[Music]
so I think the moral of this story is
yet again don't go straight to the final
book you want to cover like do some test
ones first which um I've only really
done with the page edges and probably
could have done more with the edges
because um by the time I switched
materials I was fairly confident and
that confidence was unfounded so here um
I haven't done book cloth on any other
books but yeah I could have recovered
other books and tried doing this process
before doing it on my own so at this
point I'm not sure what to do because I
can't this was the highest risk part of
the process I'm realizing in hindsight
cuz I can't just stand this back cuz if
I stand this back I'm going to get the
book cloth as well so it would mean I'd
need to recover the book again and try
this again and potentially have the same
thing happen so I'm not sure it's one of
those things where it look okay from a
distance but as soon as you look close
it's going to be a bit of a mess so it
has been a week week and a half and um I
went to Google and read it to figure out
what to do with this ironon vinyl and
someone suggested a crepe eraser which
you can get at like artist supply stores
don't actually know what it is but um it
is helping peel the vinyl off the book
which is really good it means I don't
need to recover it and basically start
again so that's good what's bad is that
I also did a lot of research on how to
prevent the problems I had with the glue
bleeding and the vinyl dissolving and
basically everything that made it looked
not so great so I did all of that
research and attempted book two and then
book two ended up with a lot of the same
problems so at least I know I can take
it off if I need to if it doesn't work
but I just really like my book to look
nice is that too much to
[Music]
ask so we're almost there I've got my
rebound book um the vinyl has all been
applied I patched the areas that didn't
turn out so well which still aren't
perfect but they're looking a bit better
I do need to redo the spine because it's
um really hard to get that on straight
when it's still attached to the book and
then the the final thing I need to do is
the end pages so the paper that goes on
the inside of the cover now I actually
got some card back at the beginning of
this process and cut it to size back
then so I have all of these like pinkish
red end pages and I went to put them
into the book and none of them fit I've
cut them all too small and this is one
of the challenges of trying to do this
process while the cover is still on the
book because most of the tutorials you
look at like they take the pages out and
then they build a separate cover from
scratch and when your pages are separate
from the book it's very easy to measure
how big the pages are you cut this to
the same size and you attach it to the
text block and then attach the full text
block to the cover the challenge with
doing it while the cover is still
attached is that there's like a lack of
flexibility here so it's impossible to
get the end Pages all the way up to this
bit at the end where the pages are glued
in so you're sort of guessing what size
it is and I did go in and measure but I
think because I've been manipulating
these books so much through this process
the covers are a lot more flexible now
they're opening a lot more which means
when I first tried and the end Pages
like went in a little bit now they go in
a lot more so yeah there's a gap between
where the end Pages end and where the
normal Pages end so that's a very long
way of saying that I need to cut them
again and hopefully do it the right size
this
[Music]
time I'm finally done so as you might be
able to tell from the hair it has been a
while I actually started this process at
the end of May I think and had wanted to
finish the books towards the end of June
so it would follow the launch of
powerless and maybe create a little bit
of Buzz and um unfortunately that didn't
happen it's now February uh 2023 did end
up being a really challenging year um I
ended up separating from my husband and
we're about to get divorced had to sell
our place and about to get the keys from
my new place which is exciting multiple
family members in hospital um there was
just including me actually but so
multiple family members in hospital uh
death of the family legal issues with um
previous death in the family it's been a
lot so because of that this video and
the books did take longer than expected
but I do have my special edition
versions now I ended up doing four so
I've got two with the sprayed purple
edges and two with the silver edges and
thought I'd just wrap up with some
learnings and thoughts so for the edges
the main difference was having the right
material so as soon as I switched to the
we are memory makers foil quill doing
the shiny edges was so much easier for
the sprayed edges it is definitely a FAS
process cuz you go and you're done it is
a little bit hard to get full coverage
because if you're covering up the cover
with wrapping paper or baking paper that
tends to you know balloon out like over
um the edge of the book it isn't exactly
flat so that means it can cover the
Pages at the very front and end of the
book and it's harder to get them sprayed
in hindsight because I didn't do the
book cloth until afterwards I realized I
didn't need to cover it at all like I
could have just left my naked book and
sprayed it cuz it doesn't matter if I
get spray paint on the cover cuz I'm
covering it so if I were to do this
again I would spray it that way but I do
think that the shiny foil looks quite
good so now that I've found a brand
that's reliable I would use that again
if I was doing it in future for the
cover the book cloth was actually the
easiest part which I was worried about
because obviously I didn't remove the
cover from the book itself so I was
wrapping around the book but um yeah it
was still very straightforward so that
was a pleasant surprise the most
challenging piece was doing this ironon
vinyl design I didn't capture all of the
frustration on video mainly because my
marriage was falling apart but I found
it really difficult to get consistent
coverage some parts would adhere really
well and then other would just stay
stuck to the plastic so when I peeled
the plastic off would stretch because
the plastic was pulling on it so it
would stretch and I'd hold it down to
get it off the plastic and re iron it
but then sometimes it was a bit
distorted um there are times when the
glue bleeds beyond the vinyl as well so
it doesn't look as clean as it could
have I don't know I thought after the
edges that was everything was going to
be easy so I got surprised that that
part was even more difficult and I did
reach out to that's my bookshelf on
Instagram to ask how she does it so well
and she said she had a lot of trouble
with the traditional iron and it wasn't
until she got the Cricut heat press that
things started to go smoothly given that
this was like a one-time thing I'm not
going I've already invested in a Cricut
Machine I'm not going to invest in the
heat press as well but um I think it's
just another example of having the right
materials and the right tools does make
things a lot easier I don't know I do
feel a bit mixed about this experience
mainly because of the personal things it
coincided with I um did really want to
create something beautiful and not to
sell because I don't think they'd be the
demand I'm too small of an author and
the cost of these would have been too
much as well like the cost of these
materials not even including my time I
probably would have had to sell the
books for $50 each and then if people
are ordering internationally postage
from Australia is so expensive so
financially it was never going to be
like a special edition that I would sell
but I thought it would be really nice to
have these special versions to give us
gifts to people like my cover designer I
will actually probably send him one of
these but for my cover designer um for
my parents um you know for my brother
who read the book which surprised me and
apparently liked it but you know for the
special people in my life I thought I
could give them a special version of the
book unfortunately while these don't
look bad on film in real life they they
don't look great they don't look
terrible I mean it's still a book you
can read but it isn't it isn't good
enough to sell and it isn't good enough
that I want to give it as a a gift to
someone so yeah I had my little
experiment and maybe if the whole
marriage thing hadn't happened then I
would have been more hyperfixated on
this for longer and I would have been
able to up my skill level in that first
month or so of really focusing on this
but because I did have the interruption
like every time I went back to try and
finish them I found that I'd forgotten
some of the tips and tricks that I
learned last time so I just never really
progressed beyond the beginner level
sorry that's a bit of a Down at finish
this video on I suppose the upside is I
did actually finish the books I do have
you know four of these books they look
nice on video even if maybe they don't
look as nice um on in real life so all
in all it was a fun little experiment
but having done this I now have yeah so
much more admiration for all of the
people doing this on Instagram and Tik
Tok and just I know how much skill it
takes and I admire them a lot so that is
all from me for this Saga if you have
ever tried doing your own book binding
or if you're an author and have tried
creating your own special edition I
would love to hear how you went in the
comments and maybe you have some tips
for what I was doing wrong and who knows
maybe on my next book I'll feel more
motivated to try again anyway I hope
you're having great day evening whenever
it is wherever you are and I will see
you next time
bye