Dec.6

I've got a lot done this week but haven't found the time to post anything. After getting feedback from Don the week before last, I decided to add space at the top and bottom for the type. That fixed the problems I had with readability and consistency, when I had the type on the illustrations. Each page was different, so it was difficult.

I made an appointment at the Digital Output Centre and spent three hours preparing the files for printing. The problem was that I had images from Illustrator in my inDesign files. They were making my files really big and Carlos said that they might not even print. So we flattened the files and it worked. I chose to print the cover in an enhanced matte paper, which was very smooth and lovely. I printed my spreads in the least glossy paper they had, but they were still coated. I just wanted to try it out and see how it looked. Unfortunately, my search for an uncoated (and maybe slightly textured) paper hasn't worked out very well.

I talked to Don again on Thursday and there were a few things I needed to change. I decided to still bind my book with what I had (coated paper and all). So that's what I did today.

I'm binding it with a hard cover. First I stitched my pages together. I taught myself how to do this online. I just went to Wikipedia and found a link at the bottom that said "How to make a simple hard cover book." Then I took Book Media over the summer, so I've had enough practice that I felt comfortable doing this myself. This is the fun part! I'm not going to let someone else bind my book.

I created the cover. I wanted to use a soft, velvety grey paper that I found at Opus a few months ago. I already owned some dark grey fabric for book covers, so I used that on the spine, then covered it with the fuzzy paper. The book jacket is going over top of it, though.