Book Binding Secrets: Sourcing Short Grain Papers for Signatures
The number one essential for any book binding project is quality, book binding paper – short grain paper, to be exact. Over the years, as a graphic designer and a book binder, I’ve worked with quite a few papers. Today, I’m going to share the papers I have used in my shop.
When I started my Etsy shop selling printed papers, I used papers I had found at Dollar Tree. Yes, you read that correctly, I was using a short grain, drawing paper pad I had sourced while starting my book binding journey. It was easy to find, affordable, and short grained. And for anyone who has made books for any length of time, you know it’s hard to find 9” x 12” short grained paper. I would buy as many pads as I needed, then, I would head next door to the Office Max, and have them trim the pads to 8.5” x 11”. Afterwards, I would head home, load up the printer and get to work.
Everything was going fine, until March 2020. We all know what happened then . . . Fortunately for me, due to everyone being home-bound, business increased. However, I wasn’t able to get the paper I needed to print in-person. So, I ordered a whole box online and waited and waited and waited. My order never came. They canceled it, due to the high volume of orders received. By this time, I was in trouble. I had run through my stash and I had orders left to be fulfilled.
Like any good graphic designer, I started sourcing new papers immediately. I needed a source that could be delivered to my home, in a short period of time, and with a similar cost to the papers I was selling. That’s when I found the papers most of my customers have grown to love. The medium weight, drawing paper, originally sold in 70 lb. but later, in 60 lb. weight. Last year, I added the 70 lb, 11”x 17” drawing paper, to round out the offerings.
Like most papers, the prices have doubled since I began buying them in 2020. Below, you will find links to those papers and a few tips about each.
My Shop Paper Lineup:
9” x 12” 60 lb. Drawing Paper - This paper is LONG Grained. It was used to print the 8.5” x 6” signatures, two up per sheet. The paper was trimmed to 8.5” wide to fit a standard printer and then trimmed in half horizontally after printing.*
18” x 24” 60 lb. Drawing Paper - (Link is for 70lb weight, 60 lb is not currently in stock on Amazon.) This paper is LONG Grained. it was trimmed to provide short grain, 9” x 12” blank sheets & 8.5” x 12” printed signature sheets. (I’ll show you how, in a follow up post.) *
12” x 18” 60 lb. Drawing Paper - This paper is SHORT Grained. It was sold as is and also trimmed to 11” x 17” to make printed signatures. *
11” x 17” 70 lb. Text Paper - This paper is SHORT Grained. It was sold in both blank and printed sheets.
All the papers above, minus the last one, is sourced from Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
The 11 x 17 paper can also be found at Office Max/Depot. However, I found that it was not always packaged properly & arrived damaged more than once.
Next time, I’ll share some “paper math” about utilizing long grain paper for short grain sheets. And I’ll share some other sources I’ve found for book binding papers.
Happy Book Binding!
(* All the drawing papers can also be sourced at School Specialty. I have not purchased from them.)
10 comments
The 4th link for 11” x 17” 70 lb. Text Paper" leads to 11” x 17” 24 lb. Paper (same as copier paper?). Is this correct?
Great question Lesley!
With traditional machine manufacturing of paper, the fibers of the paper run along one side or grain of the paper. Why is that important? The paper will fold neatly, sharply and smoothly if you are folding in the direction of the grain. Also, when applying glue to the paper, if it is folded in the opposite direction of the grain, it can roll and warp.
If a paper is long grained, that means whatever the longest dimension of the paper is, the fibers are running in that direction. If the paper is short grained, the fibers are running along the shortest dimension of the paper sheet. So if you have a 9” x 12” sheet of paper that is long grained, the grain is running along the 12” side. If you are using the paper to make books and you want your signatures to lay flat and the book to glue smoothly without warping, your folds need to run along the 12” length of the paper. Therefore, the paper would need to fold in half, vertically.
I will make a follow up post that will explain this more, with visuals that will help.
Thanks Valerie! The links have been updated.
Please explain the difference between long & short grain. Thank you.
Thanks, Nicole, for sharing this potentially helpful information, but… your first 3 links give a “Page Not Found” message, so we can’t see what the papers are…