Instructions: Ring Binder

• 5x sheets of design paper
• 1x book cloth
• 1x ring binder mechanism
• 1x screen printing cardboard 2 mm or grey cardboard 2 mm
• Optional: eyelets of your choice

Inside: design paper or house collection to fill the folder – tip at the end of the instructions!

• book glue
• brush for gluing
• set square with metal cutting edge (alternatively: set square and metal ruler )
• Sharp cutter
• riveting tool and a heavy hammer
• eyelet punch or Crop-A-Dile or big bite )
• Pencil
• Container for diluting book glue (e.g. jam jar)
• scrap paper
• cutting and folding board
• bone folder (ideally made of Teflon)
• cutting/crafting mat
• Dry cloth
• Damp cloth or baby wipes oil-free
• liquid glue
• A very sharp, precise pair of scissors (I recommend the Fiskars sewing scissors , they are perfect)
• If necessary, a pair of non-stick scissors (makes life much easier in this case)

(Width x height each)

Screen-printed or grey cardboard, 2 mm thick

• (2x) 19 x 16 cm
• (1x) 3 x 16 cm (two corners rounded on the long side)
• (1x) 13 x 16 cm (two corners rounded on the long side)
• (3x) 1 x 16 cm

design paper

• (1x) 22 x 19 cm (front lid)
• (2x) 18.5 x 15.5 cm (counter-pull lid and base)
• (1x) 5 x 19 cm (base plate of the mechanism)
• (1x) 16 x 19 cm (base plate with curves)
• (1x) 10 x 19 cm (decorative strip floor between the floor panels)

book cloth

• (1x) 10 x 19 cm
• (1x) 10 x 15.5 cm

cutting the cardboard

I like to use a large cutter with a blade for breaking off (always a fresh blade) or, even better, a real carpet knife with trapezoidal blades. Ideal for this: a ruler or protractor with a metal edge or made of metal. Score along the desired cutting edge, preferably several times with a little less pressure than two or three times with strong pressure. Particularly easy: you can "pre-score" with your cutting board, but the blade quickly becomes blunt. I like to use old blades for this, which no longer cut the paper completely smoothly.

material selection

You can also use cardstocks such as bubble or silk or even book linen, especially for the base plates with the curves. It is certainly easier to work the curves with these thinner materials. But I really wanted to use some pretty design papers again and if you let the paper swell well with the glue, the curves work really well here too!

gluing

Gluing is always done from the inside out.

If the entire cut piece needs to be glued to the edge, place a piece of greaseproof paper underneath and brush over the edge. Remove the greaseproof paper immediately and make sure that no glue ends up on the "nice side" of the linen or paper.

It is important, especially when covering curves or windows: The glue should not be applied to the cardboard, but to the linen or paper. This can be done quite generously, because the material should swell and stretch a little so that it fits well around the curves and edges. If you allow the material to swell well and glue it a second time if necessary, you can also cover curves excellently with design paper.

You will certainly notice that paper and linen roll up when you apply glue to one side. After a short time, it will probably lay flat again. This is the time when the linen or covering paper should be glued on.

For this project you will need to dilute the glue with about 10% water.

Tool

The project will never be better than the raw material and the tools you use. And in this case, that is especially true for the riveting tool you use to hammer in the mechanism. I have tried out a few such tools and it was usually left to chance whether the mechanism was secure and tight in the end or whether it even looked like an "accident". The riveting tool that you can get from us is the only tool I know of that can hammer in the rivets safely and without causing damage. I won't give it away and would like to strongly recommend it to you so that you end up with a successful project in your hands. From now on, you no longer have to be afraid of setting ring mechanisms!

Cut the entire material once ( Fig. 1 ), then you can start with the first step:

Place the larger piece of linen in front of you with the pretty side facing down. Use the set square to draw a thin line with a pencil at 1.5 cm at the bottom and 2 cm on the left side (Fig. 2). Glue the linen (ignoring the marked edges) and glue the three narrow cardboard pieces onto it, straight along the lines and 0.5 cm apart from each other (Fig. 3).

Now glue the protruding part of the linen at the top and bottom (Fig. 4) and allow the glue to soak in a little so that the linen can easily fold over the edge. Fold the linen neatly around the edge and press it onto the middle strip of cardboard first. From there, work your way outwards, pressing the linen into the gaps (Fig. 5) and around the remaining two pieces of cardboard.

Now take the smaller piece of linen and place it with the nice side on some greaseproof paper. Glue the entire surface (Fig. 6) and stick it to the inside of your spine. I like to start in the middle and work my way outwards, similar to the folded edge, see Fig. 7 and Fig. 8. As soon as the glue has set a little, you can rub the top and bottom edges again to ensure a nice transition. Turn the whole thing over and run the bone folder through the gaps from this side as well.

Your back is now finished, let it dry with a weight wrapped in some clean waste paper.

Next, we'll start with the folder's lid (Fig. 9). Glue the large piece of design paper ( 22 x 19 cm ) in place, leaving about one cm off the edge. As soon as the paper can be easily laid flat again (Fig. 10 and 11, if it has absorbed all of the glue, simply brush on a thin layer), glue one of the large cardboard pieces onto it roughly in the middle.

Turn the whole thing over and smooth it out by hand, or, even better: with our wide bone folder, which can be used perfectly as a squeegee thanks to its rounded edge. Make sure that the cardboard does not slip. When everything is smooth, turn the nice side down again and cut off the corners (Fig. 12).

In this case, keep a distance of 3 mm from the tip of the cardboard (the cardboard is 2 mm thick, to get a nice corner, the distance should be one and a half times the thickness of the material). Generously glue the excess paper on one long side (Fig. 13), let the paper swell a little and gently stroke the sharp edge of your Teflon bone folder along the edge from the outside, applying little pressure, so that a crease forms in the paper at the edge of the cardboard (Fig. 14).

Then fold the edge over completely (Fig. 15). The corners are now open, as in Fig. 16. Press them shut by running the bone folder along the edge (Fig. 17). Your corner should now look like in Fig. 18.

Repeat the process on the opposite long side, then glue the short sides and fold them over as well. From the front, your lid should now look like Fig. 19.

We now move on to the base plates (Fig. 20). Both of them have curves and now we need to package them nicely. Start with the large plate and pay attention to the pattern of the pattern on patterned design paper: the curves on the large plate point to the left, those on the small plate to the right.

Glue the cardboard to your design paper as you did with the lid, but leave less space on the edge with the rounded corners than on the edge with the classic corners (about 1 cm instead of 1.5 cm ). Round off the corners and cut the paper at the end of the curve until just before the cardboard (a little more than 2 mm space) (Fig. 21).

Now cut a fine notch into the tip of the curve (Fig. 22) and continue this until you reach the incisions you just made (Fig. 23).

Work very carefully here and never cut all the way to the cardboard, always keep a good 2 mm gap. Apply a generous amount of glue to the points and edges (Fig. 24), making sure that no glue gets on the front. Let the points soften a little and apply a thin layer of glue again, the paper should now be soft and easy to bend around the edge with the sharp edge of your bone folder (Fig. 25, apply very little pressure).

When the points are at a 90 degree angle on the curve, lay the piece in front of you as shown in Fig. 26 and place the points neatly around the curve without overlapping each other (Fig. 27). This step is a little fiddly, but you will surely succeed if you take your time.

Do the same with the other curve. Once you have done this, fold over the paper flap in between as well, leaving all other edges open. You can now cut off the opposite corners, but here you have to leave 6 mm of space from the corner of the cardboard instead of 3 mm (Fig. 28). You will see why later.

Now take the base of the mechanism and fold in the curves in the same way as you did with the large part. Then you can fold in both long edges. Leave the short sides open. By the way: If you want nice, sharp edges, you should smooth the edges with the flat side of your bone folder as shown in Fig. 29 - that's what it's there for! If you keep moving the tip back and forth, you may end up pressing a curve into the damp, slightly softened cardboard, which would make your end result look much less accurate.

Your small base plate should now look something like Fig. 30. Now prepare to insert the mechanism.

To do this, lay the base plate in front of you and place the mechanism on it so that the distances at the top, bottom, left and right are exactly the same. I use my set square to help me (Fig. 31). Mark the holes with a sharp pencil, take the mechanism to one side and check whether the markings are set so that the ring mechanism is really straight at the end. Grab the set square for this too. Make holes in the marked places, this works particularly well with the eyelet punch (Fig. 32).

Next we move on to the underside of the floor, to which the floor panels with the curves will be attached later. You will only see a small part of it later and this will now be covered with paper:

Take the paper provided and glue it in place. Glue it to the cardboard as shown in Fig. 33. Cut the corners 3mm from the tip of the cardboard and glue the protruding tabs in place (Fig. 34).

When they have swollen a little, fold them over like you did with the other parts (Fig. 35) and press the corners flat. It should now look like Fig. 36.

Now glue the larger of the base plates with the curves on. The curves point to the left and the cardboard on the right, top and bottom lies flush with the cardboard of the lower part (Fig. 37). Now there are 2 pieces of cardboard, each 2 mm thick, on top of each other, making a total of 4 mm. This is the reason why you cut the corners much more generously, leaving a gap of 6 mm between them and the cardboard: remember, the gap should be one and a half times the thickness of the material, and with a material thickness of 4 mm the gap is 6 mm .

Glue the flap on the right side (Fig. 38), let it swell properly and re-glue if necessary. First fold the flap up at a 90 degree angle (Fig. 39) and rub it against the edge with the long, flat side of the bone folder (Fig. 40). Then fold the flap around the edge (Fig. 41) and glue it in place. Place the corners around the edge as usual (Fig. 42) and then glue around the edge in the same way as the other two flaps.

Place the small base plate with the holes on the covered part of the floor as shown in Fig. 43, with the cardboard lying flush at the top, bottom and left. Mark the holes and punch them out as well (Fig. 44).

Now prepare the linen-covered spine of the folder: shorten the longer of the two end sides to 3 cm (Fig. 45).

Now lay the base plate in front of you so that you are looking at the attached plate with the curves. On the left, place the spine covered with linen, with the pretty side facing downwards. Keep a distance of around 4-5 mm between the cardboard that is bound into the spine and the cardboard of the base plate. Hold it firmly and now lay the base of the ring mechanism on top, just as you did when you marked the holes: on the left, top and bottom, the cardboard lies flush. The flap made of book linen now lies between the cardboard like a sandwich (Fig. 46). Use a sharp pencil to mark the holes on the book linen (Fig. 47), punch the holes in the linen and glue the flap of the linen to the cardboard as shown in Fig. 48 so that the holes lie exactly on top of each other.

In the picture you can also see the distance between the cardboard in the back and the cardboard in the base. Apply glue to the back of the base plate for the ring mechanism (Fig. 49) and stick it to the linen (Fig. 50). Apply a lot of pressure until the glue has set. Fold the tabs over and stick them to the back. Lay the part flat, weigh it down with a few books and let the whole thing dry for a while so that the parts stick together securely and flat.

Now lay everything out in front of you as usual and take the cover of the album. The pretty side is facing downwards (depending on the pattern, you have to be careful that it is not upside down at the end) and apply about 2-3 cm of glue to the inside right edge (Fig. 51). Then glue the left part of the spine onto this with the pretty side facing DOWNWARDS (Fig. 52).

Here too, the distance between the linen-covered cardboard and the edge of the cover should be around 4-5 mm . Now you glue one of the counter-pull pieces onto this: spread glue on the back (put waste paper underneath) up to the edge and stick it to the inside of the book cover (Fig. 53). To press it in place, use either the flat surface of the bone folder or our great, wide Teflon bone folder as a squeegee: This has a rounded edge that works wonderfully (Fig. 54 and 55).

Now glue the other counter-pull to the back of the base BEFORE the ring binder mechanism is attached.

With our riveting tool (Fig. 56) you can hammer in the painted rivets of the ring binder mechanisms without causing any damage.

Insert the SHORT rivets through the holes from behind, place the ring binder mechanism on top and thread the LONG pins of the rivets from above through the mechanism and the cardboard (Fig. 57).

The end pieces fit into the opening of the rivet head on the back. Press them together firmly by hand and you're ready to go:

You need a firm surface that does not bounce. The round anvil of the riveting tool has a hollow that points upwards. You place your book on it so that the bottom part of the rivet that you want to drive in is in this hollow. To ensure that everything is straight and not tilted, you can put something underneath to compensate for the height of the anvil. I used an eraser for this. The long part of the tool also has a hollow on one side; you place this on the top part of the rivet so that the tool points STRAIGHT upwards (Fig. 58).

If you are unsure, you can put a small piece of kitchen roll or something similar underneath. But if you place the tool really straight, this isn't necessary, so I skipped it here. Hit the striking surface of the riveting tool two or three times with a heavy hammer and check that it is firmly seated. Do the same on the other side. This is what it should look like in the end.

Congratulations, you did it! Your ring binder is ready.

I hope you enjoy reworking it :)

From us to you ⭐

Silke