So, you want to try out book folding –
where do you start? Apart from a book you will need a pattern and there are
many available for you to choose from. There are two main types of patterns,
the mark and measure method or a template style.
Mark and Measure Patterns
These are the most common type of book
folding pattern. A mark and measure patterns simply gives you a list of
measurements. There will be 2 measurements for each sheet, one for the upper
fold and one for the lower fold. You start by using a ruler to make a pencil mark
on the page for each of these folds. Once you have gone through the book
marking each page, you then go back to the beginning and start making your
folds.
The reason that mark and measure patterns
are so wide spread is that there is a computer software package that you can
buy that which calculates all the measurements for you and many small
businesses have bought into this software.
One major drawback to these patterns is
that they are not flexible to the height of your book. All the measurements are
based on measuring down from the top of your book. In most cases the patterns
say that it is suitable for a book 21 cms tall, so if your book is 18 cms or maybe
25 cms then the final design will probably not be aligned where you would like
it to be.
Template Style Patterns
These patterns are a more visual form of
the pattern you are about to fold. You have a column for each sheet of your
book with an upper and lower line showing where the folds need to be made. With
a template pattern you simply line up column 1 with your first page and then
make the folds. Then move on to column 2 and your second page and repeat.
What I love about these patterns is that
you can start folding straight away without having to make all those
measurements (I know I’m impatient, but don’t we all want to see our design
appearing as quickly as possible?).
A key advantage of this type of pattern, is
that you choose where to position the design vertically (height wise) in your
book. This means that the pattern can be adapted to the height of your book.
You could even enlarge or reduce the pattern with a photocopier to make it fit
a different size book.
As you can probably guess, all the patterns
I produce are template style. I used to produce these by hand, but my husband
has created a personalised program which does all the hard work, allowing me to
concentrate on ‘tweaking’ the detail in the design.
Why not try both types of pattern and let
me know which you prefer.
