Thank you for this video on how to unbind books. The way so many books are coming out on smooth paper now, I feel that I am going to have to take a lot of pages out to treat them with gesso, so that I can add some tooth to them..
In 2015, everyone was running to Staples and getting the binding removed and replaced with spiral. Of course, some of them lost a lot of the picture on the left side, not to mention you're dreaded double pages. I have always taken the pages out, ripping carefully, scanning them, then putting them back, so I can recolor in different colors if I want to. Also, I never have to worry about bleed through. I just got a newly released book from Dover on Unicorns. The unicorns are beautifully done, but too much space to fill in. I scanned the pages and printed them out 5x7, just the right size for me to color. Some have pulled the whole book apart and put it in photo sleeves in binders. (Oh, I paused it to write this and found that is what you have done...haha I have always kept my finished product this way, in binders. I have had to problems with fading or anything. I read in tips for recycling and neatening up your home, that when a magazine comes in, you flip through it and pull out the articles you really want to read and recycle the rest of the mag. I do all my mags this way. I have become pretty expert with it, but I start at the top not the bottom. I very seldom in the mags and coloring books have a problem with tearing into the page, and they come right out very neatly. I never thought of pulling the back off like you did! With a think magazine, I find that several pages at a time work best, and then I use scissors to trim the backing down to pages. Aaaaaaaaaaaand, you just did that! haha Nope, not boring at all! I was hooked at the title! There. At 17:55, that is way I do all my pages! One last thing, some people use a box cutter and cut along the glued part, as well. "Hey, mom! Cat-in-box! Sleeping!"
All true! the only reason i dont cut the back is that i dont want to risk cutting the page. and i want to be able to use the cover like a folder and put it back in the bookshelf till I can color the pages.
again very helpful video! I don't do coloring but with some sketchbooks you have a biding I want to get rid of. this video really helped me, thank you!
+Melissa Justice ugh! That totally sucks! I have been doing this with some books but with others it totally took more tries to get the order right. Let me know if you have any questions or there is a book you want to me try on.
Yep! this is one way to do this! there are other ways people use knives or heat guns but i like this way because its easy to do and relatively safe and fast.
+Rozalyn Leslie for me I do find it easier. I use a regular clipboard with some pages underneath for smaller books and an artist clipboard for larger pages. It's easier for me personally. If you want to try it to see if it will be easier for you I recommend starting with something that is less expensive or not a favorite book.
I may do this with books that I have duplicates of so I can do some heavy watercolor on it without getting all over the book lol! Great video! **Also DEAD that you linked my instagram!!**
I remove the front cover and spine like you did but then flip it over and remove the back cover as well. Now the "guts" of the book is exposed, as is that strip of glue. Instead of tearing sections out of the glue strip, I just remove the strip of glue! I don't think I've had a page tear yet, although I don't do this to all my books. If you did it this way, it would also help with the sewn binding as there's no need to cut the stitching first. It's much easier to cut the stitching with it out of the glue. You might have to sit and kinda pick at the glue strip for awhile to get it started but after that, it comes off fairly easy. Just take it nice and slow. Anyway, that's how I do it. Cool idea for a video!
Thanks for your hard work. My books seem to fall apart on their own, so I don't have to go through all this. :) I travel a lot and they get a lot of wear.
if you remove the entire cover then line a metal ruler up about one or two mm from The Binding and slowly and carefully cut through one or two pages with an exacto knife all your pages come out really nice with no tearing or creasing
I have sworn that some day I need to make a video on how to remove a page before I flip out on Amazon when someone says they can't take the page out of the book because it's not perforated (or preforated) :). If there's enough room, I have no trouble with a good ruler and a razor blade, or a sharp utility knife or X-acto knife. I think that a decent seam ripper would help with cutting those threads. Or maybe you could slip a bit of cardstock under the thread and carefully cut it with a razor blade...I am looking at my book now. I have intended to undo one by nuking it (it has double page spreads) but haven't tried it. I believe I saw some instructions somewhere. I have 2 copies in case I screw it up, lol. It's Escape to Wonderland and I see it has threads so wish me luck!
wow thats a risk. By the way power bricks for computers and stuff sometimes get really hot. I dont know if that will work but thats an idea. I use my laptop brick to keep my feet warm in the winter. It sort of sucks that one i got last year has better power efficiency than the one i had from 6 years ago! LOL Good luck regardless what method you use let me know!
I have microwaved cards so I think I can do the book without hurting it. Whether it will work on the binding, I don't know. You just don't heat paper very long. OTOH, I had't thought ahead as to what I was going to do with those double pages if I ever finished one anyway. Sew the darned book back together? Unlikely.
Okay, I am not sure that I would recommend using Escape to Wonderland. It is very tight, has a lot of glue and I feel like the center is going to be damaged when I get the threads snipped. Just FYI. OTOH, Botanic Wonderland fell apart on its own.
Thanks, but it's okay. I have the extra copy of Escape to Wonderland and I was messing around with gesso in Botanical Wonderland but there's obviously a big difference in how they're bound. Of course you have a string right across a mouse if you don't undo Escape...
I seen a tutorial once with a hardback book and what they did they took a heat gun and they melted the glue and they had two people so one person was working the heat gun and the other person could pull it apart and these were big books but you don't need two people you can do it with one maybe you should try getting a heat gun and see how that is because it looks like it would be safer and much much easier than the way you're tearing it out the spine
it helps if you soften up the glue on the binding first by heating it up with a hair dryer or a heat gun. It would be nice if there were a different way of binding the coloring books so it's easier to color the double pages spreads. I love your videos, keep up the good work :-)
+terilew1 Hello, we both have dreadlocks here so no hair drier here. Though I really should get a heat tool. Thanks so much for watching and let me know if you have any questions!
lol, I never thought about if you'd need a hair dryer for dreadlocks. We have a hair dryer that only gets used when it's needed for an arts\crafts type of thing. The dogs even had a bath today and we didn't even think to use the dryer on them, lol. I always have questions, you'd never have time to answer them all.
There is a way to bind them differently, but I have only found it on a Chinese artist's coloring book, published in China. It's a threaded binding (like the hardcover book she showed) but the front cover isn't glued to the pages and the spine isn't glued to the bindings. It only attaches to the back page. Every page lays completely flat. I wish more publishing houses would use this method, especially for Kerby books! 😭
Sorry, I wrote a book down there. I like Patreon, because I am really keeping up on the videos better than in the past! Did you see my coloring on your Facebook page?
I did and a replied and everything! I am having some plans to fix up my facebook so that it is easier for people to share their progress and get feedback.
Karia - have you seen the books from Coloring Book Mania by Niki Sliver? They come in a envelope! Check out "Exquisite Designs" I can send you one if you like - what is the address to which I should send this?
+Carla Parvin oh that's really sweet. Can you email me at ColoringKaria at Gmail and I will send you the address. I really have plans to get a post office box but it's $106 for 3 months in my area and that's more than I make in Adsense.
Thank you for this video on how to unbind books. The way so many books are coming out on smooth paper now, I feel that I am going to have to take a lot of pages out to treat them with gesso, so that I can add some tooth to them..
Oh I love.your books do u do grayscale?? I like to remove pages from book with pol would make ridge in books or spirl type books
In 2015, everyone was running to Staples and getting the binding removed and replaced with spiral. Of course, some of them lost a lot of the picture on the left side, not to mention you're dreaded double pages.
I have always taken the pages out, ripping carefully, scanning them, then putting them back, so I can recolor in different colors if I want to. Also, I never have to worry about bleed through.
I just got a newly released book from Dover on Unicorns. The unicorns are beautifully done, but too much space to fill in. I scanned the pages and printed them out 5x7, just the right size for me to color.
Some have pulled the whole book apart and put it in photo sleeves in binders. (Oh, I paused it to write this and found that is what you have done...haha
I have always kept my finished product this way, in binders. I have had to problems with fading or anything.
I read in tips for recycling and neatening up your home, that when a magazine comes in, you flip through it and pull out the articles you really want to read and recycle the rest of the mag. I do all my mags this way. I have become pretty expert with it, but I start at the top not the bottom. I very seldom in the mags and coloring books have a problem with tearing into the page, and they come right out very neatly. I never thought of pulling the back off like you did! With a think magazine, I find that several pages at a time work best, and then I use scissors to trim the backing down to pages. Aaaaaaaaaaaand, you just did that! haha
Nope, not boring at all! I was hooked at the title!
There. At 17:55, that is way I do all my pages!
One last thing, some people use a box cutter and cut along the glued part, as well.
"Hey, mom! Cat-in-box! Sleeping!"
You did, indeed, beat me in the lengthy post department, lol.
All true! the only reason i dont cut the back is that i dont want to risk cutting the page. and i want to be able to use the cover like a folder and put it back in the bookshelf till I can color the pages.
again very helpful video! I don't do coloring but with some sketchbooks you have a biding I want to get rid of. this video really helped me, thank you!
+Wessel Van De Coolwijk no problem!
Thanks so much for this tutorial video! I totally wrecked my Secret Garden book trying to unbind it. This helps SOOOOO much!!!!
+Melissa Justice ugh! That totally sucks! I have been doing this with some books but with others it totally took more tries to get the order right. Let me know if you have any questions or there is a book you want to me try on.
Same happened to me with the same exact book I had to comment LoL
Thank you kindly for sharing your wonderful ideas
That’s what I’m here for!
To share
Good info. I wondered how this was done without destroying the pages.
Yep! this is one way to do this! there are other ways people use knives or heat guns but i like this way because its easy to do and relatively safe and fast.
Is it easier to color the book once you have the pages from the book?
+Rozalyn Leslie for me I do find it easier. I use a regular clipboard with some pages underneath for smaller books and an artist clipboard for larger pages. It's easier for me personally. If you want to try it to see if it will be easier for you I recommend starting with something that is less expensive or not a favorite book.
It's easier for me because there are some where I turn it a lot but I still hate to take them out most of the time.
Thank you so much Karia
I used a blow drier on a book with just the glue and it made it a lot easier to take apart.
+zekehooper I think I need to get a blow dryer. Because we both have dread locks and don't have one.
Thanks so much for this video.I did my first binding after watching your video.
+aleksandra albuquerque that's awesome. Let me know how it goes.
I may do this with books that I have duplicates of so I can do some heavy watercolor on it without getting all over the book lol! Great video! **Also DEAD that you linked my instagram!!**
No problem i hope it helps! yes! this is great for books with duplicates!
R your books real small like that?
I remove the front cover and spine like you did but then flip it over and remove the back cover as well. Now the "guts" of the book is exposed, as is that strip of glue. Instead of tearing sections out of the glue strip, I just remove the strip of glue! I don't think I've had a page tear yet, although I don't do this to all my books. If you did it this way, it would also help with the sewn binding as there's no need to cut the stitching first. It's much easier to cut the stitching with it out of the glue. You might have to sit and kinda pick at the glue strip for awhile to get it started but after that, it comes off fairly easy. Just take it nice and slow. Anyway, that's how I do it. Cool idea for a video!
+Gooey Gooball I did try that with one book but it didn't work well at all for me. 😭😭
Thanks for your hard work. My books seem to fall apart on their own, so I don't have to go through all this. :) I travel a lot and they get a lot of wear.
That's good though as these books are meant to be used!
if you remove the entire cover then line a metal ruler up about one or two mm from The Binding and slowly and carefully cut through one or two pages with an exacto knife all your pages come out really nice with no tearing or creasing
👍👍
I have sworn that some day I need to make a video on how to remove a page before I flip out on Amazon when someone says they can't take the page out of the book because it's not perforated (or preforated) :). If there's enough room, I have no trouble with a good ruler and a razor blade, or a sharp utility knife or X-acto knife. I think that a decent seam ripper would help with cutting those threads. Or maybe you could slip a bit of cardstock under the thread and carefully cut it with a razor blade...I am looking at my book now. I have intended to undo one by nuking it (it has double page spreads) but haven't tried it. I believe I saw some instructions somewhere. I have 2 copies in case I screw it up, lol. It's Escape to Wonderland and I see it has threads so wish me luck!
wow thats a risk. By the way power bricks for computers and stuff sometimes get really hot. I dont know if that will work but thats an idea. I use my laptop brick to keep my feet warm in the winter. It sort of sucks that one i got last year has better power efficiency than the one i had from 6 years ago! LOL
Good luck regardless what method you use let me know!
I have microwaved cards so I think I can do the book without hurting it. Whether it will work on the binding, I don't know. You just don't heat paper very long. OTOH, I had't thought ahead as to what I was going to do with those double pages if I ever finished one anyway. Sew the darned book back together? Unlikely.
Okay, I am not sure that I would recommend using Escape to Wonderland. It is very tight, has a lot of glue and I feel like the center is going to be damaged when I get the threads snipped. Just FYI. OTOH, Botanic Wonderland fell apart on its own.
+Diana Mc oh that sucks! I'm sorry.
Thanks, but it's okay. I have the extra copy of Escape to Wonderland and I was messing around with gesso in Botanical Wonderland but there's obviously a big difference in how they're bound. Of course you have a string right across a mouse if you don't undo Escape...
I seen a tutorial once with a hardback book and what they did they took a heat gun and they melted the glue and they had two people so one person was working the heat gun and the other person could pull it apart and these were big books but you don't need two people you can do it with one maybe you should try getting a heat gun and see how that is because it looks like it would be safer and much much easier than the way you're tearing it out the spine
Thats not a bad idea. I dont have a heat gun, plus you would still need something sharp to do cut the binding thats sewn in.
A hairdryer is basically a big heat gun
Yep! I don’t have one of those either but they are on my list!
the mini books are called signatures.
THANK YOU!!! You are a life saver! I will pin this comment. see i knew someone would know!
ColoringKaria No problem.
If you want to keep the pages in order; add page number somewhere near corner.
thats a great tip!!
it helps if you soften up the glue on the binding first by heating it up with a hair dryer or a heat gun. It would be nice if there were a different way of binding the coloring books so it's easier to color the double pages spreads.
I love your videos, keep up the good work :-)
+terilew1 Hello, we both have dreadlocks here so no hair drier here. Though I really should get a heat tool.
Thanks so much for watching and let me know if you have any questions!
lol, I never thought about if you'd need a hair dryer for dreadlocks. We have a hair dryer that only gets used when it's needed for an arts\crafts type of thing. The dogs even had a bath today and we didn't even think to use the dryer on them, lol.
I always have questions, you'd never have time to answer them all.
I do my best to try to answer them! I will be doing a q and a at some point in the future so be sure to ask them for that at least!
There is a way to bind them differently, but I have only found it on a Chinese artist's coloring book, published in China. It's a threaded binding (like the hardcover book she showed) but the front cover isn't glued to the pages and the spine isn't glued to the bindings. It only attaches to the back page. Every page lays completely flat. I wish more publishing houses would use this method, especially for Kerby books! 😭
Sorry, I wrote a book down there.
I like Patreon, because I am really keeping up on the videos better than in the past!
Did you see my coloring on your Facebook page?
I did and a replied and everything! I am having some plans to fix up my facebook so that it is easier for people to share their progress and get feedback.
I think I have to go there rather than it showing up in my Facebook email. I'll check it out, thanks!
Sewn bindings are day to remove just pop them out in sections ❤️
Love your videos. The only reason I don't take the pages out of some of them is because I'm too lazy.
+kerolives thank you! I know the feeling!
I heat the glue with a hair dryer and it is so much easier :-)
+Lynda Ryan I totally need to get a heat tool because we have no hair dryers here.
heat tool would be perfect. You will be surprised at just how easy it is when you do it :-)
+Lynda Ryan I will totally add one to my list.
using a heat gun will make the process of removing the glued pages MUCH easier!
+Lara Hartley yep, a few people have mentioned that in the comments. However I don't have one nor a hair drier. 😁
the heat gun is an invaluable tool in my coloring kit!
+Lara Hartley yep that's what folks say 😁
Karia - have you seen the books from Coloring Book Mania by Niki Sliver?
They come in a envelope!
Check out "Exquisite Designs"
I can send you one if you like - what is the address to which I should send this?
+Carla Parvin oh that's really sweet. Can you email me at ColoringKaria at Gmail and I will send you the address. I really have plans to get a post office box but it's $106 for 3 months in my area and that's more than I make in Adsense.
MrsHomebody 1984 Why did you find it necessary to make that disgusting remark?
No, wasn't boring to watch.
Thank you. and im sorry for the late reply