What's wrong with my journal?

[mei]

I've been lurking at craftster for like ages, but I never really posted Anyway, I followed this tutorial -->http://personal.mem.bellsouth.net/d/r/drv1913/0204pg1.html and I've made a journal! The only thing is, something is wrong, and I really don't know what to do. The tutorials never seem to come across this problem, so I thought maybe I did something wrong in the process!


From this picture, the book can only open up to this much! I could force it some more but that would just tear the paper I glued to the covers.

Here are more pictures of the problem:




I asked my mom about it and she said I wasn't supposed to glue the spine to the side of the papers. But would that be able to hold?

I also have another problem: I used black satin-like fabric as the cover and I used a medium sized paintbrush to spread glue over the covers and laid the black cloth over it. It kinda looks awful! Should I use thicker cloth (it was kinda thin), not use glue at all on the covers but only on the inside or use less glue?

I would really appreciate it if anyone could help me out! I'm like an uber noob

[mew]

Your mom is mostly right.
If you're using the first/last page or your signature block as the endpapers, they will not reach the edges of the covers.

Lay the cover flat, and stand the textblock on it where it'll end up (so spine of the block on the spine of the cover). Then fold down the first and last page, mark where those reach on the covers -- that is where you want to glue your front/last page down. If you pull them all the way to the edge of the inside covers, the pages may tear if you try to open the book flat.

It's easier if you use endpages that are at least twice as long as your pages are wide... then they can reach all the way to the edge of the inside covers.

I hope that made sense, if not, just experiment with how you place your textblock onto the cover.

Also, try reading some of the posts at http://www.livejournal.com/community/handmadebooks/
they often have helpful posts or links to tutorials.

[mei]

Thanks! I've already read from the link you gave me that I was NOT supposed to glue the signatures to the spine  cover! I feel so silly now  You've been  a great help! I can't wait to start on my next project

[creativecat]

The cover of a hard-cover book should be made out of five pieces of board: One for the front, one for the front joint, one for the spine, one for the back joint, and one for the back cover.  From your pictures, it looks like your cover is missing the joints. The joints allow the book to open easier.

It also looks as if you've glued part of the inside pages to the cover pieces.  Only glue the inside pages to the spine and the joints.  After this, if you want paper or fabric to cover the inside covers, glue it to the inside and burnish the paper into the joints, then onto the first inside page.

You will need to make your inside pages large enough to compensate for the joint section. The "active" part of the inside pages will need to be past the joint part.

Let me know if any of this is unclear.