Second Iteration: Laser Cut Book Cover

This is the second iteration of a laser cut book cover with living hinges.  In my last post, I didn't add holes for a traditional binding, so I ended up screwing in a metal binder mechanism. 

In this latest iteration, I reduced the overall width of the spine and added a flat section with holes for sewing in paper signatures. While the cover remains bulky (it's about 2 inches thick), I made the overall footprint of the book smaller, and added a box around my name.

For the spine, I folded a piece of watercolor paper into an
accordion hinge; I reinforced this with double-stick tape and Tyvek from an
old postal envelope.  Since I only had two rows of holes to sew onto, 
I needed to come up with a flexible binding that could expand.

I sewed card stock signatures to the peaks of the accordion.

  

I sewed the left and right most creases of the hinge to the cover.

I used red waxed linen thread to sew in the accordion hinge.
I had to try this a couple of times, because the first accordion
hinge that I created was too wide and too tall.

Because there is so much room for expansion,
this binding would work well for adding ephemera or
pop-up structures.

I had to trim the height of the signatures so they didn't interfere with the
elastic closure.  In a future iteration, I would paint the watercolor
paper used for the accordion hinge; white is pretty boring.

The cover can fold flat once the accordion hinge is sewn in.