DIY LotFP Booklets: Tales Of The Scarecrow & The Grinding Gear | WITH INSTRUCTIONS FOR BOOKLET PRINTING

I didn't own Tales Of The Scarecrow or The Grinding Gear in print, but had purchased the pdfs. I wanted to get them where they belong, on my shelf with other LotFP products. So printing time it is!

Tools I Used

• PDF24 (free) software for easily arrange pdf pages.
• Usually I use 100g paper for the pages, but this time I was cheap and used normal 80g copy paper.
• A4 photo paper for Tales cover.
• 160g high quality paper for The Grinding cover.
• Canon MG3550 printer.
• Long-neck stapler I got cheap from eBay.

Basics For Booklet Printing

• Go through the pdf and see how covers are arranged. Should the cover insides be empty, or are the covers designed so both sides are printed?
• Where is the back cover? Second page in pdf file, or the last page of the pdf? Is there back cover at all?
• BONUS STEP: If there is no real back cover and you don't want the back of the file be empty, create one! See the pdf file dimensions, GIMP/Photoshop/Word/Libreoffice a cover. Slip it in the file using PDF24.
• Now that you've figured out the cover layout and order, print the pages. If covers are pages 1 and 32, print pages 2 and 31. If covers are Two first pages, start printing from third page to the end etc.
• I have duplex printer with booklet option, so I only need to hit "PRINT" and it spits the booklet out - only thing I need to do is fold, nothing else! To figure out how to print booklets with your printer without automatic options, Google it. There are plenty of answers around, I bet!
• Next, print covers! My printer gets jammed if I try to duplex print heavier paper, so I need to print covers a bit differently. I choose MULTIPLE PAGES. That way it prints two pages on one sheet, that's front and back cover! In the preview you see the order of the pages. The front cover should be on the right side, in my printer I choose VERTICAL (paper orientation) REVERSED (first page (cover) before the second (back cover)). If there are inner covers feed the paper back in when front covers are printed (your printer instructions should tell you which way the paper goes in to print the back of the sheet). PAGE ORDER SHOULD NOT BE REVERSED ANYMORE.
• Now that you have pages and cover sheet printed, fold them. Don't try to fold the whole pile at once. You'll get best results the less sheets you fold at a time. I usually fold 2-4 pages. There are tools built for folding, but I use something hard and round-ish I can find. Try out what you find the best thing for you to get sharp edges.
• Long-neck stapler is great, it can reach the fold! If you don't own one, use normal stapler. Just staple on something thicker than the staples and soft. I have used styrofoam pad. Just staple, turn it around (be careful removing the staple from the styrofoam so it doesn't get out of the booklet also) and push the staple heads inwards with a butter knife or something similar.
• If you want to, you might use carpet knife or something super sharp to trim the pages even.
• DONE!

The Grinding Gear

Tales was simple. I tweaked The Grinding Gear a bit. I replaced the maps with additional maps, because they were more printer friendly in color. I also added the cheat sheet in the end of the pdf, so it's included in the booklet.

Pictures Of Booklet Prints

Super glossy photo paper cover.

100g paper. When I printed this ages ago I was running low on ink. That's where the weird red tone came.
But I really, really like it! Gives character!

160g premium paper cover.

Normal 80g copy paper. Despite that images look really, really good.