I recently made my first stab bound photo book, with a basic 4-hole binding. Stab binding is one of the few binding methods I’ve learned about that works for single pages (i.e. that aren’t folded into signatures, as was the case with the perfect bound book I did a while ago — see this blog post for that), and this basic 4-hole binding is very simple to sew. (Note that the version of the book I first did, the one you can see in the video above, is a 4-hole bind. The book pictured at the top of this post, with a 6-hole variation, was a book I made subsequent to the one in the video).
This book consists of a selection of photos I’ve taken on Google Street View (note: check out the work of the recently departed Michael Wolf, if you don’t already know his work. He did quite a bit of work using Google Street View. But check out all his other work as well.)
The book is printed on 4″x6″ pages, with a hinged hardcover. Books that are stab-bound do not lay flat, which is one disadvantage.
I did this as cheaply as possible, until I get more experience. Turned out pretty well for my first try, I think.
UPDATE 11/2019: Here is a recent video of a letter-sized stab-bound photo book I recently made:
Some bookmaking supplies that I used to make the book in the video above:
PVA Glue
White Glue
Cardstock
Cloth tape
Chipboard
Adjustable Screw Hole Punch
Blade
Here’s a good video from a YouTube user showing a time lapse of the process for making a stab bound book:
And here are two tutorial videos I consulted to learn how to actually make the book.