Pop-up Books: December Sneak Peek

December Sneak Peek

The making of The Night Before Christmas

Part Two: Artwork and Production

All pop-up books are put together by hand. Machines are only used for printing and die cutting. Pop-up books are made in South America and Asia. At a large hand-assembly plant, like the one above, 10,000 books can be made in one week!

The digital die lines that Robert made are sent to the pop-up manufacturer and fed into their computer which is hooked up to a laser cutter. The cutter cuts the shapes of Robert's pop-up pieces into a thick block of wood.

Strips of sharp metal are placed into the grooves. Soon the entire block of wood, called a die mold, will be covered with the sharp metal shapes. The mould is placed on a press and cuts out all the pieces (just like cookie cutters) from the large sheet.

But the pieces don't fall completely out (or you'd have a HUGE mess inside the die cutting press). In the Scrapping Room the pieces are removed by hand. Sometimes white gloves are worn to prevent the pieces from getting dirty.

The hand assembly of the pop-up book begins. Glue is applied with a small brush (or bottle). One assembler applies glue to a pop-up, makes a small fold, than hands the piece to the next assembler who adds another piece to it.

At the end of the line the pop-up is glued into the page. Each assembler performs only one task for the entire production of the book. This makes the assembler an expert with that particular pop-up.

After the books have been assembled they are temporarily held shut with large clamps. This helps them to dry flat.

Red cloth is applied to the spine of the book. A printed paper cover is wrapped around gray boards to create the cover for the finished pop-up book The Night Before Christmas!

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