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The manufacturing of a pop-up book: Encyclopedia Prehistorica – Dinosaurs! Please note: To view these clips you must have Quicktime on your computer. CLICK HERE to download it now! PRINTING The process of producing a pop-up book begins when the creative work is done. After Matthew Reinhart and Robert Sabuda have completed all the paper engineering and finished artwork for Dinosaurs, the printing process begins. The sheets are printed on a traditional printing press. Color accuracy is checked by pulling off a random sheet from the press and comparing it to an approved sheet from Robert and Matthew. CLICK HERE to watch this video! DIE MAKING A large jig saw is used to create the first part of what is called a die. The die will be used to cut all the pop-up pieces out of the printed sheet. The jig saw operator carefully follows the outlines of each pop-up piece design as it cuts through a large, flat block of wood. In a nearby room, thin strips of sharp metal are curved in a vice to match all the shapes that have been cut into the die. When the die maker gets a perfect match, he carefully pounds the metal into the block of wood until only a small portion is showing. This portion is very sharp and can cut through 100,000 printed sheets before it is too dull to be used anymore. CLICK HERE to watch this video! DIE CUTTING The die is placed on a press and the printed sheets pass over it, one at a time, and are firmly slammed onto it. The sharp metal pieces in the die cut through the sheet leaving the pop-up pieces almost completely removed. Since the die doesn't completely cut out the pieces (or they would get all jammed up in the press) they have to be removed by hand. CLICK HERE to watch this video! SCRAPPING Wearing white gloves to keep the pop-ups clean, the scrappers remove all the excess paper that surrounds the pieces. By removing many pieces at once, the job goes much faster. To remove very small pieces of paper from the pop-ups, screwdrivers and pliers are used to make the scrapping easier. CLICK HERE to watch this video! HAND ASSEMBLY: PART 1 After all the pieces are scrapped out, the hand assembly begins. Each assembler is responsible for only one task throughout the entire hand production of the book. The assembler makes any necessary folds to the piece, applies glue and then hands it to the next assembler. CLICK HERE to watch PART 1! HAND ASSEMBLY: Part 2 When the pop-up pieces themselves are completed they are then carefully inserted and glued into the pages. CLICK HERE to watch PART 2! BINDING The covers of the book are glued onto the hard covers by machine but a person still must glue all the combined pop-up pages (now called a "signature") into the book. Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Dinosaurs is finished! CLICK HERE to watch this video!

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