Binding Solutions - Calendar Making

Calendar Making

More and more people make their own calendars. These range from individuals wanting to share memories, photographs or events with friends and family to organisations who want to raise funds. In the past, calendar making has been prohibitively expensive for most of us, but this has changed with the introduction of the Peach Personal Wire Binder. The only sensible way to bind a calendar is with wire. There are many wire binders available, but these tend to be very expensive, as they bind up to 120 pages. A calendar typically has 12 or 13 pages, so why pay hundreds of pounds for a capability you will never need? The Peach Personal Wire Binder is the lowest-cost binder available and makes wire binding affordable for most of us. There are also several specialist calendar making machines available. These cost upwards of 350 and, while they make calendar making easier, they will produce the same results as a simple wire binder. This guide gives you the basics of calendar making. Binding.

There are two basic types of calendar: single sheet and double sheet. The single sheet shows only one page at a time, so all pictures and information for each month must be confined to a single page. A double sheet has two pages per month, allowing much more information to be displayed, and also gives space for notes and appointments. Both types of calendar can be any size (A4, A5, A6 and anything in between) and bound in portrait or landscape. The binding wires can easily be cut to any size.

Single Sheet

The simplest way to make a single sheet calendar is to punch a hole at the top of each page in the centre to allow the calendar to be hung from a pin. The pages can then be punched for the wire, bound and the wire then cut to length if necessary:

The alternative is to use a hanger. The semicircular cut-out for the hanger is made at the top of the pages with a Thumb Cut Punch. The pages are then punched to accept the wires and the pages bound with wire, which is cut to the correct length if necessary:

The wire is cut on either side of the thumb cut and the hanger inserted into the wire at the thumb cut:

This produces a professional-looking calendar, with only a little more time and effort compared to the first method.  Thumb Cut Punches tended to be very expensive, costing considerably more than the Personal Wire Binder, however Peach Partners now offer a high-quality, professional-standard punch for an affordable price, bringing calendar-making within the reach of most. We also supply a hand-held punch that allows a thumb cut to be made in the pages. This is intended for small quantities of calendars, but offers a significant saving on a "full-size" thumb cut punch.

Double Sheet

Making a double sheet calendar is very similar to making a simple single sheet one and is just as easy. Punch a hole at the top of each page in the centre to allow the calendar to be hung from a pin. The pages are then punched for the wire on the opposite side from the hole, bound and the wire then cut to length if necessary:

The calendar is hung from a pin in the wall to allow both pages to be displayed. A double sheet calendar uses only one more sheet than a single and takes up the same space in an envelope.

Calendar making is easy and does not require expensive, specialist equipment. Hopefully, you found this guide helps and it has given you some ideas. Please feel free to email us if there is anything you would like to discuss about calendar making or binding in general.

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