Today I'm finishing up on binding a few sketchbook journals. I would have finished on Saturday but ran out of glue. I normally use old-fashioned Elmer's glue, a bit thinned with water --- easier to find!
Two books are finished, seen in the lower left. I used 2 sheets of Fabriano Artistico 140 # cold press watercolor paper per each of the larger (7 3/4 x 8") books, adding a few pages of toned Mi-teintes to each. One sheet of the Artistico paper makes up each smaller (5 3/4" square) book. Covers are from two sheets of hand-made decorative paper I found at Jerry's Artarama in Austin -- the tan one is papyrus! The bookcloth on the spines is leftover from previous bindings that I made myself ironing a paper substance to cotton.
Not having any mull cloth, I used thin cotton fabric cut from an old cloth diaper to strengthen the spine on the larger books. For the smaller ones, I'm trying some open-weave dry-wall tape -- probably not archival but is that really important to me? I don't expect my family to care about my art journals after I'm gone.
To dry glued pieces under weights, I use a heavy book (Lord of the Rings, illustrated edition here) and two antique sad irons.
One tool I've found really helpful is this glue spreader from Rockler's woodworking supply. Bill ordered one once but they sent two by mistake so I got one. The "brush" is soft flexible silicone and works great; the other end can be used like a bone folder to crease the edges of the paper and smooth the glued bits down.
I mostly get my "how to's" on bookbinding from Gwen Diehn's book, Real Life Journals: Designing & Using Handmade Books. But there are many other good instructional books and YouTube videos out there.