Day 61 - A Hand-Made School Notebook

So there I was, walking through the office supplies section of Wal-Mart and thinking, "What the hell am I going to do for a book today?" I stopped and stared at a few things that didn't set any bells ringing. Then I came to the notebooks section. Most were just plain old spiral notebooks, but then I saw this classic little school notebook, the kind with the black and white cover. As I looked at it more closely, I saw that it was really just a single signature book, machine stitched up the middle, the stitching covered on the outside with a piece of bookcloth.

I had my book for the day.

Of course, I had to make mine prettier, with a lovely pearlescent gold cover stock and some bright red Duck tape over the spine instead of plain old black bookcloth.  I used graph paper for the pages and instead of machine stitching, I hand stitched with a long running stitch down and then back up, knotted at the top.

It makes a pretty little notebook. Because of the thickness of the single signature, this is going to have to go under weights for a day or so to lie flat. I had to tape it shut to photograph it. And when I shot it open, I was shocked at how old my hand looks! Oh well, they serve me well, those hands, and have earned every wrinkle and age spot.