Book 34 - "Ethan Allen" - Recycled Vintage Book as Journal - Coptic Binding

Book 34?? What's with that? Well, in the wind-up to posting the final couple of books in the year-long challenge, I thought I'd better look back over the whole past year and make sure I hadn't inadvertently skipped any days. And sure enough, way back in February, I just skipped right over a day. So, to be honest with you and myself, I needed to fill in that day.

So, Book 34. Here's another recycled vintage book made into a blank book/journal. I'm not sure of the exact date of this book since there was no copyright or publication date anywhere in the book. But from the cover illustration, I'd put it at about 1900-1910. The strange thing is that the illustration--two boys in sports outfits and gear--has nothing whatever to do with the content of the book, which is a history of Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont in the 18th century. Go figure. Maybe it was part of a series for boys and they all had that cover. The condition is pretty good, but there is one spot on the cover that is slightly blistered (where the book cloth has come loose from the board beneath. If I had a fine needle syringe, I could probably shoot a bit of glue underneath and glue it down again.

Since the bright red accents on the cover design stand out so much, I decided to play off that and use red thread for the binding. I also alternated green and red paper tape on the spine folds of the signatures for an attractive pattern on the exposed spine.

It came out looking pretty good.

Book 359 - Recycled Children's Book Journal/Blank Book - Lemony Snicket-Coptic Binding

Have you read any of the Lemony Snicket books? They are a bit bizarre but really fun. And the covers are neat! So, of course, I had to recycled one into a journal/blank book.

This is Book the Second, The Reptile Room. This follows my usual construction procedure with these upcycled hard cover books. The covers were slit and bound, the pages folded and punched, some of the signature fold edges bound with colorful paper tape. This was bound with a single-needle coptic binding using maroon waxed cotton thread.

I included a couple of the original illustrations form the book into the pages. The book's spine became a bookmark.

I'll always be on the lookout for more Lemony Snicket books in good enough condition to recycle/upcycle into fun journals.

Book 356 - "Motor Boys" Recycled 1906 Book Journal - Coptic Binding

This recycled book journal is made from a fabulous find--a 1906 novel for boys called "The Motor Boys in Mexico" by Clarence Young. It was part of a whole series of books about the Motor Boys, apparently playing off the idea of the then relatively new motor car as a source of adventure. Apparently there were a whole bunch of these series of boys' books--the back pages of this book had ads for many of them. In fact, I liked those pages so much, I incorporated several of the ad pages inside this journal.

As usual, the covers were sliced off the book, the spine carefully removed and the raw edges tape bound. I lightly waxed the cover to preserve and improve its finish--although it is in wonderful condition for being more than a century old. I punched holes for sewing stations, folded sigs and punched holes in those too and covered the spine fold with the same green tape as the spine edge, incorporating a few illustrations and other pages from the original book. The book was bound with a chain stitch binding--a single-needle coptic stitch--with white waxed linen thread.

I made a bookmark from the book's spine by folding back the cut edges and covering the entire backside with green paper tape.

This is really a lovely journal.

Book 335 - "Pioneers on Early Waterways" - Recycled Children's Book as a Journal/Blank Book - Coptic Binding

The recycled book I used to make this journal/blank book originally retold tales of people on the early waterways of America, stories like young Sam Clemens (who later became Mark Twain) as a cub pilot on the Mississippi and tall tales of Davy Crockett. The stories were illustrated with pen and ink illustrations I wanted to save.

After cutting the spine off the book and removing the book block, I bound the raw cut edges of the covers with brown patterned tape. I carefully trimmed several of the illustrations from the book and used two of them--both showing river boats--as end papers inside the front and back covers. Then I trimmed more illustrations and taped one to the front of each of the eight signatures I'd folded up. The brown patterned tape folded over the spine edge of the signature makes for a nice pattern on the exposed spine of the book.

After punching holes for the sewing stations in the covers and sigs, I bound the journal with a single-needle coptic stitch binding with brown waxed cotton thread.

I also used the original spine of the book to make a bookmark. It's not in the photos below because it's buried somewhere on my desk and I couldn't find it to photograph. But It IS here and as soon as I clean off this mess, it will show up!

Really!

Book 332 - "The Ghost of Windy Hill" - Recycled Hardcover Book Journal-Coptic Binding

I love the look of this recycled children's book journal. As soon as I saw the book in the thrift shop, I grabbed it. The Ghost of Windy Hill was written in 1968 by Clyde Robert Bulla.

Making it was the usual drill: Cut off the spine, fold the cut edges back and tape them, this time with green patterned washi tape to pick up the green of the type on the cover. Bone the tape down very well inside and out. Fold the signatures; in this book there are eight.

I wanted to include some of the illustrations from the original book, lovely black-and-white ink wash illustrations by Don Bolognese. I tipped one in at the front of each signature, using more of the washi tape to hold them in and wrapping the tape around the folded edge of the signature to create the color pattern on the exposed spine.

I stitched the book with a single-needle coptic binding in light green waxed cotton thread.

I took the narrow spine I'd cut off the book, folded the cut edges over and taped the back to create a book mark for the journal. Nice.

Book 329 - Lighthouse Journal - Blank Book with Recycled Wallpaper - Coptic Binding

This pretty lighthouse journal is a virtual repeat of a book I did earlier (Book 239). But I liked it then and I still do. And I had another piece of this cool lighthouse wallpaper border and the beige map wallpaper and I wanted to use them again. So it's a repeat. So sue me.

I like making these coptic stitch journals. Now that I finally "own" the stitch (after having to re-read the instruction for at least the first 12 books or so), they are easy to make and you can be really creative with the covers.

For this lighthouse journal, I used Davey board for the covers, so they are nice and rigid. I covered the boards with rusty brown mulberry paper for clean and pretty edges. Then I tore the image of the lighthouse from a piece of wallpaper sample and glued it to the front cover. I glued the piece of nautical map wallpaper to the back cover and tore out some pieces of wallpaper with smaller lighthouses for the end papers.

I used light tan mottled paper for the pages and blue mottled paper for the fly leaves. I also used some small strips of the blue to wrap around the folded edge of some of the signatures to form a pattern on the exposed spine.

I punched holes in everything for the stitching stations and bound it using a single-needle coptic stitch (chain stitch binding) with light blue waxed cotton thread, to pick up the blue in the sky of the image.

Pretty. And I'm sure I'll make more very similar ones. So there!

Book 327 & 328 - "Pooh Times Two" - Two Different Ways to Recycle Pooh Books - Codex & Coptic

My regular followers well know by now my penchant for recycling old books into new journals, especially children's books. This time I've taken on a couple of little Winnie the Pooh books from the 1970s but I've treated them differently.

The first journal/blank book, Christopher Robin Gives Pooh a Party, is a traditional cased-in codex book. A codex is what most people think of when they think "book." It's a hardcover book with a front, back and reinforced spine covered with the cover paper and the stitched book block glued into the prepared cover with end papers.

I stitched the signatures to a piece of mull (a kind of stiffened cheesecloth fabric used by bookmakers). This formed the "hinges" that could be glued under the end papers to hold the block in place.

For the endpapers, I cut illustrations from the original book, taped them together to make them double width, and glued them down over the mull hinges.

When closed, this little journal pools almost exactly like the original book did.

For the second Pooh journal, made from Kanga and Baby Roo Come to the Forest, I used my more usual single-needle coptic stitch binding. After removing the book block and slicing the spine, I removed the spine reinforcement, folded the cut edges back and glued then taped them down. I folded the signatures, punched holes for all the sewing stations and stitched the journal with purple waxed cotton thread.

I used light blue text paper to complement the colors on the cover. For the end papers, I again used illustrations from the original books.

I think either of these little Pooh journals would make a nice "My First Journal" for a young child who likes to write or draw.

Book 325 - Recycled Nancy Drew Mystery as Journal - Single-Needle Coptic Stitch

Another recycled hard-cover book as a journal. I was a huge fan of Nancy Drew mysteries when I was a girl. Looking back, I think they played a really important part in my love of words, and books and in finally becoming a professional writer. So I was thrilled when I found a few copies of vintage Nancy Drew books in a thrift store not long ago. Here's the first, "The Bungalow Mystery."

Like most of my recycled book/journals, I cut out the book block and slit the covers down the middle of the spine, then removed the book board on the spine. I folded the spine edges in and glued, then taped them down. The insides of the covers were nice and clean, so I didn't need to glue down other end papers.

I folded seven signatures from white text paper and bound the book with a single-needle coptic stitch binding, also called a chain stitch binding. I used bright green waxed cotton thread to pick up the green of Nancy's dress on the cover.

A neat little book that brings back happy memories of reading under the covers at night.

Book 324 - Recycled Vinyl Record Journal/Blank Book - Donna Summers - Coptic Binding

Finally Back! I have a pile of books to post now that I have my computer back. The whole thing had to be wiped clean and the OS re-installed, which meant restoring the entire hard drive (thank God for Carbonite online backup) AND reinstalling all the programs, some of which had to be sought and found. Still a few to find and put back on, but at least I can work now.

This book is another journal made from a vintage vinyl album. This one is "Bad Girls" by the '70s queen of disco, Donna Summers.

For the front cover, I cut the record into a rectangle with the band saw, placing the round paper label just off center. For the back cover, I cut an image of Donna Summer from the back of the album, and another piece to line it on the inside. This album had the lyrics of the songs printed on red paper inside, so I cut that to use as end papers.

The signatures are a nice 70 lb. Neenah paper, off-white with flecks like tiny pieces of lint. It has a nice feel. The 8 signatures are stitched with a single-needle coptic stitch binding with black waxed linen thread.

It's really a pretty cool book, if I say it who shouldn't.