BOOK 365!!!! A FULL YEAR OF BOOKS!

I did it! This is book 365 in my year-long book-a-day challenge.

OK, I will admit right here that it took me just slightly longer than 365 days. I am 6 days over my exact year. But I am trying to be easy on myself here. I am celebrating anyway. I hope you will celebrate with me.

This final book is a leather journal for my friend Michael (because he called dibs), who I've known for over 40 years. The base leather for the book is a putty-colored cowhide. Around that, I have wrapped another piece of leather that I think is ostrich. I can't be sure because I pulled it unmarked from the scrap bin at the leather store. I saw it an pounced. It's a rich deep purple.

The pages are Neenah Sundance 70 lb paper in crushed cream, a lovely paper for writing or sketching with pencil, pen, ink, markers.

The journal is bound with a long stitch binding (also called a Medieval limp binding) with medium brown waxed cotton thread. It makes an interesting stitch pattern on the spine. The unusual closure is made from a found object I picked up at a flea market. I think it might be some type of faucet handle. A thong of the purple leather ties through it and around the journal to keep it closed.

This is a rich, elegant journal and I hope Michael lives it.

Book 352 - The Boys Book - Recycled Book Journal -Coptic Binding

This book is so cool looking. Even though it's not really old (as witness the scholastic website printed on the back cover) it looks old. It's a book that is supposed to show boys how to be the best at everything that boys like to do. I think it makes a great journal. The intense cobalt blue with silver printing on the cover is really eye-catching.

As per my usual style, I slit off the spine and made a bookmark from that part. I taped over the cut ends of the front and back covers, poked holes, folded up a bunch of signatures--these are a really neat astro-bright white paper with tiny confetti-colored flecks in it--and poked holes in those too. I also added blue washi tape to the spine fold of some of the signatures to create a colorful pattern on the exposed spine binding.

The single-needle coptic binding is done with white waxed linen thread.

Cool little journal!

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 323- Burgundy Leather Journal/Blank Book w/ Long-Stitch Binding

The leather for this leather journal/blank book is simply yummy. It's soft but not too thin. It has some natural wrinkling that gives it great character, and it had a nice natural raw edge from the hide I wanted to keep.

I cut the leather so the raw edge would be at the front edge of the wrap-around. The 112 pages are hand-torn 70 lb paper in a creamy off-white with a subtle fleck through it--very nice.

After reinforcing the spine with an extra strip of the leather, I punched the holes for sewing stations and bound the pages with a long-stitch binding using lavender waxed linen thread. I used an x-stitch pattern for a nice effect.

To close the book, I added a thong of the burgundy leather long enough to wrap twice around the book and loop through in front. I tied a triangular piece of jasper stone at the end as an accent.

Nice journal.

Book 320 - Green Leather Fat Journal with Silver Clasp - Long stitch binding-1

Another leather book today, a fat journal. I like fat journals, myself, so I find it hard to make them skinny--though, of course, they would be faster and cheaper to make when making them for resale. This is fatter than some, partly because the paper is a nice thick artist's paper, like printmaking paper. There are 80 pages (160 counting both sides) of this rich paper perfect for writing or sketching with pen, pencil, charcoal, or colored markers.

The leather is a rich dark green with a lightly pebbled surface. The journal/blank book is bound with a long stitch binding with pale green waxed linen thread with a diamond stitch pattern showing on the spine.

The clasp is silver-colored metal and works by turning the flat center bar, then lifting the left ring off the clasp. I think it gives the book a very classy look.

A standard, but I love making these leather journals. I'll never stop.

Book 300!! - Scroll Saw Wooden Cover Dos-a-Dos Journal - Coptic Stitch

Book 300! We're in the home stretch! And finally, I can start posting again after more than a week with no working computer. Lots of books to post--I'll do them a few each day.

This is a pretty little dos-a-dos journal with covers made of wood with scroll saw designs cut into the covers. I found these little wooden panels at a craft show in Las Vegas last month. Even though they were meant to be part of a night light, I knew, of course, that they really wanted to be part of a book.

Each cover has a different design and each is backed with a different color of pearl card stock to show off the cut-outs. For those who don't know, a dos-a-dos structure is essentially two books with one common cover at the center. Turn it over and you have a different book with its own cover. Each half has a different color text block and both halves are bound with a single-needle coptic stitch.

I think this is a nice book to mark the 300 book milestone.

Book 293 - "All Beef Patty" - Recycle Hamburger Box Colcorful Blank Journal - Coptic Binding

Guess what I had for lunch today? Well, actually, I suppose it was dinner, since we were already closed. I was on my own and really didn't feel like cooking just for myself, so I just nuked one of the frozen hamburgers we sell. Emptied out the box, so I had to open another one and... yep, there was another book.

I cut this cheeseburger image off the front of the large box, lined it with gold metallic textured card stock and and cut it in half down the center of the sandwich. I cut round pages from colored paper and layered them into signatures in order--green for lettuce, brown (well, beige) for the meat, yellow for the cheese and red for the tomato slices. I bound the book with a single needle coptic stitch using golden-yellow linen thread.

This one would definitely get a comment or two if you pulled it out of your purse to make a note... or take a bite. (Are you hungry yet?)

Book 288 - Pink Leather Fat Journal w/ Glass Dangle - Long Stitch Binding

I like really fat journals. And this one is fat. and I love the pink with black details... reminds me of the '50s, when pink and black were IT. This long stitch  bound journal -- also called the Medieval limp binding--is smallish, just 4" x 5" by almost 1 1/2" thick. It has 8 signatures of heavy artist paper, 96 pages worth (192 pages front and back).

The end papers are a yummy bright red Asian paper with gold brushstrokes. The long stitch binding is done with black waxed linen thread and the book closes with a black leather thong.

The dangle on the end of the thong is really beautiful fused dichroic glass (and a thank you to my friend Shannon for the gift). Not only does it close the journal, but it can also act as a nice place marker.

A simple, pretty and really nice little fat journal/blank book.

Book 270 - "Mom's Favorite Breakfast" - Recycled Packaging Book/Journal - Long Stitch Binding

OK, I'm back! My little posting break is over and I'll be starting to upload some of my backlog of books little by little. And to begin, here's another blank book/journal made from recycled product packaging - Strawberry Toaster Strudel, my mom's favorite breakfast.

Would you believe I carried this flattened package all the way back from Oregon in my suitcase and have had it sitting on my worktable for weeks? At least it does make a colorful little blank journal. I cut the front and back off the box and another narrow strip for the spine. I used blue duct tape (ah yes, we're back to the duct tape) to make a hinge for the spine.  Then I glued a sheet of heavy dark blue card stock to the inside of the entire case to add some stiffening, boned the hinge creases down and folded it into shape.

The pages are regular white copy paper folded into eight signatures of 12 pages each. The binding is a long stitch binding tied together at the center of the spine. The stitching is done with red waxed linen thread. The closure is three strands of the same red thread braided together and tied to the stitching at the spine to keep it in place.

This book makes a very neat litlte package.

(BTW, something I have always wondered about Toaster Strudel--which you'll understand if you've ever eaten this stuff. What DO they have to put in that icing to keep it from freezing, so it's still soft and spreadable right out of the freezer??? On second thought, I probably don't want to know. I ate all my mom's leftovers while I was there.)

Book 259 - Gray Leather Journal with Yellow Belt Closure-Long Stitch Binding

Yet another leather journal today...  This one was inspired by the cool retro-style yellow elastic belt I found in a thrift shop. I knew right off it would make a great closure. Then I just had to find a piece of leather in my stash that was in a good color to go with it.

I came up with this piece of warm gray cowhide and I love the combination. The journal is a standard long-stitch binding journal, also called the medieval limp binding. I used yellow waxed linen thread for the stitching to compliment the yellow belt, with a pair of sewing stations near the center of the book to hold the belt in place.

The pages are 24 lb classic laid paper in cream, 112 pages in eight signatures. For the end paper, I used a gray plaid print paper that seemed a good match for the gray leather.

I think I'm going to be looking for more of these elastic belts on my next thrift shop run...

Book 256 - Purple Pebbled Leather Journal/Blank Book - Long Stitch Binding

 Here's another pretty leather journal/blank book. This leather is just wonderful... and I have no idea what it is. I fished it out of a scrap bin of what was called "upholstery leather" at Oregon Leather in Portland. It is most likely cowhide that has been machine embossed to add the pebbled finish, but I'm not sure. The surface effect looks quite authentic and is lovely. The color is a rich deep eggplant purple.

I paired the leather with hand-torn Arches Text Wove paper for the pages. I love this paper. I don't use a lot of it anymore because it's pretty expensive. Although it is thick, it is also very soft, with a nice tooth for pen, pencil, charcoal, ink, etc. It's so wonderful to the touch, I just want to stroke it.

The binding is done with red waxed linen thread in a long stitch binding. The liner paper is a print of an old map, printed in washed out brown. A quite nice book.