Book 275 - "Dogopoly" Game Board Album - Screw Post Binding

This is too cute! It's another game board book, a photo album this time, but it's the game that makes it really fun. I found this game of "Dogopoly" in a thrift store and grabbed it so fast my shopping cart spun around. It's set up like a Monopoly board but with everything to do with dogs. Instead of streets, you buy breeds, from the cheapest  Chihuahua to the most expensive Great Dane. Instead of houses and hotels, you build fire hydrants and doghouses.

I cut the board so that the original center fold was intact and used that for the hinged cover for a side binding. I originally planned to do a Japanese stab binding but then remembered I had some screw posts (bookbinders' posts) that would work well.

The album pages are heavy card stock, alternating black and brown and folded double at the hinge for extra volume at the spine, so the album can still take the thickness of photos.  The screw posts mean you can add or remove pages.

In the middle of the front cover was a rectangular box marked "Good Dog." It's where you put game cards like the Chance and Community Chest cards in Monopoly. I used a piece of black mat board to make a small frame inside the box and slid in a photo of my own sweet little dachshund, "Star."

This is Allen's favorite book I've made for a while (I think it's the picture of Star, who is his baby.)  I like it too.

Book 274 - Sorry" Board Game Notebook/Journal - Single Needle Coptic Stitch Binding

This notebook made from a recycled board game was fin to make. I love making books from old game boards, and I especially love this board from the game "Sorry." I love the symbolism of the "Start" and "Home" graphics. I often find these games at thrift stores, and I don't feel terribly guilty about cutting them up because the games are often missing parts.

For this one, I cut the large pieces from the game board and used them for the front and back covers. Because there were raw edges where the board was cut, I needed to cover those with something. I used washi tape, a kind of decorative masking tape from Japan. It comes in lots of colors and patterns and is a perfect solution for this kind of situation. Since the board back and edges were a light blue, I covered the cut edges with a medium blue washi tape and burnished it down very well.

This is a large notebook-sized journal. I folded signatures from 11"x17" paper and trimmed it down slightly to fit the boards. I poked holes in the sigs and drilled corresponding holes in the boards, then bound it with a single-needle coptic stitch.

I'm finally beginning to feel quite confident with this stitch. Guess I finally "own" it.

This is a nice notebook, quite sturdy, it lies completely flat and would be handy for all sorts of things.