Book 305 - A Tiny Notebook/Jotter from Recycled Packaging - Top Tobacco Book - Ribbon side Binding

Recycling 'R' Us - Here's a piece cut from a box that held a dozen pouches of Top brand rolling tobacco.

I cut the pieces and backed them with some colored stiff black card stock. I scored the front cover well with the point of a bone folder to create a hinge for the Japanese stab binding/side binding. After cutting white text paper to size and punching the stitching station holes, I bound the little notebook/jotter in a cross stitch pattern with narrow red ribbon.

It's a silly little thing, but it would be a handy quick jotter to carry in a purse or pocket, good for jotting down shopping lists, phone numbers and random ideas you don't want to escape.

And it counts as a book for a day.

Books 251 & 252 - Amate Paper Mini-Journals w/ Banana Paper Pages - Long-Stitch Binding

Here's a pair of little mini-journals with hidden long-stitch bindings. I made one yesterday and liked it so much I made another one today--same cover paper, different color and lining.

I love amate paper, the Mexican paper that is made from pounded tree bark. I bought quite a lot of it when I was in Mexico in May--took up half my suitcase getting it home. I love the swirling look and the feel of it. The covers of these journals feature two different colors of amate paper--one dark brown and one light natural. Though it is thick, amate can be a bit fragile, especially when folded, so I knew I was going to have to reinforce it at any folds. I used strips of heavy cardstock to reinforce the spines, and also covered the spines after stitching, creating a hidden long stitch binding.

The dark book has darker brown lokta paper on the spine and fore edge and light hand-made paper as the inner liner. The lighter book has the same dark brown lokta paper on the spine and fore edge as well as inside for the liner. I love using lokta paper. Despite the fact that it is lightweight, it is quite strong. It is also very flexible, handling almost more like fabric than paper.

I wrapped the cover over the fore edge to the front so I needed a closure. I used dots of adhesive Velcro. I would have preferred to use brown but didn't have any. I may go back over these with a brown marker so they don't stand out quite so starkly.

These little journals measure 4" x 5 1/4" and are approx 3/8" thick. The pages are a wonderful natural banana paper that makes a perfect complement to the amate covers.

Quite a nice little pair, I think.

Book 221-Heavy Hand-Made Grass Paper journal - Double Needle Coptic Binding

When I found this very heavy hand-made grass paper in Marilyn's studio I could not resist it. I wanted a very rustic looking journal, so I started pawing through the stacks of paper looking for something equally wonderful for the pages. I found some sheets of deeply textured but still light white hand-made paper that was perfect. It felt positively cottony.

I tore the pages to size and smoothed them hard with the bone folder to flatten a bit of the texture. I wanted a thick book, and by the time I had enough pages, the book was "spongy" from the springiness of the paper. I knew the covers would need some reinforcement to hold up to the pages. So I cut some pieces of chip board and lined them, then covered the lining with pieces of burnt orange unryu paper, also hand-torn to maintain the rough edges of the covers.

The binding is a double-needle coptic stitch with black waxed linen thread.

The sponginess of the thick book block still kept the book from lying closed so I needed some kind of a wrap or closure, I used the same waxed linen thread to make a looped cord to wrap around the book and then around a carved bone button that looks like a wheat sheaf. I think it's the perfect accent for the grassiness of the thick cover paper.

The book is small, only 3" X 4" but a full 1 1/2" thick. It feels wonderful to hold, very lightweight yet substantial at the same time, with that delightful cushiness when you squeeze it shut.

Just yummy paper.

Book 213 - A Pamphlet Stitch Journal/Blank Book/Guest Book with Olive Branch

I'm excited right now because this pretty pamphlet stitch journal  made with hand-made paper and Mexican amate paper cover is the first book I've made at my brand new workbench! Solid oak, just the right height, 4 drawers, a shelf for large paper. I love it! I've had it for a while, but it's been in a very large box waiting for me to make room for it. Today I did and tonight Allen and I put it together.

I felt so good standing there being able to simply reach for any tool I needed and it was right there, available! No digging in boxes looking for it. What a concept!

OK, enough about the workbench. The book is nice too. This is almost an exact replica of a book a friend used as a guest book/good wishes book for a party she threw for me several years ago. Everyone wrote lovely thoughts in it and I still have it. This book is a very simple structure. The lusciousness of it is all about the paper. The pages are a thick, wonderful hand-made paper with leaf inclusions. It's hard to photograph the texture, but it is really yummy. The cover is a piece of wonderfully swirly Mexican amate bark paper I brought back from San Miguel. The binding is a simple pamphlet stitch with the addition of wrapping the stitching around a small branch from our olive tree at the spine. I used deep red embroidery cotton, left a longish tail at the top and threaded on a pale red bone bead as an accent.

This would make such a pretty guest book on a hall table for all your visitors to sign.