Book 360-363 - "Four Dangerous Women" - Pulp Fiction Pocket Notebooks - Running Stitch Binding

These little pocket-sized notebooks feature some pulp fiction heroines you Do. Not. Want. To. Mess. With. You're not going to win. That's what I love about them.

After choosing the dangerous women images from my collection, I sized them to fit on 1/4 of a normal sized page. I printed the covers out two to a page, let them sit a few minutes to dry, then sprayed them with a light coat of acrylic sealer to protect the image from scratching. The matte finish photo paper I used is heavy weight and didn't really need a backing to work for the covers.

I scored the spine fold, using three score lines with very small spaces between so I would get a slightly rounded spine to accommodate the thickness of the single signature. I folded the pages and trimmed the single signature to fit then rounded the corners at the fore edge. After nesting the pages inside the folded cover, I poked holes 1/2" apart the whole length of the notebook and sewed it in a running stitch, down the spine then back up again, with white waxed linen thread.

After boning the fold a bit more, I put the little notebook under weight so it would lay more or less flat and closed.

Done. I like these. I'm going to make more. They look good, they are fairly fast to make, the materials cost is low, and I'm certain they will sell.

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 358 - Vinyl Record Journal - "Cabaret" with Liza Minelli - Coptic Binding

I loved "Cabaret" and thought Liza Minelli was simply magic in it. I love the music, too. So I was delighted to find a vinyl album of the show in a thrift shop. It was perfect for one of my vinyl record journals.

I cut the record to size with a band saw and smoothed the edges on a belt sander. I also sanded the fore edge corners of the covers into curves. Then I cut two pieces of the cardboard record jacket for the back cover. On the back is a picture of Liza on top of the word "Cabaret" in red lights. The inside back lining is a black and white picture of her.

For the pages, I used a cream-colored paper with lint flecks, folded into eight signatures. I tipped in bright orange end papers to repeat the orange color from the record label. I also rounded the fore edge corners of the pages to mirror the corves of the covers.

I drilled the stitching holes in the covers and poked holes in the sigs with an awl. The book is bound with a single-needle coptic stitch, also called a chain stitch binding.

This is a great journal, clever and very well made, if I say it who shouldn't.

Book 357 - Western Pulp Fiction - Classic Images Reversible Notebook/Journal

This reversible notebook/journal uses some classic imagery from 1950s pulp western fiction.

I have long loved pulp fiction imagery. It's just so immediate. It pulls you right into the moment of action, like good writing should. So I love using this imagery in my books.

For this 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" notebook/journal, I used two images and I reversed the one on the "back" so that the journal essentially has two fronts. You can use it either way. After printing the double image on heavyweight matte photo paper, I sprayed it with an acrylic surface spray to protect the finish. I needed a slightly rounded spine fold to accommodate the thickness of the two signatures, so I scored the inside center of the cover three times, about 3/16th of an inch apart on each score. Then when I folded it without boning it down hard on the creases, it was a bit rounded

I folded two signatures of 70 lb cream paper and stitched them both through a single set of sewing stations in the spine with a five-hole pamphlet stitch using a heavy waxed linen cord that feels almost like leather. I left the ends of the cord long enough at the center hole that I could wrap it around the book and tie it shut.

Nice notebook for a man, I think.

Book 341-342 - Six Pack Series - Inning Two - Recycled Beer Packaging Books - Coptic Bindings

Inning 2 in our game of recycled six-pack container books. Today's inning features two blank journals bound with the single-needle coptic stitch binding.

The Alaskan Amber journal was actually the first beer six-pack book I made. I loved the ship graphic (an ice cutter, I assume) and the bright red background. I cut the largest part of the six-pack, the front and back panels, trimmed them and then backed them with some gold metallic textured cardstock with a nice weight. That makes the cardboard stiff enough to bind well.

The Budweisser six-pack is a lot more familiar to most people. Bud is one of our best sellers (and this one is a slight cheat since it's from a 12-pack, not a six). I lined the trimmed cardboard with more of the heavy metallic-finish card stock, in silver.

The pages for both books are a camel-colored text weight paper folded into signatures. I bound the Alaskan Amber book with red waxed cotton thread. For the Bud journal, I used doubled thread, one strand of red and one of black.

Nifty little journals. And two more down.

Book 336 - Leather Journal with Turquoise - Long Stitch Binding

Time for another pretty leather journal. This is a really nice piece of leather, like a good quality purse would be made out of. It's a pale beige with a smooth finish, enhanced, I think, by a couple of natural markings in the leather.

For the pages, I used a rich, heavy cream-colored paper with a very subtle multi-colored fleck in it. The paper has just a slight tooth that makes it nice both for writing and drawing. A leaf-print paper in tones of green and gray makes the end papers.

The eight signatures are bound to the cover with light green waxed thread in a long stitch binding. I staggered the holes to give the binding an attractive pattern, and added beads. The top and bottom rows of stitches have small turquoise glass beads. In the center of the spine is a large turquoise nugget. It makes for a fairly dramatic spine.

This is really a luscious journal I'd be pleased to write in myself.

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 334 - "Chloride Days" - Accordion Fold Miniature Book with Tile Covers - Coptic Binding

Going small again tonight. This little tile cover miniature accordion book is similar to the book I did a couple weeks ago about San Miguel de Allende, the home of my heart. Puttering about in the store today, I noticed that some tile magnets we had were about the same size as the ones I used on that book.

I knew I had some nice photos I've taken here in Chloride, Arizona in the last couple years. So I thought why not do another tile cover accordion book.

First I had to pry the magnets off the back of the tiles, but that was not hard. I covered the back and edges of the tiles with brown lokta paper and painted over it with PVA glue to make it stronger. I sized and printed out all the tiny photos. Then I tore strips of Arches Text Wove paper 1 3/4" wide and accordion folded it. I needed one join in a valley fold of the accordion to make it long enough for all the photos.

After folding it up, I glued the photos to the pages. I designed and printed a first page plus a last page colophon. Once I had glued the tile covers to the accordion, this little jewel was done. I do think it needs to go under some weights. It tends to want to lay just slightly open.

Some of you have probably picked up on the fact that I'm not all that fond of Chloride. But this little book (about 2" square) makes it look not so bad. So I guess that's a good thing.

Book 333 - Recycled Bubble Mailer Journal w/ Duct Tape - Japanese Stab Binding

Where e'er my eye falleth, there I see books! Today, we got a DVD in the mail, a promotional film for a tourist attraction here in Arizona. Tonight, while setting the table, I noticed the bubble mailer it came in was sitting there. Hmmm, nice size. Already folded over. Padded. BOOK!

I cut the envelope open and started taping the cut edges with leopard print duct tape. I was going to leave part of the white envelope showing but changed my mind because that leopard print was just too cool. So I covered the whole thing inside and out. It did add a nice rigidity to the book while still keeping the nice cushiony feel to it form the bubble wrap inside. I cut a pile of light beige paper to fit and clamped the block inside the book cover. Punched holes through the whole thing and bound it with black waxed linen thread in a typical Japanese stab binding stitch.

I knew I had a sort of African-y looking bone bead somewhere, so I left longish threads at the top edge. It took a while to find the bead, but finally I tied it on and called this one done.

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.