Book 349 - "Rite of Passage" - AARP Membership Card Pocket Notebook/Jotter - Double-Needle Coptic Stitch Binding.

I'd thought a few times of making book covers from credit cards, but it didn't seem too smart to put them on the 'Net for all to see. So I chose these AARP membership solicitation cards instead.

I remember clearly the day I got my first piece of junk mail from AARP. I'd just turned 50 and the mail was an invitation to join the organization. I remember my then-husband saying it was a "Rite of Passage," right up there with a young man getting that "Greetings" letter from Selective Service on turning 18.

This little notebook is pretty straightforward. I just poked two holes along one edge of two cards, folded up some signatures and trimmed them to size, and bound the whole thing with a double-needle coptic stitch binding. The hardest part was remembering how to do the binding. Mostly, I do single-needle coptic and I think I made a mistake or two on this. I should have looked it up.

Oh well, I'll never sell this one so it will just end up in some personal "archives" somewhere.

Book 348 - Oregon Vintage Postcard Book - Ribbon Ledger Binding

This ledger bound blank book has covers made from some charming vintage (or vintage-style) postcards I found in the Portland, Oregon airport earlier this month. I just grabbed them because I liked the graphics, but I had no idea what I would do with them.

So, what I did with them... I glued the postcards together, back to back, to make two double-sided covers. And I did it so that when the front cover is flipped UP, the postcard on the other side will be facing UP too. I cut a pile of text pages to size. I punched holes in the covers and the text pages with a round hole punch. I stacked the whole thing up and clamped it with binder' clips.

For the ledger binding, I cut two lengths of ribbon and threaded one length through the first hole, around the top and edge and tied it in a square knot. Then I did the same thing with the second piece of ribbon in the second hole.

On each ribbon, I slid a fat big-hole glass bead down over the ribbon. Then I tied the loose ends of the ribbons into a knot at the top of the book. You can use this knot to hang the book if you want to. That's what the ancient Japanese did with these "ledger" books--kept them hanging and handy for a quick consultation and a "How 'm I doin'"?

The postcard images make this book.

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.