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 - 306 - Blue Pyramid - Recycled Packaging Mini-Book/Notebook/Jotter - Long Stitch Binding

More upcycling, this time another little mini-notebook/jotter. I've been hanging onto this piece of a Pyramid Cigarettes carton for ages, knowing I'd use it sometime. I do like that silver and blue logo.

To make this little pocket notebook/jotter, I cut the carton up and backed the pieces with nice thick card stock for body. I creased the cover with my bone folder to make the spine and reinforced it further with a strip of bright blue duct tape. I sewed the signatures to the spine with a long stitch binding. Pretty simple. Another go-to book when I need to get something done.

I have a lot more of these Pyramid brand cartons (it's the cheapest cig we sell). I've got them in red, green and blue, so you'll probably see more of them before I'm done. I've been thinking about cutting the pyramids out and folding them up somehow into little pyramid-shaped books. Still working it out.

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 249 - COZY - A Fuzzy Little Lambswool Mini-Journal w/ Long Stitch Binding

This little journal is... cozy. I can't think of a better word for it. It is made of the softest lambswool imaginable. While I was making it, the feel of the butter-soft leather and soft fuzzy wool reminded me of the balls of lambswool we used to put into the toes of our pointe shoes when I was studying ballet as a girl (a half century ago!!! OUCH!)

This little min-journal is a really simple book. I used the cut-off ends of the signatures of a book I made a few days ago-so the pages were already cut and folded into sigs. I cut a length of the lambswool leather the width of the book and 2 1/2 times the length, folded it in half and stitched in the signatures using a long stitch binding with brown linen thread.

I left the fore edge long and ragged for an organic look. I slit holes in the two long flaps and threaded a soft leather thong through them, then tied the ends of the thong in a loose knot. To open the book, you untie it, pull the covers apart and let the thong loop back over the book. That way, you don't have to keep threading and unthreading one end of the thong through the cover slit.

This would be nice to stick in a pocket. You could just put your hand in there every once in awhile and feel it's cozy softness. You could also hang it form a belt or purse, but someone might ask about the tiny dead animal you were carrying around.

Book 244-A Group of Little Blank Booklets - Ribbon Bound w/ Pamphlet Stitch

Today's "book"  is actually seven (count 'em-7!) books. I did a group of seven pamphlet stitch booklets, but they were so quick and easy, I just felt too guilty counting them as seven days so here they are, Day 244.

I was in Jo-Ann's craft store the other day, rooting around in the piles of scrapbooking papers, looking for likely papers for books. I found a few pads of 5x7" paper in pretty patterns. I also found one pad of cardstock with peel-off adhesive backing. That just screams "quick and easy" so it was too hard to pass up.

For each little booklet, I took a sheet of the pretty paper, found a coordinating color cardstock, peeled off the backing paper, and stuck 'er down. A few needed a tad bit of trimming. This became the cover. Then I scored a line in the center where the spine would be and folded the cover in half and boned it down. I cut some ivory text paper to size, folded 12 sheets in half, nested them into a single signature. I poked a pair of holes in the spine and a matching pair of holes in the cover and bound the whole thing with a piece of very narrow satin ribbon in a coordinating color.

After tying a knot to keep the binding from coming loose, I tied a pretty bow, knotted that, then wrapped the remaining ribbon around  the book and tied a second bow to keep the booklet closed.

These little booklets are pocket sized, so handy for odd notes, phone numbers, jotting down quick ideas. I also think they would make very nice bridesmaid gifts or wedding favors.

Book 196-Rook Cards Notebook-Double-Needle Coptic Binding

Today I've got a little pocket notebook that is just so-so. The idea is OK. I made the covers by gluing two playing cards from a Rook game together for the front and two more for the back. That gave the covers a bit more heft and stability.

The signatures are folded from regular white text paper. The problem is that I punched the holes in the covers with a regular office-type hole punch and they are too big. I wondered if maybe larger holes would help it lie flat better, but it just made the covers want to slide around too much. Even the stitching looks a bit sloppy on this. I'm still struggling a bit with the 2-needle coptic binding.

Oh well, I did say some of these books would just be a learning experience. This was certainly that. I might try the idea again later. The size would be handy for a pocket or purse.

Book 180 - A Simple Lotería Pocket Notebook - Japanese Stab Binding

This is a really simple little book, a Japanese stab bound notebook. At about 3 1/2x4 1/2', it's a nice size for a pocket or purse.

I realized recently how much money I've already spent on this challenge in materials, so I set myself a special challenge today: to see if I could make a book for literally pennies in materials.The lotería cards were cut from one big card from a set I bought in the open market while I was in Mexico. I think the whole set cost about $3, which means the part I used is worth about 15 cents. The pages are cut from brown painter's masking paper. It's t hin and slightly shiny on one side. I bought it at a paint store, in a roll 9" wide by 180' long for about $1.50 For the pages, I used about 15' off the roll, sot he paper cost me about 13 cents. The two feet or so of blue hemp cord was about 5 cents and the 6 beads were 1/2 cent each.

Total cost of this book in materials = 36 cents. So I guess I managed to meet that challenge.

Book 156 - A Recycled Package Journal - Coptic Binding Hand Made Book

I think these recycled package books are becoming my signature. I will admit they are what I tend to fall back on when I don't have any clever idea and I want to do something relatively easy.

This one is from a box of "New York Deli Style" Philly-Cheese sandwiches ready to nuke and eat. I do like the graphic. I cut the covers from the box, then lined them for strength with a really pretty pearlescent finish card stock in goldenrod. The text block is ten signatures of six sheets (12 pages) each. The binding is an exposed spine coptic binding sewn with golden yellow waxed hemp thread.

The book measures 2 1/4" x 5 1/2" x 3/4" thick. It's actually a really handy size and with enough pages to be useful.

Book 155 - Tiny Leather Journal-Red Leather for Necklace/Booklace

Darn blogger! It would not let me post this last night. But it WAS made, I swear it.

Anyway, here's a cute tiny book of quotes, three signatures bound with a long stitch binding to a nice piece of red leather. The tiny pages are printed with 16 different quotations about books. The binding is stitched with brown waxed hemp thread, which also is chain braided to create a wrap-around tie to close the little book.

This is going to get a large metal jump ring through a hole at the top of the spine so it can be hung on a chain or cord as a nacklace/booklace. A nice tiny book; it would be a great gift for a book lover (and aren't we all???)

Book 145 - Recycled Journal - An Ass Kickin' Day!

Finally! Blogger will let me upload pix again.

Here's another in series of recycled packaging blank journals from our store. This one is at least a fun design. We sell a lot of hot sauce and other HOT stuff form this company. They do a whole line of "kick ass" hot stuff. One of our best sellers is their hot spiced popcorns.  This package is for the chili-lime popcorn, and I think the colors and the graphics are really fun.

For this hand bound blank book, I cut the box to size, lined it with a nice, stiff cream-colored cardstock, made alternating signatures from pink and green text paper and bound them with a longstitch binding.

Neat little book, but nothing fancy. NOTHING like what I'm going to show you!!! Hold on to your hats. I will post it tonight!

Book 144 - Bluberry Muffin Book, coptic Stitch Hand-Made Journal

This cute mini-journal is another "store" book. We sell these little packaged muffins, two to a pack. And today, while putting some on the shelf, I noticed that the graphics on the box were pretty neat (I tend to notice those things a lot more now!)

I cut the blueberry and banana nut images from the side of the cardboard box and edged them with decorative blue masking tape, then lined the inside with bright golden yellow paper. I cut the pages from the same paper, five signatures of 6 sheets each for a total of 30 pages (60 both sides). Then I stitched them with a single-needle coptic stitch.

I can see that I am going to have to break down and learn the double needle coptic stitch, because I really don't like the way this looks at the ends of the signatures. And I always have trouble getting the book to lie perfectly flat when closed. I don't know if I'm stitching too tight--too much tension--or the holes in the covers are too small, or what? You'd certainly think I'd have this stitch down pat by now!

Since I like these graphics so much, don't be surprised if I make one or two more from this box in the next few days.

Book 142 - Bookmark Fan Book, Handmade Book with Little Indian Girl

Really taking it easy here tonight with this little bookmark fan book. This was another idea that came up by wandering through our store. We sell a lot of these little laminated bookmarks with historical photos--mostly Native American. I've always loved this one. The little Indian girl has so much personality!

For the text pages, I chose a peach-colored paper that blends nicely with the sepia of the photograph. I cut it to the same size as the bookmark. For the back, I cut a piece of mat board to size and glued a piece of cardstock on the back. The stock is a two-layer scrap-booking paper that you can tear/fold/sand to reveal some of the under color. I sanded this piece for interest and to make it look "distressed" and add to the historical flavor.

After neatly stacking the front and back covers over the block of text pages, I clamped the whole thing together and drilled the top whole with a 1/4" bit. Then I connected everything with a 1/4"  nylon binding post from Home Depot.

This little book fans out beautifully At 2" x 6", it would make a great notebook to keep in a pocket for quick notes and to-do lists.