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 352 - The Boys Book - Recycled Book Journal -Coptic Binding

This book is so cool looking. Even though it's not really old (as witness the scholastic website printed on the back cover) it looks old. It's a book that is supposed to show boys how to be the best at everything that boys like to do. I think it makes a great journal. The intense cobalt blue with silver printing on the cover is really eye-catching.

As per my usual style, I slit off the spine and made a bookmark from that part. I taped over the cut ends of the front and back covers, poked holes, folded up a bunch of signatures--these are a really neat astro-bright white paper with tiny confetti-colored flecks in it--and poked holes in those too. I also added blue washi tape to the spine fold of some of the signatures to create a colorful pattern on the exposed spine binding.

The single-needle coptic binding is done with white waxed linen thread.

Cool little journal!

Book 350-351 - Six Pack Series - Fourth Inning - Japanese Stab Bindings

More beer! More beer! More... oops, sorry, I got carried away for a minute.

But yeah, here are a couple more six-pack beauties.The Corona 6-pack is a little ordinary because the graphics aren't that great. But I really like the Fat Tire book.

In both of these blank books, I simply cut off the two large sides of the carton, and lined them with a very strong card stock. I creased the fold line for the front cover. I cut text paper pages to size and stacked the up. Clamped them between the front and back covers, poked holes through the whole sandwich.

I can make these Japanese Stab Bindings all day long and twice on Sunday. It's about the easiest sewn binding there is. And it always makes a nice book.

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 347 - "Mickey" Pocket Notebook - 2-Sewn-as-1-Binding

Here's a simple little two-sewn-as-one booklet/notebook that gets its charm from the paper. I found this red and black "Mickey" paper in the scrapbooking papers at JoAnns and grabbed it.

The two-sewn-as-one binding is really simple. I got it from Alisa Golden's book (you can see the book by clicking on the link in the right column). Basically, you fold up two signatures of text pages. You fold a cover with an extra "tab" folded inside the spine. Then you lay out both signatures, one with the valley fold on top of that little tab/flap, and the other with a mountain fold under the tab. Then you poke holes and stitch once through the whole sandwich. I used a simple 5-station pamphlet stitch.

Once you fold everything back into shape, you have a nice little book with two signatures. The hardest part is getting the spine fold to lie flat. I had to bone this down a lot then put it under some pretty heavy weights for awhile. I added a length of waxed linen thread stitched to the spine center to tie the book closed.

Handy little thing. Think I'll make one to carry around in my purse.

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.

Books 337-339 - Six Pack Series - First Inning - "Blue Moon"

Beer books! Or at least, beer (and other) six-pack books. More of my infamous recycled packaging.

We recently started selling beer in our store. One day, while taking bottles out of six packs to put in the color for individual sale, I noticed how many of the six pack holders had really cool graphics. And in the final sprint to get the last of my 365 books finished and posted, I needed ideas quick. So I started cutting.

This is the first posting in a series of books with various types of bindings I've been making the last couple of weeks--all from six pack containers (well, one is from a 12-pack, but who's quibbling?).

Today's entries are all from a single six-pack of Blue Moon beer, a Belgian White Wheat Ale.

The first book used the large flat front and back of the six-pack. It's a blank journal bound with a single needle coptic stitch. I backed the covers with blue metallic-finish textured card stock. For the stitching, I used a double strand of waxed cotton threads in two shades of blue for extra interest at the spine.

The second book, a mini-jotter notebook, is the same structure as the first but much smaller. It's made from the two small panels that come together at the side of the six pack. It is stitched with dark blue waxed cotton thread in a single-needle coptic binding.

Finally, I used the two small panels from the other side of the six pack to make a French door book. It's actually two small coptic-bound books stitch to a single back made of chip board and lined with metallic card stock. The "French door" opens to reveal two little notebooks side by side, opening in opposite directions, one stitched on the left, the other on the right. Hard to explain, easy to see in the photos. The book closes at the front with a chain-stitch cord that wraps around a square opalescent bead.

This series makes me think of Victor Hugo. Whenever he started writing a new book, he always bought a new bottle of ink. When he finished writing "Les Miserables," the bottle of ink he'd bought at the beginning was empty. He told his wife he should name the book, "What There is in a Bottle of Ink."

So I guess today's post is "What There is in a Six-Pack of Beer."