Book 242 - A Hard-Cover Journal w/ Hidden Long Stitch Binding-Red Fish

I wanted to try this hidden long stitch book structure as soon as I saw it for several reasons.

1) It's fairly easy to make--easy structurally.
2) Since the front and back boards are covered separately, you can use up smaller scraps of decorative paper.
3) The long stitch binding is hidden by the bookcloth covering the spine. That makes for a very neat, clean package.
4) It's sturdy, neat, and looks really good.

Basically, you just cover your front and back boards with the cover paper and paste the leather/bookcloth spine piece in place between the covers. In this case, I chose an Asian-feel paper of black and metallic gold fish on bright red paper. I used a piece of black silk bookcloth with both a sheen to it and a slight slub.

Cut a second strip of the bookcloth and sew the signatures of the book to it. I used a simple butterfly stitch. Then lay the book block in place inside the cover, glue down the "hinge" made by the inside bookcloth, then paste the end papers in place, covering over the "hinge"

Put it under weight for a while and you have a very nice, sturdy little pocket or purse book.

Book 219 - Pigskin Wrapped Journal/Blank Book- Long Stitch Binding

Back to working with leather with this wrapped pigskin journal. I like pigskin. Besides being very affordable, it's thin and very soft. You do often have to work around scars and flaws, but some of them are OK; they give your book character.

For this blank book/journal, I cut the leather in a roughly cross shape so I could wrap the book like a package. The pages are hand-torn Arches Text Wove, a wonderful heavy art paper. The liner is a decorative paper in a bronze swirl pattern. The longstitch binding is sewn with waxed linen thread. I tied a carved bone ring onto the end of the wrap-around thong tie.

Pretty straightforward, really. I like the way it wraps up like a neat little package.

Book 215 - A Recycled Package Book/Journal - Henry Weinhards Root Beer 6-Pack

A Root Beer book! Well, a recycled root beer six-pack carrier book/journal. Ooh, I love root beer. And this Henry Weinhard's is the best! Creamy with a wonderful foamy head. And great for root beer floats.

Not bad for books either. I cut the sides off the 6-pack carrier and used part of the bottom for the spine. I like that little curve at the top of the carrier that now is part of the book's fore edge. I lined the pieces with ivory pearlescent card stock and added another piece of the same  stock over the spine as an accent and to cover up some print there. I folded eight signatures out of peach colored text-weight paper.  The book is bound with a long stitch binding with brown waxed hemp cord.

It's a neat little book.

Book 193 - A Nifty Little Leather Journal with Brand... and a Coyote!

This whole leather mini-journal came into my mind when I saw the carved bone howling coyote in a bead store. Well, hey, I live in Arizona. Coyotes "R" Us. I saw a pair of them just a couple days ago as I was tootling down the Chloride Road. So naturally, this one called to me.

I knew he was going onto a leather journal. But the brand (or scar) in a circle that just happens to look like the moon rising huge behind him was just a happy accident. Really!

Whenever I am pawing through leather scrap bins, I always keep an eye cocked for scraps with ranch brands or scars. I think they give the leather so much more character. I'm not sure what the rough circle scar on this piece was, but I like it.

This little mini-journal has ten signatures of 7 sheets each for a total of 140 pages (280 both sides). It is sewn with a longstitch binding with natural hemp cord. I find I am drawn to these "fat" journals much more than the skinnier ones. (Probably because I always have too much to say... as you might have noticed).

OK, I'm done. Enjoy this book!

Book 182 - A Navy Leather Mini Journal - Fat Journal

Time for one of my standby leather journals. I had this lovely piece of dark blue leather, but it was quite small. So... a mini-journal. The book measures 3"x3 1'2" x 1" at the spine. This little book has great depth and feels substantial for all its small size. The hand-torn pages are 70 lb. cream Neenah velvet finish paper. It's one I love the feel of and it has a nice weight. Eight signatures, six sheets each, 96 pages (192 both sides).

The exposed binding is the longstitch done with waxed linen thread in a dark plum/brown. I crossed the threads on pairs of signatures for added interest.

Really a sweet little mini-journal.

Book 169 - a Cardboard & Duct Tape Recycled Blank Book/Journal

Going a little grungy today. Here is a blank book/journal recycled from two pieces of cardboard cut from a case of Arizona Iced Tea. The backs and edges are covered with acid green duct tape (my faithful followers know about me and duct tape). The 6 signatures of 5 sheets each of creamy colored recycled paper make 60 pages (120 both sides) inside the journal.

I joined the front and back of the book with folded strips of the green duct tape taped down inside then stitched the signatures over the tapes with a longstitch binding with red hemp cord. It's really quite colorful!

This is pretty much a quick and dirty, grunge-look thing, but it qualifies as today's book.

Book 162 - Green Cowhide Leather Journal-Handmade Blank Book

I wasn't up to thinking too much tonight, so fell back on my stand-by. Here's a very pretty green leather journal in a medieval limp binding with a longstitch. The paper is gorgeous 70 lb cream velvet finish paper with hand-torn edges. There are 8 signatures of 6 sheets (12 pages) each for a total of 96 sheets (192 pages both sides). It is sewn with medium brown waxed linen thread.

This leather feels wonderful to the hand. It is fairly thick but very soft. When the cover of a longstitch journal such as this is soft and "limp" it's called the medieval limp binding. I may come back later and add some kind of closure to this, since the leather is not stiff enough to stand up on its own. On the other hand, I like the clean look of it with no strap or closure. We'll see.

NOTE: For those of you who follow me regularly and sometimes comment, I often leave replies to your comments in the specific thread. If you've asked a question or made some other comment of note, I might have answered you there. Please check.

Book 161 - Triscuit Box Recycled Cross-Structure Journal

Here's another cross-structure binding, this time using an empty Triscuit box. I love these crackers, especially these parmesan/garlic ones. I end up with a lot of these empty boxes.

The cross structure binding was invented by Carmencho Arregui, a Spanish bookmaker living and working in Italy. I learned it rom Alisa Golden's "Making Handmade Books." But the other day I found Arregui's website and learned that he has come up with several variations on this binding. I want to try them all.

I wanted this to be quick & dirty, so I didn't line the inside of the box. I just cut it to the cross-structure pattern, stitched the signatures over the tabs and glued the tabs down inside. This is not a hard book at all once you get the idea clear in your head.

It's late, so... g'night.

Books 158, 159 & 160-Tootsie Pops Trio Recycled Packaging Blank Journals

A triple treat today! Since these recycled packaging journals seems to be my new signature style, I thought I would see just how many books of different types I could make from one candy box. And this great Tootsie Pops box came available today.  (This also serves the purpose of playing a little catch up since I missed a few days toward the beginning of this challenge.)

The first book is my favorite. It makes such a neat little package. This slotted spine longstitch binding is easier in some ways than a regular longstitch with holes in the spine. But it can be harder to keep the threads just where you want them. For this one, I covered the spine and the wrap at the fore edge with red duct tape (I do love me some red duct tape!) The cover is lined with a pearlescent cardstock in a raspberry color. The eight ivory paper signatures are sewn with white linen thread through the slits in the spine. I finished it with a purple flourite bead and a hand-looped chain cord for wrapping around.

The second book is also a long stitch but with holes. And I did not use one long thread to sew all the signatures together as well as to the spine, like I usually do. Each of the five signatures is sewn to the spine with a separate thread. I left a long tail on each thread at top and bottom. When all the signatures were sewn, I braided the five threads at the head and at the tail and finished each with an Italian glass bead and a small tassel. Inside the cover is lined with gold pearlescent cardstock and the paper is white text paper.

Book three is the simplest and smallest (and the fastest to make). It is a simple perfect binding book, much like a note tablet. Three colors of text paper (red, emerald green and purple) are cleanly cut and stacked for the block. Then one edge is glued with padding compound glue while being tightly held together. It's clamped to dry, with at least two coats of the special glue. Finally, I wrapped the spine with more red duct tape (hmmmm..) and called it finished.

Quite a haul from one little throw-away box of Tootsie Pops.

Book 149 - "Don Julio" Tequila Book - Longstitch Binding Handmade Book

A little late once again, since this is yesterday's book. I actually made most of this longstitch binding handmade journal yesterday. But it was a very long day and I was exhausted last night. You see, yesterday was one of the two biggest days of the year here in little Chloride, Arizona, our annual "Old Miners' Day" with a quintessential small town parade, raffle, bake sale, gunfights and vendors. Allen got me up at 6 am (I am SO not a morning person) to take care of last minute stocking and preparing the store, then I was at the cash register most of the day with people lined up. By 6 pm, we were both exhausted. It was a "throw-a-pizza-in-the-oven" night.

By the time I could start on my book, I was literally falling asleep between stitches. Finally, I realized that if I forced myself to finish the book last night, I was going to screw it up somehow. So I crashed. Finished it this morning.

It's made from a Don Julio tequila box my friend Juan gave me while I was in San Miguel, a pretty and quite sturdy box. I cut it up, scored an extra fold line for the spine and trimmed it to size. I lined the inside of the cover with textured black cardstock for a nice clean finish. I painted the spine part with silver, made from PearlEx powder mixed with a little acrylic medium. The pages are three colors of text paper--blue, gray and white, in six signatures.

The stitching is the longstitch binding but slightly different than any I've done before. Instead of punching holes in the spine for stitching stations, I cut four cross slits to sew through. And I wrapped the stitching around the cover at top and bottom. It's a different look and one I'd like to play around with some more.

Books 130 & 131

I seem to be on a black leather kick, don't I? Maybe it's the result of returning from the vivid colors and vibrant life of Mexico to the beige/rust/gray/dusty green of the Mohave Desert. But black leather has just been calling to me the last couple of days.

Today we have a pair of earrings. These are actual, complete books, each with two signatures and a total of 20 pages of white text paper (40 pages counting both sides). They are stitched with waxed linen thread, just like my larger books. Then they are hung from hand-made copper earwires.

I first tried making these out of a soft calfskin but it was simply too soft to hold its shape. I had to take them apart and start over with a stiffer leather. I used the softer leather to cut the thongs that wrap around and close these tiny books. Working this tiny can be really fussy and annoying. Things don't want to hang right. Surprisingly, these two little things took almost as long to make as if they were regular sized books. So I'm counting them as two books (to help me catch up).

Hey, it's my challenge and I make the rules. Two earrings, two books. Right? Right!

Book 128 - A Pretty Hair-On Hide Brown Leather Journal - Blank Book

Here's another of my patented hair-on hide leather journals. This one is a rich chestnut brown with a lot of auburn in it and pale gray on the sueded side. The liner paper is a burnt orange unryu paper. I used three capsule-shaped carnelian beads to embellish the spine and it is stitched with a longstitch binding.

The paper for the pages is just yummy and not very expensive. I love using art paper, like Arches Text Wove or Rives for these blank journals, but man, does it cost! I found a ream of this paper in Arvey Paper in Portland, OR, but it should be pretty widely available. It is called Sundance, from Neenah Paper. It's a 70 lb, felt finish paper in warm white. The finish is soft to the touch, just lovely, and it tears beautifully if you want that deckled edge look. I'll be looking for more of it.

Yes, I know I am still a book behind from the other day when I got home and promptly went to sleep for 14 hours. I will try to get an extra one done tomorrow or Monday.