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 122 - De La Luna Loteria Coptic Bound Journal

Here's a couple more cards from the fantastic "loteria" set I found with calavera art by Mexican artist Erik de la Luna. This time, I've used larger postcards of a couple of the images. I glued them to the stiff cover of a notebook for extra strength and I've let the decorative pattern of the notebook cover serve as a design element on the inside, like an end sheet.

The cover image is a skeleton angel with flowing curly hair and holding a flaming sword. The back is a skeleton version of Sor Juana, a very famous Mexican writer and poet from the 17th century.

There are nine signatures of five folded sheets each, alternating red recycled paper with white text-weight bond paper. That gives this hand-made blank journal a total of 90 leaves and 180 pages (both sides). The book is hand bound with a single-needle coptic stitch (chain stitch binding) in white waxed linen thread. Since the coptic binding method leaves an exposed spine, the alternating red and white signatures makes a pretty design element on the spine.

Thanks to the gluing of the covers, this journal needs to go under weights now to flatten it out completely.

I do love this "loteria" set. I've got to find more fun stuff to do with these great images.

Book 119 - That Which Makes the World Go 'Round - Stab-bound Booklet

More "loteria" cards! I''ve loved these Mexican game images ever since I first saw them more than 20years ago. And when I bought these loteria cards at the "tianguis" the other day. I also bought some Mexican play money--like Monopoly money but in pesos and with Mexican images. Although this play money mirrors the colors and styles of real Mexican money, and is made of the same slick plastic-like material, the images are not the same. I'd love to have Frida Kahlo on a bill, but she's not... at least not yet.

This is a really simple little project, more about the whimsy of the materials than the structure or anything else. It's a little Japanese stab binding book with the play money used for the pages and a couple of loteria cards on the covers.

On the front is "El Mundo," The World, and on the back is "El Diablito," the Little Devil... which I guess some people also associate with money.

Book 118 - Mexican Loteria Coptic Bound Journal - La Sirena

Well, I finally got up to the "Tianguis," the weekly open-air market here in San Miguel de Allende. And I got the "Loteria" cards I went looking for. Then I turned some of them into a coptic bound blank journal.

Loteria is a popular party and family game in Mexico. It's played just like Bingo, except instead of numbers the cards have pictures and the caller calls out the name of the character or item int he picture. The traditional images on the Loteria cards have become icons in Mexican popular culture. On the front of this book, I've used one of the most popular, "La Sirena," The Mermaid. On the back, you see another well-known character, "El Borracho," The Drunk.

This little blank journal is bound with a single-needle coptic stitch, which creates rows of chain stitches on the spine of the book. There are 9 signatures and a total of 126 leaves (252 pages both sides). As I was making the holes for the stitching, I realized that the mat board covers needed some kind of reinforcement or the stitching was going to pull through the edge. So I added a narrow slice of the red check plastic I used for an earlier book.

I took the photos as soon as I finished stitching it, so the book is not quite as flat as I'd like in the pctures. It is now under weights and will be better tomorrow.

I've got a lot more Loteria cards, so you'll be seeing some variations on this over the coming days.