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 305 - A Tiny Notebook/Jotter from Recycled Packaging - Top Tobacco Book - Ribbon side Binding

Recycling 'R' Us - Here's a piece cut from a box that held a dozen pouches of Top brand rolling tobacco.

I cut the pieces and backed them with some colored stiff black card stock. I scored the front cover well with the point of a bone folder to create a hinge for the Japanese stab binding/side binding. After cutting white text paper to size and punching the stitching station holes, I bound the little notebook/jotter in a cross stitch pattern with narrow red ribbon.

It's a silly little thing, but it would be a handy quick jotter to carry in a purse or pocket, good for jotting down shopping lists, phone numbers and random ideas you don't want to escape.

And it counts as a book for a day.

Book 248 - Little Blue Notebook w Chinese Paper - Japanese Stab Binding

I made this little notebook so I could use some odd paper my sister picked up in Vancouver's Chinatown. (Also because I was tired and it's easy, but don't tell anyone.)

I have no idea what the pierced cream-colored paper is for. But it was intriguing. The weight and texture are like a two-sheet paper towel after you've peeled off one layer. I liked the cut-outs and wanted to show them off with some contrast, so I opted to put a piece of solid color paper under each sheet, The colors alternate bright red and royal blue. I cut the question mark from red paper and glued it down.

The covers are cut from a heavy, canvas-textured card stock. After wrapping it around the block, I clamped everything together neatly and drilled the holes for the stitching. The traditional Japanese stab binding is done with narrow navy blue ribbon.

This is kind of a silly book. It has no purpose at all and would not be practical for much of anything. But I think it's cute. And it got me to finish my book for the day.

 

Book 198-A Chinese Red Perfect Bound Notebook

This neat little notebook with a perfect binding features more of the Chinese paper I bought a few years ago in Portland, OR. I seem to be on an Asian kick right now. Ah, red and gold... pretty!

Perfect binding makes a very  neat package. The pages of this book are a heavy cream paper with a felt finish. The side edges are cut; the bottom edges are hand torn. With a perfect binding, you stack the cut pages up with a very clean, neat cut at the spine edge. When you're sure the spine edge is really tightly stacked and all the pages are even, you clamp the pages together and paint that edge with a special glue called padding compound. To get a good bond, you fan the pages just slightly in each direction while gluing. When it's dry, the pages are attached together.

I used book board for the front and back cover. They're covered with a gorgeous bronze-colored paper with a swirled satin texture. Then I glued the red-and-gold Chinese paper on the front. (If anyone can tell me what the Chinese characters  mean, I'd love to know.) For a tad bit more interest, I added a piece of  red-and-gold joss paper just inside the cover. Finally, I covered the spine with a piece of red duct tape, well burnished down onto the glued edge of the perfect binding.

This is a neat book, solid in the hand, nicely squared up and easy to hold. As a journalist and editor, I've done a fair number of interviews in my life, without a tape recorder. This notebook would work for standing up note-taking because it's narrow enough to hold in one hand easily and stiff enough to write on while holding it.

Day 197 - A Chinese Notebook with Japanese Ledger Binding

Today I've got Chinese and Japanese a bit mixed up. This long, narrow notebook is a Japanese ledger binding done with variegated ribbon. But the paper is Chinese. I bought this in Portland, Oregon's China town a few years ago and it's been sititng around waiting to become something pretty ever since. I saw it today while clearing out a box and had to finally use it.

I glued the two pieces of Chinese paper to gold-colored pearlescent card stock for extra body. I cut tan text paper to size, punched wholes in the entire stack and bound it at the top. I threaded the ribbon through some multi-colored glass beads before tying it off.

This type of binding was commonly used in Japan to keep ledgers. It's designed to hang on a hook on the wall. I can see hanging this somewhere you want to have handy access to a jotter--a place to jot down to-do lists, birthdays to remember, scribble ideas. It would add a nice touch of color to a wall.

It reminds me a bit of something I saw a lot when I lived in Holland years ago. Birthdays are really important to the Dutch. They buy a birthday calendar that is long and narrow like this and hangs on a hook. It has one page for each month with just a line for each day where you can write the name of anyone having a birthday on that date. Very often, they hang them in the bathroom, right inside the door. Well, after all, it's someplace you are going to be every day and if it's right in your face, you'll likely look at it and not forget Tante Henrika's birthday.

Book 170 - Sunkist Recycled Accorion Fold Book

Another little recycled packaging book. I opened a package of Sunkist fruit snacks today and immediately loved the logo for a book. The perfect oval was printed on both sides of the box, so I was golden. Just cut 'em out, back 'em with cardstock and you've got your covers. I made a small "hinge" at the spine edge with two pieces of cardboard sandwiched over a strip of Tyvek for extra strength.

For the pages, I cut ovals of orange paper and made the accordion pages by attaching them to each other with small round label stickers. I only had white, so I colored them with an orange Sharpie. I glued the accordion pages to the insides of the covers and the book was done. And it wasn't even midnight!

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.

Book 125 - My Touring Notebook - a Perfect Bound Hand-made Note Book

Well, now I am officially cheating. This was supposed to be yesterday's book. But by the time I got home from my travels--after 21 hours traveling door to door--I was exhausted. I decided to lay down for a "nap" and didn't get up until 14 hours later. So my window of opportunity for making yesterday's book on time was spent sawin' some ZZZs.

So here is yesterday's book and I'll get around to today's book tomorrow... I hope.

Since I'm still tired, I wanted to do something simple. I decided I would just walk into my incredibly cluttered studio here at home and make a book out of the first usable thing my eye fell on. And that turned out to be perfect.

The thing I saw was an old voucher book from my days working as a professional Tour Director for the largest escorted bus tour company in the world. For 8 years, I spent most of my late-spring-to-early-fall months guiding bus loads of tourists through some of the most beautiful country in the United States, including many of the western National Parks, as well as crossing into Mexico to show them the glorious Copper Canyon. I loved sharing these beautiful places with people, helping them see beyond the surface and ensuring that every detail went smoothly and they got the vacation they paid for.

BUT... it was the most tiring and stressful job I've ever had. And after a few years, I came to dread the approach of touring season, finally understanding why my best Tour Director friend starting falling into depression and horrid moods as the season got closer and closer each year. So though I am thankful for the wonderful trips and passengers I encountered... I am equally relieved and joyous that I don't have to do it anymore.

That's why it was pure joy to chop up this old voucher book (forms used like checks to pay hotels, restaurants, helicopter companies, river rafting companies, etc. for their services) and make it into a notebook.

The book is perfect bound, the clean cut edges glued with special padding compound. The covers are backed with promotional material for Zion National Park and the glued edge is covered with decorative masking tape for a clean finished edge.