Day 22-Welcome to Las Vegas

This book is tiny--only 1 1/2" in diameter. I wanted to try something else very small and I've been playing around with the idea of poker chips for awhile.

The covers of this little book are two souvenir poker chips I bought at the Gambler's General Store in Las Vegas some time ago. Using them as a template, I cut out 40 circles of paper in four different colors for the pages. I sandwiched the pages between the two chips, clamped them all together with a couple of bulldog clips, and drilled a whole through all the layers just inside the edge on one side.

I cut a length of thick, 12 gauge copper wire. I hammered one end of the wire with a riveting hammer to get it to flare enough that it would not pass through the hole in the top chip. Then I threaded the unflared end through the whole book, trimmed the back end of the wire quite short, set the thing upside down on an anvil, and flared the other end of the wire. I now had a rivet closing the book. The rivet is loose enough that the chips and pages can turn around it, flaring open so you can get at the pages.

I think this little book would be a great card marker for a poker player. And it has the advantage of being a real book, so during a break you can make notes in it about the plays or anything else.

Day 21-Happy Valentine's Day

OK, this book has nothing profound to say. I simply had this little chocolate box--thanks to my sweetie--and I'd been wanting to try a shaped accordion. The two seemed a good match.

I did nothing to the box. I could have covered it, but I've been feeling lazy. I made a 24 page heart-shaped accordion book, cut out a red heart from decorative paper for the first page and glued the whole accordion structure into the bottom of the box. Cutting the shape was simple--like cutting out paper dolls when you were a kid--but easier since the shape was simple.

I'll do other, more challenging shapes as we go along.

Day 20 - The Key to Everything

Here's a neat little snake book--a folded book structure made out of a single sheet of paper. In this case, I used a sheet of 8 1/2"x11" white card stock.

This book, "The Key to Everything," shows a dozen illustrations of the word "key" including pictures of lock keys, computer keys, piano keys, Alicia Keys, the Black Keys group, the Florida Keys, a Phi Beta Kappa key, the anthrax toxin protein key, an alchemy key, Francis Scott Key, a keystone and Stevie Wonder's album "Songs In the Key of Life." The images were printed on one side of the paper, plus another key and a keyhole on the opposite for the front and back covers of the book. The paper is folded and cut so that it bends back on itself to form 12 pages. The finished book is approx. 2 3/4" square.

The second photo shows the book flat, with fold lines and cuts. This is a nifty little structure that could be made much larger with a larger piece of paper. I might explore that a bit down the road.

Day 19 - Wood and Wire Stab Binding

This is a stab binding book with covers made of 1/4" solid birch. The wood has been cut, sanded, and stained and then had the holes drilled for the binding. I've had the wooden covers for this book cut for some time, but never did anything with them.

The hinge on the front is made from black bookcloth. I've usually done this type of binding with thread or other cord. This time I decided to use 16 gauge copper wire. It was more difficult than I imagined. The wire tends to kink. I spiraled the ends and used a hammer to flatten and texture the wire. The book measures 6"x8"x3/4"thick. The pages are white text paper.

Day 18-Jokers Wild

This is a book I've been thinking about making for ages. I've been collecting different designs of playing cards for years, thinking to make books out of them. I saw the stack in my studio today and figured it was time.

This extra-large pack of cards measures 4 3/4" x 6 3/4". There are approx. 78 pages of deep cream-colored text weight paper. (156 counting both sides). The spiral binding is hand-coiled out of 14 gauge nickel wire, then threaded through the hand-punched holes.

Since my big paper-cutter is not properly set up, this gave me a chance to practice cutting a book block with and X-acto knife. The cut turned out not bad. Punching the holes was harder. Next time, I'll find a better way to line them up and punch them than with a hand punch that won't do more than 4-5 pages at a time.

Day 17-Another Hair-on Hide Journal

Today's book is a repeat. And you're likely to get quite a few more of these little hair-on hide journals before the year is done. Well, I didn't say I would make something totally original and creative every day, did I? I just said I would make a book a day. And I love making this kind of book. I can make them all day long. I like the feel of the hair leather, the richness of the paper. I even like stitching them.

So, without further ado, here is a lovely little blond hair-on cowhide covered journal. The grain of the hair on the leather makes a pretty and soft swirl pattern on the cover. The pages are made of a rich creamy, almost buttery colored art paper, hand-torn for character. The journal is stitched with pale yellow linen thread using the longstitch, sewn directly through the leather spine. The book opens flat for easy journalling.

Day 16-Duffer's Guide

This book is an "almost cheat." I've made this book before, many times, and some of the elements of this one were already made. But since I actually put it together today, I'm calling it qualified.

This is actually my sister's design. Davey board bookboard is covered with a mustard yellow heavy decorative paper in a traditional, though very thin, book form. Inside, a single sheet of paper with computer generated text is printed with funny quotations about golf. The page is then accordion folded and glued into the book covers.

Some of the quotations are: "Golf is played by 20 million mature American men whose wives think they are out having fun." ~Jim Bishop

"Golf is just a lot of walking broken by disappointment and bad arithmetic." ~Earl Wilson

"In retirement I go for a short swim at least once or twice every day. It's either that or buy a new golf ball." ~Gene Perret

Nice little book and very salable. I'll make a lot more of these.

Day 15-"Achoo!" - A Loose-Leaf Allergy Book

Since I've been not at my best all day from being stuffed up, I decided to use that for today's book. I'd just grabbed the box of allergy tablets and reached for a Kleenex when it all came together at once.

Although today's book is a pretty quick-and-dirty rendition of the idea, I do like this idea and want to try it again soon. I took the allergy box and cut an oval from the front, like the oval on the top of the tissue box. I gathered a dozen quotations about colds and allergies and printed them out, then cut them into small sheets about 2 1/2" square. I folded them in half, some with a mountain fold over the text, some with a valley fold there. Then I interleaved them like Kleenex in a box. The problem was to get them to stay put inside the allergy box, which was a lot bigger than the "pages." Looking around my desk area for a way to hold them in place, I spotted a little origami box, slightly bigger than a matchbox, that a friend had sent me a cabochon in. The pages fit in it perfectly. I taped it down inside the box under the oval slit, pulled the first one, the "title page" up through the slit, and there you have it.

A couple of the quotations inside:

"I used to wake up at 4 a.m. and start sneezing, sometimes for five hours. I tried to find out what sort of allergy I had but finally came to the conclusion that it must be an allergy to consciousness." ~James Thurber

"Asthma doesn't seem to bother me anymore, unless I'm around cigars or dogs. The thing that would bother me most would be a dog smoking a cigar." ~Steve Allen


"Fall: it's the leaves, it's the mold, it's the pollen. Spring: it's the grass and the trees. Dust is bad in winter." ~Marjorie Crabtree

Enjoy...

Day 14-Bette Midler Accordion Book

I'm playing catch-up. While I was in Quartzsite, I had no internet access and when I got home last night I was exhausted. So over the next couple of  days, I'll be doubling up to stay on track.

Today's book is a small accordion book with one of my favorite quotations ever... truly wise words to live by. It's by Bette Midler and encapsulates her own uniqueness and creative spirit: "Stay true to the thing that makes you unique, 'cuz you're really a yawn if it goes."

The book measures 2 3/4" square. The board covers are covered with decorative paper. The text was computer generated. It was printed on beige text paper, then cut into strips, glued into one long strip and folded in an accordion fold. The text was then glued to the boards with a pair of ribbons caught beneath for tying the book shut.

Accordion books are always fun to make, not too hard and, I think, fun to read.

See you tomorrow.