King Tut Sketchbook

One thing I really love about bookbinding is being able to make covers out of things that I like and think are cool, but which would probably just be hanging around collecting dust if I didn't do something with them.  I love decorative paper, but it would be pretty weird to buy it and then just stick it in a box, pausing every once in a while to admire it.  There's plenty of package art that I enjoy, but keeping it around just to look at would be too much clutter.  Making these things into book covers lets me enjoy them for a long time to come, while actually getting a useful object out of them.

I was discussing this all with my ladyfriend, and she got the idea to make a book out of her King Tut shopping bag that she had been saving from our trip to the Tutankhamun exhibit in Seattle.  I've previously made gift bags into book covers, and found it is in fact an excellent material for them, being much more resilient than uncoated paper.  She's an artist, so I made her a sketchbook.

 This is the first sketchbook I've ever made, so I had a few engineering challenges.  First, the illustration board I use for book covers is rigid, but I didn't know how it would hold up at the dimensions I was trying for--9"x12.5".  Using two pieces of it glued together, on the other hand, would probably be too much for my hole puncher to punch through.  I ended up using illustration board bonded with a softer cardboard, to make it thicker and stronger but still holepunchable.

Next was the paper.  I've been having a hard time finding good quality drawing paper at a low enough price that I can make books out of it without breaking the bank, but for this project I would need not only good quality paper, but large good quality paper.  With my chosen cover size (chosen so that I could use as much gift bag as possible), I needed 24" long paper.  I ended up buying a huge pad of 18x24" of drawing paper at Blick, and cutting it to dimension.  Which introduced another challenge--cutting 24" of paper with a 22" cutting mat. :)

I wanted the inside covers to be in the same theme as the outside covers, but I didn't have any paper on hand that had an Egyptian feel to it.  Nor did I have any paper more than 12" wide.  I ended up buying a sheet of real Egyptian papyrus to use.  The two sheets of papyrus on the covers cost more than the 30 sheets of drawing paper they contain, but they give the book a real quality feel to it.

Finally I sewed it together with thick braided cotton cord.  I wish the hole punching were a bit cleaner ($8 Home Depot hole punches are rubbish BTW), but that's the only complaint I have with how this book turned out.  All in all it's a gorgeous object that inspires me to draw something Egyptian!

Bright Floral Notepad

Taking notes is something I do every day, usually on some form of scrap paper or a sticky note or something.  Notepads are handy, but I always wished they looked a little bit cooler...  So I thought to myself, "self, why don't you make a notepad that looks just a little bit striking?"  So I did.

This 4x6" notepad incorporates a gorgeous floral pattern, and uses a Japanese stab binding with a hinged top cover and rigid back cover, good for a writing surface.  I said I probably wouldn't use embroidery floss again, and for a Coptic binding I probably won't, but I found it (when waxed) to be excellent for stab binding, as it's cheap, strong, and colorful.

This book is for sale!  Buy it on Etsy for $4 + s/h.

Hearts and Skulls Journal

A book for a punk girl who likes to write, this journal has an Ed Hardy looking hearts and skulls paper for the covers, made from, of all things, a gift bag.  It was somewhat challenging to work with, being made of a plastic-covered paper, but the final effect is very nice and it has a good looking gloss finish.

Otherwise a pretty normal journal: Coptic binding with black linen thread, my custom made journal-lined paper, etc.

This book is for sale! Buy it on Etsy for $10 + s/h.

Green Argyle Journal

In most of my book projects so far, I've experimented with something new or different.  This project on the other hand, is one of my first--if not the first--where I didn't really try anything new per se, but rather tried to develop some polish.  All of the techniques I used for this book were previously developed, from my spine papers to my cover and publisher's page.

Since there isn't anything experimental, I think this is possibly my most polished, finished looking book yet.  The stitching is even and attractive, the covers are tight, the paper on the covers is nicely applied.  I'm starting to feel like I'm getting decent at this ol' Coptic stitch. :)  The green argyle paper is just beautiful, and the orange linen stitching complements it very well, I think.

This book is for sale!  Buy it on Etsy for $10 + s/h.

Purple Plaid Recipe Book

After making my first recipe book and enjoying it, I decided to make another.  I thought something a little punk-girl would be fun, so I got some dark purple plaid paper and eggplant linen paper for the inner covers, and got to work.

With this book, as with most books I've made, I tried something new.  It occurred to me how odd it is in Coptic stitching to have gorgeous covers and brightly colored thread, yet leave the spine the dull blank white of the paper within.

My idea: use scrap cover paper on the ends.  I cut it into 1 inch strips, folded it, holepunched it, and worked them right into the sewing process, on the outsides of each signature.  Beautimous!  This was also the first book I made with a title page and publisher page.

This book is for sale!  Buy it on Etsy for $10 + s/h.

Hydrangea Watercolor Recipe Book

For a while I've had the idea to make a recipe book with blank recipe cards in it, to help people record and collect their family recipes.  My mom brought the idea back to the forefront when we were talking one day and she mentioned that all of her recipe were on slips of paper and loose index cards.  I decided to go home that night and make her a blank recipe book.

I found some lovely watercolor hydrangea paper in my stack of papers, which just so happened to look like mom's backyard hydrangea, Ramon.  (Yes, naming plants runs in the family.)  I only had one sheet unfortunately, just enough for a front cover, but I decided it would be enough and used a nice blue Gingham paper for the back cover.

I also developed my own recipe cards for this project, again in Inkscape, and experimented with printing my bindery logo on the back cover.  I decided it would look better as a tip-in at the end of the book, so people can remove it if they really don't want to see it.  This was the first book I made where I was unequivocally happy with the results.  I can still see areas to improve in, and places where I can develop some polish and grow, but I don't feel like a first-timer anymore. :)

Dark Cherry Blossom Journal

Sakura, the Japanese word for cherry blossoms.  One of my favorite things about spring is seeing the cherry trees blossom.  Lying beneath them and watching the blossoms blow in the wind, it's easy to see why there is so much poetry on the subject.  They look great during the day, but underappreciated is how cherry blossoms look at night.  Their lovely, ethereal, almost spectral glow when lit only by moonlight is captured in this beautiful paper, and when I saw it at Blick, I knew it needed to become a book.

With this book I experimented with printing my own lined journal paper.  I used it so as not to waste it, but I wasn't very happy with it and ended up making my own lined paper in Inkscape, which incidentally is amazing for layout and publishing.  This is also the first book where I used waxed linen thread to sew it together, and I will probably never use anything else ever again.

This book is for sale!  Buy it on Etsy for $7 + s/h.