So the title explains it all really, hehe…
I’ve been reading the blog Lil’ Blue Boo by Ashley Hackshaw… partly for chicken stuff since Tim and Kelly got chickens recently and the whole family has been invested in their care and involved in the Building of The Chicken Coop, and can I just say… wot a saga… but also because I’ve found Ashley to be the most inspiring and creative lady! And I especially loved a little book she’d made recently, and it got me thinking again how I would like to make a book. Just yet another of those things that I’ve wanted to have a go at for years… I have a huge list, btw.
Anyway, her adorable little notebook got me revved up to actually take scissors to paper… I googled for how-to’s and found Lee (Crafty Loops)’s amazing tutorials on YouTube. I pretty much followed her method, with the exception that my own book is made entirely from scraps, rubbish, and leftover bits and bobs.
We have a whole lot of scrap paper in our house… old, partially filled notebooks, scrapbooks, graph paper and lecture pads from the children’s days at school etc; that I’ve kept just in case I ever need scrap paper. I semi-roughly cut stacks of various sorts… I went for sort-of neat but not perfectly neat, because I really like the imperfectly, imprecise handmade look in a book. Like Lee did in her demonstration book, I cut eight signatures with five pieces of paper each… which gives you eight little booklets of ten pages. Since you’re glueing the frontmost and backmost pages to the cover, this means I ended up with a little book of 78 pages in all…
For punching the stitching holes… I don’t have an awl and was too impatient to run out and buy one. However necessity is the mother of invention, as they say; and I found a dried up ballpoint pen actually works as a pretty good substitute… for backing I used a dried-up old foam squeegee block #whenhoardingpaysoff
For binding; I used a small scrap of bias-cut white linen, and for stitching I used a leather needle and cream-coloured Gutermann’s upholstery thread.
spine all glued up and drying… I used regular ol’ PVA glue
My cover is cut from a discarded cardboard box that I rescued from our recycling bin… I covered it with white paper first… this too was scrap actually! an un-needed page of a new pdf clothing pattern I recently printed. And made. And have not yet blogged, oops, I’m so lazy…
The final cover for my book is linen; this was a piece of indigo-dyed linen leftover from a natural dyeing workshop, run by Trudy Pollard. I attended the workshop with Nicki, Sue and Megan a few years ago. Long term readers of my blog may remember that I made this dress from the linen. I’ve kept the leftovers all this time! well, natural indigo is kinda precious and nigh on unavailable here, and I thought the scraps might come in handy one day. And they did!
Et voila!!
I’m so ridiculously pleased with my little blue book! And it was so much fun to make too… like being in kindergarten again! have no idea what I’m going to write in it yet.. maybe poetry? artsy doodles? a journal? or maybe a little sewing book, to keep track of fabrics and haberdashery requirements? So many options… I need more books, obviously 😉
Later edit: Also, completely beyond the level of an amateur … but if you’re interested, check out the amazingly beautiful work of artisan bookbinder Glenn Malkin
Well done !!!! I love it.
thank you!
This is delightful! I adore the different pages – genius idea.
thank you carolbaby!
it’s gorgeous! love that it’s made out of scraps completely! also, bookmaking is kinda addictive too, you won’t be able to stop after making just one (my husband made bunch of little books when he first got into leatherwork, i have 4 of them and use them for various purposes.. except for the golden one, it’s too pretty and i still haven’t decided what to use it for, so i’m saving it for later)
thank you mokosha! yes I can see a slew of little books in mine and my family’s life coming up too, hehe. I remember your husband’s books, they’re all so beautiful, as well it’s very special to have handmade things in your life, made for you with love 🙂
I love it! I always carry a notebook in my handbag – and as I have lots of scrap paper around the house this looks like a great project. All I need is to get off the interweb and get making .
thanks Kim! it’s actually a fairly quick and easy project, the hardest part is waiting for the glue to dry so you can get onto the next bit!
So cute! A great use for all those scraps. I found the hardest part of making books though is actually using them!
Oh me too! I have heaps when I was doing a lot of bookbinding a few years ago, this post is jogging lovely memories 🙂
thank you, and yes, so true… I still haven’t been able to make a single mark in mine!
That’s really neat! I love crafty little projects like that. Thanks for sharing!
thank you Emily! 🙂
I didn’t know about this blog, it’s so good! Thanks for the link.
And your notebook is a great project. As always you keep inspiring us all
thank you so much Juliana! 🙂
I used to make lots of those when I was younger – you gave me a really good memory. Thanks Carolyn. You can use it for shoe making notes. Jo x
I’m glad it was a happy one for you too then! 🙂
This is brilliant! I have always been intrigued by bookmaking. I made a few tiny, tiny books with no cover of things O and I wrote, but nothing REAL. I love how you kept the rawness of the paper, the hand-made feel, a priceless element. Have fun filling it up with wonderful things!
Yes, chickens. Cheers to when you reach that stage of collecting lovely double-yolk eggs every morning.
thanks Melanie! of course your tiny books were real, maybe even more real because of the things you wrote in them! Maybe you could make them into necklaces?
There’s nothing you can’t do! I can’t wait for you to make your first car.
Lol!
I really love this and realise I probably have most things I need to have a go. Thank you for sharing!!
thank you Cat! 🙂
This looks marvellous. I did a bookbinding course about 30 years ago and made all my friends books until I think they got a bit fed up with my largesse! Looking forward to seeing more of yours.
thank you Sue! I’ve got a feeling my family is going to be inundated with books too, eeeek!
What a fun project! I was so intrigued that I followed the link to the artisan bookbinder. I love all his tools! I am in awe of the whole bookbinding process. Thank you for sharing this. Plus, the feel of being in kindergarten again is priceless!
thanks so much Pencil Girl! the artisanal bookbinding is pretty awe-inspiring and oh-so beautiful, isn’t it?! but it’s cool that we can still mess about with ordinary things and make something useful at the same time 🙂
What an adorable little book and a perfect use of precious scraps x
thank you Megan! xx
You’ve done it again with another inspiration and another thing to add to my “To Try” list. Thanks for sharing.
thanks so much laineemakes! 🙂
Wow, how creative! It looks so cute. I’d have never thought of making my own book.
thank you! maybe you’ll give it a go? 🙂