A More Useful Bookmark

This bookmark will tell you exactly on which page and at which line to begin reading again.

This bookmark was made from plastic file folders of contrasting colors. Make the size according to that of a typical book. The red piece should be a bit longer than the book is high. The blue piece should be a half of an inch wider than the red piece. If you wish, you may round the corners, especially on the red piece.

Step 1 Cut the long piece

I used a sliding paper cutter to cut pieces 5/8 inch wide.  For accuracy I measured along the length of the edge to insure the piece has a uniform width.

Comments

[bethmwl]

Really cool idea. I'll have to make some and hope to pass out to my Bible Study group. Very impressed that you found a way to avoid all the re-reading I do when returning to my books. I also like the hole punching, rather than simply using words to express odd or even pages.

[Phil B]

Thank you, Beth. The one problem in using this for marking a location in a Bible (if that is the intent of your comment) is that most Bibles are printed with two columns on the page. The bookmark would not indicate in which column to begin again. (I posted this earlier without the "not" in the last sentence, and it did not say what I intended.)

Yes, the holes are a better way than writing "even" and "odd" onto the marker. I assume the small hole punches are available without too much searching.

Thank you for looking and for commenting.

[kr580]

Great idea Phil. I'm not sure if it's an original idea but I think I'll make a single Ribbon Marker, using your other guide, and throw a slider on the ribbon so I can have the best of both worlds with my hardcover books.

[Phil B]

Thank you for looking and for your comment. Many years ago the Greek New Testament I was using had a ribbon sewn into the binding. It was a time when I was looking up many words in one sentence. I folded a slider like you describe over the ribbon and glued the ends of the slider together. It worked well for helping me get back to the right line quickly when looking up a word in the dictionary. It will not tell you whether you are to begin on the left or right side page, though, unless you marked the sides of the slider differently and allowed the ribbon to have a twist in it.

[Penolopy Bulnick]

Awesome idea! I always try to use scraps of paper and face it in a certain way to tell exactly where I left off, but I always forget where I am trying to mark. This sounds like it would work so much better!

[Phil B]

Thank you, Penolopy. I hope you enjoy these. I find them very useful and helpful.

[coolman878]

awsome

[Phil B]

Thank you. I hope you enjoy it.

[coolman878]

i do like it but my friends dont understand it lol

[siafulinux]

Nice!!!

[Phil B]

Thank you for looking. You will appreciate this bookmarker, especially if you have more than one book started at any given time. It is fun to give them to friends, but explain to them they will need to make their own extra copies. :-)

[siafulinux]

Yup, that's actually me to a T. When I am reading, I tend to have two or three books going at one time. This is really nifty and a great idea. Thanks for this 'ible!

[Phil B]

About 15 years ago I had to be one of very few men at a women's retreat. Everyone was to make a custom bookmark to exchange with one of the other people. I imagined the kinds of things the women would bring and thought there had to be some way I could do better. I got to thinking about a way to make a bookmark that would immediately and easily tell the user exactly where to begin again--what page and what line of text. This is what I figured out. When I found Instructables I eventually decided to post it as an 'Ible. Thanks again.

[brubruna]

I just did it! Simple, nice and useful :)
Thank you for the great idea; using colorful paper or something decorated it would be even cooler ^^ it looks very customizable too ^^
Thanks again and sorry for the mistakes :P i'll practice my english :P

[Phil B]

Your English looks very good. I never would have guessed you are not a native speaker, had you not mentioned practicing it.

I am glad you like this idea. I have found it very helpful and useful. I use several in different books, all at the same time. They are fun to give to friends. Thank you for your comment.

[Truehart]

Very nice idea.  I'll have to try it.

[Phil B]

Thank you for looking at this.  It works very well.  I keep giving them away and cannot keep any for myself.

[b1russell]

How totally awesome! I make a LOT of bookmarks (thanks, Dad!) that get ragged when they're longer than the book is tall (cardstock), and had never thought of plastic file folders. Now if I could only figure out how to feed them through the printer ...

[Phil B]

Thanks for your comment. I find I have books in a couple of different sizes in regard to the length of the spine. I do not need more than a couple of different sizes of markers. Also, if you are making them for someone, you can leave them long and let the user cut to his or her preferred length. I cannot help you with printing on plastic. I read a little about it, and it can be tricky. I did recently come up with an idea to make this bookmark binary in a fashion. Instead of writing "even" and "odd" on opposite sides of the slider, I punched one small hole to be visible from one side and two small holes to be visible from the other side. One is an odd number. Two is an even number. I hope you enjoy these bookmarks.

[BWP]

Very simple but totally cool idea ... think I'll be making myself a couple of these ... usually have more than one book on the go :o)

[Phil B]

Thanks. I am glad my description made sense to you. They are inexpensive enough that you can make as many as need. I happened to use plastic file folders as the raw material, but you could use a variety of other things, too, even heavy paper.