Make a Keepsake Book of your Child's Artwork

Step 2: The Jig

The Jig (Irish: port) is a form of lively folk dance in compound meter, as well as the accompanying dance tune. It developed in 16th century England, and was quickly adopted on the Continent where it eventually became the.....wait a second...that's not right...

Sorry. Just like to jar the reader once in a while to make sure they are paying attention.

In this case the `jig`is basically just a couple of boards to squish paper together.

The construction is pretty simple, look through the pictures to see how I made mine.

The bottom board is cut slightly larger than the page size I am after, and the top board is slightly less wide than a sheet.

There are guides along two edges of the bottom base, these are there to help square up the pages. 

The top has an extra strip attached to add some extra weight and also makes a good handle for positioning and applying pressure.

Put two strips of velcro hoops along the length of the compression mandrels handle, and then screw hook strips to each of the four corresponding sides of the base. This allows you to compress the two and then secure with the velcro.

The only innovations in this jig is the slits cut along the binding edge, and these just facilitate sewing the spine, and the use of velcro as opposed to a clamp. I was able to achieve a decent amount of compression with just the velcro.

Now you will need a stack of paper to place in the jig to make another couple of marks.