Make a Small Hand-bound Journal

I  made a travelling journal for an art swap at the Milliande Art Community for Women.  It had to have forty pages between two covers and be between 6 inches square to 8 inches square in size.  It had to be sturdy enough for mixed-media art journaling and to endure 17 months of postal travel.  I decided to use 12" square scrapbooking cardstock:  5 sheets cut in half would give me 40 6 inch square pages;  another contrasting sheet I used double for the front cover and the back pocket.  Since it should lie flat when open so art work can be added to it, I went with one of the signature bindings in Making Handmade Books by Alisa Golden.  This could also be done with the Coptic binding that is abundantly documented on YouTube and in blogs.

This journal looks simple now because it has not been embellished in any way.  Though sturdy, it is comparatively lightweight -- a plus for mailing!

Step 1 Materials and Tools Used

To make this, you will need:

• 5 sheets of scrapbooking cardstock 12" x 12" for the pages
• 1 sheet of scrapbooking cardstock 12" x 12" for the cover  (I got these sheets on special at Michael's:  40 cents each)
• good paper glue for securing the pocket edges 
• heavy thread or waxed dental floss;  I've used upholstery thread and top-stitching thread for sewing the signatures with success.
• upholstery needle or bookbinder lightweight awl for punching signature holes
• scrap paper 6" long by 2" wide for signature hole template
• steel ruler plus good craft knife and cutting mat for cutting the paper or a paper cutter
• steel ruler plus bone folder to score page centers
• large-eye needle for sewing the signature

Comments

[scoochmaroo]

Lovely!