Introduction: Make an IPad or Kindle Case From an Old Book and Sugru

By sugru
About: The team behind Sugru, the mouldable glue that makes fixing and making easy and fun. Do-ers of the world it's time to get excited. http://sugru.com

Mattia from Italy first made this project and sent us the images below for the sugru gallery. We thought it was amazing. So what's the best thing to do with amazing projects? Make a step by step instructable to help everyone make their own of course!

Oh, and we thought it would be cool to make one for an iPad too, so we did. Yay :)

Step 1: What You Need - an Old Book, and Sugru

The nicest iPad or Kindle case can be made from an old leather bound book, the challenge is to find the right size, we found ours in a second hand book shop.

To get the best fit, we brought our Kindle and iPad with us, this way we just held each tablet up to the book to find the best fit, simple.

Car boot sales, charity shops oh, and your attic are also great places to look.

Once we found the best fitting books, we were ready to get cracking :)

You can get sugru from sugru.com or from the instructables store.


TOP TIP: As well as getting the right size it is important to get the right thickness so that the book will close.

The hooks add around 2cm to the thickness of the tablet so your book needs to be thick enough to contain both.

We made this mistake with our ipad book and unfortunately it wouldn't shut properly :(

Oh well, we live and we learn. Best to be too thick than too thin in this instance.

Step 2: Remove the Pages

Open the book at the front or back cover.

Push the covers apart to open up the space between the pages and the cover.

Cut down the join between the cover and the pages. Be careful too not cut too deep and damage the spine.

Repeat on the opposite cover.

Once the pages are removed, cut away any excess paper joined to the covers.

Step 3: Colour Match

To tidy and enforce the spine it is best to cover where the cuts were made.

But before this can happen you will need to match the colour of the cover if you want a really clean finish and seamless appearance.

Step 6 in your '7 steps' booklet that came with your sugru, provides you with a colour mixing guide. Use this to find the colour mix that best matches your needs.

Mix the appropriate percentages of sugru in your fingertips until the colour is constant throughout.

Check the colour against the book. It may be necessary to add some black or white to adjust the shade. Add black or white in small, gradual amounts. It is far easier to add more than to take away.

Colour mixing can get messy but don't fear, dry tissue paper is the best way to remove any excess sugru from your fingers.

Step 4: Protect the Spine

After cutting out the pages, the spine is left rather damaged and messy so we tried using sugru to reinforce it.

After some experimenting we decided that the best way to do this was create two sugru strips that would cover the points where the pages had joined the covers. This gave enough protection and tidied the spine without using too much sugru and did not effect the opening and closing of the book.

Use two pieces of paper to mask off a strip over the join. To ensure that it doesn't move we used white tac to stick the book to the table and then masking tape to attach the positioned paper to the table as well. We didn't want to put any tape on the book as this would damage the paper.

Once the stencil is in place, start spreading small amounts of sugru into the gap. The layer need only be thin.

Once completely covered and smoothed remove the paper sheets, peeling away from the sugru.

Once the sheets are removed, flatten the edges of the sugru by very gently running your finger along the strip a couple of times.

Leave to cure for a few hours before repeating on the other side.

Leave to cure overnight.

Alternatively you could just use a strip of duct tape. It may not look as tidy but it is quicker.

As the duct tape is probably likely to be larger than the spine, ensure that it is placed offset so when the tablet is in place it is not lying over some tape.

If you were to sugru over the tape there is a chance that the tape could begin to come off and remove the sugru. NOOO!

Step 5: Cover You Tablet With Clingfilm

Before working on your hooks, wrap your tablet in cling film (cellophane wrap in the USA) this prevents sugru from bonding to your tablet

I like to use masking tape to keep the cling film from moving around during this project.

Step 6: Create the Rubber Grips - PART 1 Sugru Dots

Left or right handed - which side of the book do you want to mount your tablet?

To create the hooks it is best to do it in two parts. First create a sugru base at the points where you want your hooks to sit. Then create the hooks in this position. Sugru bonds really well to sugru so by building the hooks this way you can concentrate more on the build and design of the hooks and less on the bond.

You will need around 2 mini packs in total - roughly half for each corner

Make a small mark on each corner of the book where you want your tablet to be located.

Press small sausages of sugru onto the points that you have marked. Ensure that there is a strong bond.

Step 7: Create the Rubber Grips - PART 2 Creating the Hooks

To make the hooks make 4 even sausages of sugru from the remaining sugru.

For each corner, press the bottom of each sausage into the dot that you have already made in the corners of the cover.

Bend the top of the sausage out from the book in each corner.

Once each sausage is in place, position your tablet inside the book.

Bend the sausage over to form the hook.

Ensure that the hook lies straight and thin. You do not want to create an edge which could begin to rip.

With the iPad I probably made my hooks too long so I removed a bit from the end and then smoothed with my fingers.

Leave to cure for 24 hours to ensure that it is good and strong.

The hooks I made for the kindle were far more appropriate size.

Step 8: Pop in Your IPad / Kindle and Enjoy

After 24 hours, simply lift up the tops and remove your tablet.

The sugru should quite easily come free from the clingfilm, a few pieces may remain but these can be removed easily enough.

Remove the clingfilm from the tablet and replace under the hooks.

Again to remove the tablet, simply lift up the ends of the hook and remove the corner of the tablet.

Now not only do you have an awesome cover for your tablet, you can also keep it safe and hidden in your bookshelf. Woop. Sneaky sneaky! :)