Homemade Notebooks Photo Demo

[robeck]

Now I'll show you how I make the cover. To date I've used card and mostly mulberry tissue paper as the decorative covering. I've been thinking of using leather too but that'll have to wait for another day. I really like the effect that you get with mulberry. This tissue paper can be bought in many artists shops and comes in all sorts of colours. It is quite fragile, but easy to work with once you've used it a few times. You can apply in it more than one layer to increase the depth of tone. I've found that a single covering of the green is adequate but that I need 2 layers of the burgundy shown here. Because mulberry is slightly see-through, be careful of the colour you use for the backing card because that will affect the overall tone. I use white backing card to minimise the effect on the colour though this can lighten the overall tone. Hence, the mulitple layers.

 

Right, here're another couple of pages from my notebook showing you how I layout the cover. Don't worry about the maths, I've given all the figures you need to make your measurements. The gutter and spine measurements are the most important measurements. If you don't get these right, the book when assembled will look uneven and may not close correctly. This first photo shows you what each measurement refers to. To make the cover, I will first be sticking three pieces of very stiff card (2mm photo mount card) to a thinner piece of backing card (approx' 200gsm thick). The outer blue rectangle is the backing card and the shaded areas are the 3 pieces that go to make up the spine and back and front covers. There is one mistake in the first photo - it shows a gutter size of 9mm. I have actually increased this to 10mm as shown in the second photo.

 

 

The following page from my notebook shows the dimensions that I'll be measuring out. It shows the measurements for both A5 and A6 sized journals. You'll see that the sizes of the backing card approximate to A3 and A4 respectively so that is what I use. Since we'll be folding part of the backing card over the spine and covers, it doesn't have to be an exact measurement. Simple really.

 

 

So, using my notes, I've marked out the dimensions onto the A3 backing card and cut out the spine, front and back covers.

 

 

Next, I glue the 3 pieces of card to the backing card using the markings. Tips:

• It's important to get the gutters identical i.e. the gaps between the spine and the 2 covers must be perfectly parallel and equi-distant. Getting these wrong means the book won't close evenly.
• It doesn't matter about getting all the 3 pieces perfectly central within the backing card because we will be folding over the outside edges.
• I use Prit stick (Extra strong) to do the glueing because when I've tried PVA, I can't stop the backing card from warping or bubbling. You might have better luck using PVA (Elmer's) glue depending on the backing card you use and your experience with PVA.
• I use a craft bone or soft cloth to smooth out any air bubbles between the backing card and spine/covers.

 

I then trim each of the corners leaving an overlap at the corners of about 1 to 2 mm. This allows me to fold the backing card over the corners without the card overlapping itself which would be too thick otherwise. You can see I've not been too accurate here but it doesn't matter as the mulberry covering and flyleafs will mask any inaccuracies later. Again, I stick the folds down with Prit Stick but you might be able to get away with PVA.

 

I use a craft bone to "stretch" the backing card into the gutters where it has been folded over. You have to be careful doing this or the backing card may tear.

 

Prit stick is a contact glue but I still like to leave the cover at this point overnight to allow the glue to fully dry and cure. I leave it between a couple of sheets of scrap paper under some heavy books.

 

 

The next bit is fun and messy. And you have to work fairly quickly so gather all you need to hand. I apply the tissue paper to the cover in 2 parts (back and front cover). You might be able to do it in one go but it'll be more difficult to control the process. I cut out 2 rectangles of the mulberry tissue paper large enough to cover the front and back covers with an overlap of about an inch. You don't need to be too accurate. Then I apply a thin coat of decoupage to one of the covers as quickly as I can using my fingers to smooth it out. Make sure you rub it right up to the edge of the cover and spine. It will dry almost immediately but still be tacky.

 

 

Then lay one of the rectangles of tissue paper over the decoupaged area and smooth out any air bubbles as best you can with the side of your hand (remember, your fingers will be covered in sticky gloop). Now add some more decoupage, a finger dollop at a time, to the tissue paper. Working from the centre of the tissue to the edge, rub the decoupage into the tissue paper using circular and outward movements. The decoupage will quickly be absorbed and any remaining air bubbles will be pushed outwards. You want to use as little decoupage as possible whilst still managing to get the tissue paper fully wet and stuck to the cover. By the time you have finished applying the tissue, it should be tacky and not wet. Be careful when working the decoupage into the tissue such that you don't tear the tissue paper.

 

 

Then repeat for the second piece of tissue paper. Once done, you may find the decoupaged area sticking to the scrap paper laying underneath your working area. Carefully peel the tissue paper away from any scrap paper and place the cover on a pair of pots or glasses and leave to dry for about an hour.

 

 

Once the decoupage is dry to the touch, you can turn the cover over and decoupage the tissue paper overlaps. When done, leave the whole lot to dry overnight.

If necessary you can then repeat the process and add a second layer of tissue paper in the same way (as I did for this notebook).

 

 

Next apply the decorative spine cover. I'm using a piece of thickish paper/thinnish card (about 180 - 220gsm). I use a 70mm wide strip with overlap and stick it to the cover using Prit Stick. After an hour or so, I also apply a layer of decoupage to seal the paper/card. I do this because I have found that the varnish I use will soak into the cover if it is not sealed. Again, leave overnight.

 

 

And now the final stage of creating the cover. I apply a single layer of varnish using a soft artist's brush to the overlapped tissue, allow it to become touch dry (about 2 hours) and then apply the varnish to the rest of the cover. Leave overnight and then apply a second coat. That's it done. It doesn't take much actual time to create the cover, but it does take a few overnight drying sessions.

 

 

And don't forget, make sure that your bitter is served warm, at room temperature.

 

The next, and final topic, will be the final assembly.

 

Best Regards,

Dean

 

[Rocket Jones]

Outstanding!

[Con]

You have made the instructions so easy, I may

have to try this myself.

 

Thank you so much for all of your efforts;

they are very much appreciated.

 

(husband would be so jealous - our local store

just discontinued selling Old Speckled Hen. He

thinks he was probably the only one buying it.)

[Writer44]

The perfect set of instructions. Thanks again, Robeck. I see you've switched to "The Old Speckled Hen," eh?

 

Cheers!

 

Can't wait for the next installment.

[English John]

Hi Dean

 

Do you have the spine sizes for books with less pages ?

The example you are working through is for 192 pages. How big would a spine be for 96 pages?

 

Also, I have had problems finding the "Aleen Instant Decoupage" and the "Prism clear glaze" - were these from a specialist craft shop ?

 

The wine tonight by the way was Carignan Vieilles Vignes 2006. How was the beer?

 

John

[Rocket Jones]

  English John said:

Do you have the spine sizes for books with less pages ?

The example you are working through is for 192 pages. How big would a spine be for 96 pages?

 

Also, I have had problems finding the "Aleen Instant Decoupage" and the "Prism clear glaze" - were these from a specialist craft shop ?

Excellent question about the spine widths. I'd like to know if you've come up with standard sizes or does it vary after creating the bookblock depending on the thickness of the paper.

 

Aleen's is a big name in crafting, you should be able to find it in most craft stores. If not, ask a clerk for an equivalent product.

[robeck]

The safest way to calculate the spine size is to build the bookblock first and then measure once its glued. I tend to make my spine size about 1 to 2 mm narrower than the bookblock. This gives the notebook a good "plump" feeling. If you make the spine oversized, it does, to my eye, make it look as if pages have been torn from the volume.

 

Apart from my very first notebook which was 96 pages, all others so far have been 192. For the first one, I made the bookblock first and measured the cover to fit. For subsequent ones, I have standardized on a fairly heavyweight (thick) paper so the measurements are based on that. If I were to make a 96 page book using the same paper, I would just half the width of the spine. I would leave the gutter measurements the same in all cases. It's actually the gutter that gives you the leeway for different thicknesses of paper.

 

I bought Aleens decoupage from Hobbycraft in Bristol. I believe they have outlets around the UK. The Prizm Clear glaze came from a local stationers (not WH Smiths!) near to where I work in Cirencester. You should be able to find both products on the internet.

 

Regards,

Dean

 

Woops, quick edit: The beer was superb. It's actually my favourite.

Edited June 18, 2008 by robeck

[Rocket Jones]

  robeck said:

The safest way to calculate the spine size is to build the bookblock first and then measure once its glued. I tend to make my spine size about 1 to 2 mm narrower than the bookblock. This gives the notebook a good "plump" feeling. If you make the spine oversized, it does, to my eye, make it look as if pages have been torn from the volume.

That's counterintuitive, I would've thought that you'd make it a bit larger. Thanks for explaining and sharing your experience.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Very very cool. Now I just need a Speckled Hen and parts one and two.

[robeck]

  Sailor Kenshin said:

Very very cool. Now I just need a Speckled Hen and parts one and two.

 

All four articles have been pinned/stickied in the DIY section for Paper and Pen Paraphernalia here.

 

Sorry, I can't help with the Speckled Hen

[Songwind]

Say, do you have any suggestions on how one might go about making a "cloth bound" journal, a la the Clairefontaine basic?

[robeck]

  Songwind said:

Say, do you have any suggestions on how one might go about making a "cloth bound" journal, a la the Clairefontaine basic?

Hmmm, not something I've done but I think this will work...

 

The strength of the book comes from gluing the bookblock flyleafs to a hard cover. The spines are NOT glued together. The simplest answer would be to replace the mulberry tissue paper with the cloth of your choice. The cloth would need to be relatively thin I'd have thought and you probably wouldn't want to use decoupage to apply and seal - it would ruin the cloth. Therefore, you'd just be glueing the cloth to the cover.

 

If, however, we replace the hardcover with a softcover then we need to make sure the strength is still there. I assume that by cloth-bound you mean a cloth material acting as the cover? I assume that you also mean the cover is to be less rigid than the ones that I've been making? If this is so, you will still need to glue the cloth to a thinner card material. I don't see why that wouldn't work. You might have to be a bit more careful with the glue in case the material is aborbent etc. I'm not sure if there are products you can buy to "seal" cloth materials (from the inside) to prevent the PVA (Elmers) from seeping through the cloth.

 

Sorry, can't be more helpful than that - I've just not tried it. As I said, I'm no pro when it comes to this.

 

Regards,

Dean

[Sailor Kenshin]

The Clairefontaines seem to be made of a thin, shiny card stock, similar to what they use to make school folders. I wonder where you can get blanks for that.

[Songwind]

The ones I am thinking of have heavy but flexible card front and back covers, and a cloth binding along the spine.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I just took a look at my two Clairefontaine notebooks. They're card stock through and through, with a staple binding. O__O

 

This must be a kind I don't have or haven't seen. Got pics?

[English John]

Ok, warts and all, this is my first attempt. The spine covering is a bit too thick, but I'm really pleased overall. I'm thinking about my next one already !

Thanks for the inspiration

 

Sorry I can't seem to load the pictures yet...

Edited June 25, 2008 by English John

[Songwind]

  Sailor Kenshin said:

I just took a look at my two Clairefontaine notebooks. They're card stock through and through, with a staple binding. O__O

 

This must be a kind I don't have or haven't seen. Got pics?

 

The basics notebooks in this PDF include the clothbound type that I have.

http://www.exaclair.com/catalogs/exaclair2...ir2008_pg13.pdf

[robeck]

  Songwind said:

The ones I am thinking of have heavy but flexible card front and back covers, and a cloth binding along the spine.

Ah, I misunderstood you. I see what you mean now. The pdf you linked says the cloth is bound using linen thread so I assume the cloth spline is somehow sewn to either the hard covers and/or the bookblock spine. That's a completely different approach to the way I've done it. If it's the mere fact you want cloth - my glueing technique should work but if it's the actual sewn binding technique, sorry I can't help. I know TNLee (spelling??) did some spine bindings in his demo in the pinned section. Maybe that can help?

 

Regards,

Dean

 

[Zoe]

If you pick up an inexpensive (50 or 60 cent) composition journal you can take it apart and see how it is machine constructed. The pages are in one signature (group of papers) for these, stitched, and then the cover is attached with the stitching; after this is finished the cloth binding along the spine is attached with PVA type glue.

 

It would be difficult to achieve this by hand (the composition book has about 100 pages) but you can do something very similar with multiple signatures each stitched separately. It is fundamentally called the "pamplet stitch" and if I'm not mistaken a google search should bring you to one or two examples of how it is done.

 

If you decide to give it a go, I do recommend a sturdy bookbinding thread often found in art supply shops or even in some large box stores. The tension of opening and closing the book warrants the more sturdy thread. Also without the addition of PVA along the spine found in hardbound books, the pamplet needs the added strength provided by the waxed thread.

 

Here's an example of one that I made with multiple signatures, a variation on the pamplet. All the signatures were made with Armand printmaker paper.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v107/Parsifals/bookbound_example.jpg

 

 

  Songwind said:

The ones I am thinking of have heavy but flexible card front and back covers, and a cloth binding along the spine.

 

[Songwind]

That's a good idea, Zoe. Thanks.