Upcycling a book into a notebook – Part Two
Start with a ribbon bookmark Instagram has voted so the yellow side is the
front so let’s do a yellow ribbon you need about a books length and a half
because he needs a bit to go down and you also want it to stick out a bit at the
bottom put down a line of glue in the middle about three centimeters long or
so and pat down your ribbon if there’s a front and back to your ribbon you have.
To think about that then put some glue over the ribbon too, for extra durability
this will be mostly hidden by the signatures later, leave to dry, okay let’s
make the signatures fit the length of the book the width we can take care of later they have one side with torn edges from the letter opener and one clean side let’s.
Make both sides nice and clean since they are just about as long as I
want them I’m only trimming of a tiny bit you want them to be a bit shorter
than the cover so they sit inside the cover protected time for the endpapers. I’m going for a.
The light green that matches the inside of the book fold the paper in half and cut it to.
Size lengthwise the paper gets glued right to the front of the first
signature and the back of the last signature not folded over them place glue on the folded edge of the.
The first page about half a centimeter wide and place the endpaper down the folded edge.
Against the folded edge as straight as a possible place in the book press or
under a weight to dry let’s make lots of holes in the cover.
For sewing, the signatures in the bookmark are dry, make the marks on the
outside of the spine with a pencil, I need three holes for each signature for
the sewing method I have chosen, one in the middle and two on each side of the outer.
Ones should be one and a half to two centimeters in from the edge to make
sure the signatures are securely fastened I have five signatures so I
need five holes evenly spaced out not too close to the edge of the spine I make the holes with an awl it’s good too.
Have something underneath for the awl to go into when all the holes are made it’s good too.
Make sure they have all gone all the way through with the needle you’re going to.
Sew with which should be a tapestry needle of some sort remove the pencil marks with an eraser.
Before you start sewing the signatures need to be prepared to so I make a
template out of folded scrap paper for where the holes should go then I make holes in the fold so I can.
Match it to the folds of the signatures here it’s very useful to have a big
catalog or something like that and use the fold of that to cradle the
signatures so the holes get placed exactly in the fold I usually number my signatures so I know in which order they all go later I also
know which side is the front start with the first one make sure all the papers
are straight the template should be the same height as the signature papers and start punching holes make sure the template and the signatures are always facing up now we can sew them in you need beeswax.
A tapestry needle and suitable thread smooth cotton or linen is good this is
cotton and it matches the pink half circle on the front of the cover, for
each signature you need a piece of thread two times the height of the
signature plus a little extra for tying off and handling, you have your
signatures numbered to put them away upside down since we are starting from.
The back drag the thread through the beeswax several times to cover it this
makes it stiffer easier to handle and the knots tie better, thread your needle
and grab signature number 5 make sure it’s facing the right way.
It’s obviously not necessary to have matching nail polish but it can’t be bad
either, start sewing from the inside of the signature going through the middle
hole saving a bit of the tail and going through the middle hole in the cover go up and through the top hole in the cover and then the signature bring the thread over the whole length of the signature and go through the bottom hole of the signature and cover pull tight and go back through the middle hole again make sure the thread passing over the whole signature is between the two ends pull them tight carefully checking the outside of the spine and then tie a square knot thread the ends on each side of the middle.
Thread and then trim them short first signature in let me show you that
again with the last one in the front and there we go all the signatures
securely in place now let’s trim the width of the papers, I use clips to keep
the pages in place make sure that the cover is straight and clip the pages
together on both sides adjust if necessary draw a pencil line where the cover ends.
And a second line a few millimeters in from that line, this is where you are
going to cut place a cutting mat or a piece of cardboard between the pages. And the back cover to protect it make sure your knife is sharp or has a new blade
Place a sturdy ruler on the line and start cutting make lots of shallow cuts
instead of a few deep ones you have better control that way if there is a bit of
fuzz or the cuts are not completely straight you can sand the edge with some
sandpaper take off those clips and admire your pages trim the bookmark to a suitable length.
And burn or fray check the edge so it won’t fray on you that’s it, here we have
it a finished repurposed notebook in the next videos I will show you how to make an accordion pocket and an elastic band to keep the book together thank you so much for watching, please
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