Handmade book

I had a little stack of coordinating paper left over after I made a small scrapbook album. It was white on the back so I thought about putting them together to make a little book. I folded all the papers in half and trimmed them to the same size. Some of the pages were not full size but I used them anyway as they will add interest to the book. I folded some pages with the colour on the inside and some with the colour on the outside to give the book a random sprinkling of the white pages. My pages are 10cm high and 14cm wide when folded.

Next I cut a piece of wide cotton tape a tiny bit larger than the height of the pages.
Mine was 5cm x 10.5cm. I used the gingham ribbon to cover the cut ends. This was going to be the spine that I would attach the pages to.

I used the sewing machine to attach each page to the tape. I stitched the first page a little in from the side so I could tuck the excess tape into the cover. You can see what I mean about leaving some extra in the next photo. I spaced the pages about 3mm apart but it is not even as I was just guessing. I tried to make sure the pages were lined up to each other when they were laying flat as I stitched. You can see on the left in this photo they are fairly even.

When all the pages were stitched onto the tape I gave the back of tape a generous coat of PVA glue to stiffen it. This is important as it makes the spine work better. I only do the back so the pages don't get glue on them. Let it dry completely while you make the cover.

I had some watercolour paper (300g/m2) that I had glued tissue paper to using a watery pva glue. I thought it would make a good cover but as it was not very thick I decided to use two layers. I cut my covers a little larger than the pages, 11cm x 14.5cm. The spine is 11c, x 3.5cm, the thickness of the pages on the tape.

I have book binding tape that I used to attach the spine. You could use ribbon instead but you would have to glue it on.  There is a generous gap between the spine and cover for a soft hinge so the book opens and closes easily. I wanted to add a flap to the back cover so that was cut out of the scraps and stuck on to the cover with tissue tape. The extra pieces are to go inside the front and back covers to make it double thickness.

The fun part is decorating the cover. I used three metallic paints and applied them very randomly. It looks very untidy at this stage but it will get better. It spreads easily because the pva glue I used to apply the tissue paper seals the paper so the paint doesn't soak in as quickly.

While the paints are still wet I sprayed on various colours of metallic sprays. I use mainly Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels. This makes the background paints blend together more and it collects in the creases and folds of the background. I left it to dry overnight.

The next day I attached a scrapbook embellishment to the front cover then I glued the inside cover to the front cover sandwiching the tape holding the pages between. I stitched the whole lot together for extra strength. I did the same for the back inside cover and flap.

The book is now put together and ready for the hand stitching. I will have more details about that in the next post. This last photo show the inside spine that I left white. I didn't like it so I coloured it with a marker to match the rusty coloured cover.