Handmade Books

I love reading books and now I love making books. I am still a beginner but here are a few pictures of what I've made recently:

I just love this material and it made a perfect book. A few years ago I went on a course to learn how to make Japanese stab bound books and have made several since. This is one of the latest ones. The technique is fairly simple once you get the hang of it, however it does involve some precise measuring and for this one I had to make sure I didn't put the material on upside down!

Here is the back:

The cord used for binding is made form a few different coloured lengths of embroidery silks twisted together and sewed on the sewing machine in a zig-zag stitch. The stitching on this book uses the simple 4 hole design.

For a more professional look I wrapped a small strip of cream material around the pages of the book at the spine so that the rough edges are not visible.

This book is designed to that it will fit 6x6" scrapbook pages. I like it so much I may have to keep it and make another one to sell!

The next book is made in exactly the same way and exactly the same size as the one above, with another of my favourite materials:

This one has a black edging along the spine which was made by sewing a length of black material to the patterned material. This makes sure that the binding stands out more.

I have then started making cardboard books and this one is my first attempt:

The covers were made from an old box and covered with brown paper. I then heat embossed the bird image and the letters and decorated the front. The holes have flowered black eyelets for a neat finish and some brown ribbon has been added for decoration. I decorated the back cover as well:

This book will fit normal size photos with room for a few captions or dates to accompany each picture.

I've got lots more ideas and if you fancy having a personalised book made for you then please leave a comment below.

Handmade Books

About a year ago I went on a day long course that taught us how to make Japanese stab bound books. Since then I have had a go at making a few of them and my Mum even commissioned me to make one for a friend.

This book was started at the craft day and completed later on with some flower embelishments and some beads. The binding used on this book is the simplest of the techniques we were shown and more intricate ones can be made using more holes. Also different threads can be used too and a sewing machine can even be involved as it was in the next one:

I twisted several threads together and then ran them through a sewing machine to bind them together. If you use a zig zag stitch it binds the threads together to make a sort of plait which looks very effective. The ends can then be teased out to give a fraying look.

On this book as well, instead of being able to see the edge of the pages I used a piece of blue material to edge the book which gives it a much more professional feel:

These books are great because they can be made into any size you like and can be used for anything - scrapbooking and picture albums, writing down precious notes or even can be made to be a phone book with the tabs being cut out into all the pages for the alphabet. They are really easy to make too!