DIY: Journal

In recent months, I've started carrying around my journal at all times. I'm as attached to it as my iPhone; if I leave the house without it, I know a brilliant (-ish) idea will strike me, I won't be able to sketch it or write it down, and I will of course forget it before I get home. I don't discriminate in my journal; it's a place to gripe, whine, and complain, but it's also a sketchbook, an idea bank, and an inspiration board. Clearly, something so important gets used often, and I'm just about to the end of my book. Not one to just run down to Rite Aid and buy a notebook, I've been hunting for the perfect replacement. I'm partial to Moleskin notebooks, but on a recent trip to Paper Source, I discovered bookbinding. Suddenly, another world opened up in front of my eyes! Not that I needed another reason to spend money at Paper Source, but the idea of having a journal that was as personal on the outside as it was on the inside was too good to pass up.

The possibilities of my discovery stretched out in front of me... and like every good bridesmaid, my mind went to "How can I convince Lissa to use this at her wedding??" The answer: GUESTBOOKS! In my humble opinion, wedding guest books are, at best, hideous. Not only are they visually dissatisfactory, but also they're expensive! And then you have to buy the pen in the lucite block.... uff. No gracias. Anywho, I envisioned making a book for Lissa and Greg that was pretty and personal. And clearly, I would have to experiment first to make sure I could actually do this and that it woudn't make white leather guestbooks seem preferable.

Here's what I ended up with:

I printed the photos (of Beau and I on our honeymoon and paddleboarding; the back has a wedding photo) on paper-backed linen and then cut them to size. I love how the linen gives the photos a vintage-postcard look.

More photos and instructions after the jump!

Whitey Ford, helping out. There's nothing better than fuzzy white cat hair in bookbinding glue, let me tell you.

Want to make one yourself? Try it out! These instructions are adapted from the ones I got from Paper Source. All of my materials came from Paper Source, by the way. Love them.

DIY Journal

Materials:
-journal kit (these come with book boards-- the really heavy-duty cardboard-- and the book block with the actual pages. If you wanted to make this yourself, you could cut the boards down to size with an exacto knife, but I don't know where you would find the book inserts). Click here for Paper Source's kit.
-book cloth tape (you can also cut book cloth to size, then apply adhesive.) I used the 4" roll from Paper Source, and it cut to size.
-2 pieces of pretty paper for the outside (I used inkjet linen, but you can also use scraps of any paper you have around the house. Just make sure it covers one side of the bookboard with a few inches to spare.
-bone folder (I thought this was silly at first, but it was quite helpful for smoothing out air bubbles and turning a tight corner.)
-a ruler (I prefer one with a cork back-- it won't slide around or stick to the tape)
-glue brush- again, I got a bristled one from Paper Source (I'm a one-stop shopper), but any small brush would probably do.
-glue (I used a mixture of PVA and methyl cellulose. The PVA is hardcore; the methyl cellulose extends the drying time so us novices can move things around if need be).
-old newspaper
-cutting mat

I. Prep & Attach Boards
a. Cut your pretty paper to size. You should have two pieces the size of your book board with a little overhang around the edges (at least an inch at the top and bottom; less on the foredge). Put them aside.

b. Cut a piece of book cloth tape (for the outside) to size. It should be about 2 inches longer than the length of your boards (leaving 1 inch overhang per end). To determine the width of the tape, you need to measure your spine width. Spine width  is equal to the thickness of the book block + 1/4" for the gutters on each side. My book in these pictures is 1/2" thick, so my spine width was 1".

c. Fold your outside spine tape in half. Now you need to visualize the outside of the book so you can trim the width of the tape. Measure out 1/2 of the spine width in each direction from the center fold. Place the inside edge of the book boards down at that point. Now flip it all over (carefully, since you're not using the adhesive yet!). How much of the front cover is taken up by spine tape? My tape was 4" wide, but with a small notebook, the 4" tape would take up about half of each of the covers, so I wanted to trim it. I trimmed the tape for this notebook to 3" wide. It's your call!
d. Once you've trimmed your tape, peel back the paper backing to expose the adhesive. If trimming the tape has made your fold off-center, fold the tape in half again to find the center, and measure out 1/2 the spine width in each direction again. Mark it clearly with a pencil (I marked it out at several points, then drew a vertical line through them so I would have a clear guide).

e. Place the boards along the pencil marks, centering them vertically (you should have approximately 1 inch overhang on each end) and making sure to line up the bottoms using your ruler or a triangle. If you need a fuzzy cat to help, I have one you can borrow.

f. Fold the top and bottom edges over tightly, smoothing down 1 side at a time. Push tape into the spine with your finger, and smooth with the bone folder. Repeat for the other end, then flip over and smooth the outside  of the tape with the bone folder as well.
g. Now it's time to measure out the inside spine tape. It should be approximately as wide as your spine width plus 1" (this gives you a 1/2" gutter for either side), and long enough to cover the exposed tape without meeting the top or bottom edges of the book.

h. Draw a line on the boards approximately 3/8" from the inside edge (either edge is fine). You're going to use this as a guide for putting down the inside spine tape.

i. Peel off the backing, and place the inside spine tape along the mark, centering it visually. Smooth it down with your finger and bone folder. Now you've made the spine!

II. Paper the outside!
a. On the outside of the book, measure 7/8" out from the inside board edge of the spine. Mark it on either side; this will be your guide for laying down the paper. The paper and tape overlap a bit to ensure that everything is covered. If you've chosen to have a wider outside spine tape, then 7/8" might not be far enough out for you; you may want to go a little wider. The important thing is that it's about 1/8" away from your outside edge of the spine tape (you measure it from the inside edge of the board, however, as an extra insurance policy in case you didn't lay down your boards evenly and your spine tape is wider on one side than the other! smart, huh?)

b. Now it's time to glue the paper. Using a piece of waste paper underneath, apply glue to the wrong side of the paper, starting from the middle and working your way out all the way to the edge.

c. Lay the paper, glued side down, on the outside of the board, using the marks you made in Step IIa as a guide. Smooth out air bubbles with your hand and the bone folder.

d. Flip the book over. Cut the corners of the paper at a 45 degree angle, leaving about 3/16" of paper between the corner and the cut. 

e. Reglue the exposed paper, and snugly fold top and bottom edges over, smoothing out the air bubbles with your bone folder.

f. Now it's time to turn the corners! Using the tip of your bone folder, press in the corner of the paper toward the long edge of the board. This creates a little L-shaped dog ear. Do it in both corners, then fold that edge up tightly against the boards. Smooth out the air bubbles.

g. Tah dah! Now repeat for the other cover.

III. Insert the book block

a. Put a piece of waste paper underneath the 1st page of the book block. Apply glue to the block (working from the center out), but don't glue the spine!

b. Visually center the block, glue side up, along the 3 edges of the inside cover. While simultaneously pushing the block against the spine with your index finger, keep the spine supported on the outside of the cover with your opposite hand and close the cover. Do a quick check of the edges to make sure the placement is right (if not, adjust quickly!!).

c. Open the book and smooth down the inside cover with your hand.

d. Repeat for the opposite cover! You're almost finished!

e. Place two pieces of paper (I use parchment), between the front and back covers, and weigh the journal down with heavy books for several hours or overnight. The paper will absorb any excess moisture from the glue.

You did it! Sit back and marvel at your work. Once you get the hang of it, you can add some flair along the way. For example, you can add a thin grosgrain ribbon along the border of the book tape and the paper on the outside covers (do this between steps IIg and IIIa), or add a ribbon bookmark by laying a piece of ribbon down close to the spine on the glued back page of the book block before you press down the cover. Go crazy!