Make a notebook out of old paper: Coronavirus craft time - cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- If you’re looking for a creative outlet while stuck at home due to coronavirus, consider crafting.

We’ve reached out to several Cleveland artists, asking them to provide step-by-step instructions on how to make various projects. Many of the projects can be made with materials you might have lying around home.

Today, learn how to bind a notebook with Akron artist Claire Marks.

Marks has a Summit Artspace studio in downtown Akron, where she hosts private workshops on printmaking, paper marbling, drawing, bookmaking and more. She has also taught art classes at Northeast Ohio’s libraries, the Cleveland Institute of Art and the Akron Art Museum.

Marks sells many of her paper products and books through her Peaceable Kingdom Etsy shop, and shares her process on her Instagram page, instagram.com/clairemarksart.

Want to make your own notebook with some paper you might have lying around at house? Here’s how.

(Photo by Claire Marks)

Materials:

• Lightweight paper for the pages of your book. Regular 8.5-inch-by-11-inch computer paper will work just fine. You can use lined notebook paper if you want to make a lined booklet.
• Piece of paper for the cover. This paper should be a bit heavier than the paper you use for the inside. You can use a piece of scrapbook paper, a wallpaper sample, card stock, etc.
• Needle – I'm using a #1 darner needle
• Two small pieces of cardboard or chipboard (approximately 1.5” x 2”)
• Ruler – A metal ruler works best, but you can use whatever you have.
• Awl – For stabbing sewing holes. A thick needle could also be used.
• String/thread – I use waxed linen bookbinder's thread, but this is not essential. Anything about the thickness of embroidery floss will be great.
• Retractable utility knife – A normal #1 or #2 X-ACTO blade can substitute, but the utility knife will give you cleaner cuts when it’s time to trim your book.
• Self-healing cutting mat (optional, but highly suggested)
• Sewing Machine (optional)

A technical note:

It's important to understand that paper has a grain direction like wood and fabric. The paper's fibers run in the direction of either the length of the full sheet (grain long) or the width (grain short). No matter how you trim your paper, make sure that the spine of your book runs parallel to the grain direction of your paper. This detail is a little technical, but it will make the difference in the quality of your book.

To determine the grain direction of your paper, you can fold the sheet without creasing across its length and width. The direction it “gave” more readily is the paper’s grain direction. If you’re still unsure, take an extra piece of paper and try to tear a strip from it both vertically and horizontally. It will be easier to make a straight tear in one direction over the other. The direction of the straight tear is the paper’s grain direction. Computer paper is typically grain long, meaning that the grain runs parallel to the 11-inch side of the sheet.

Instructions:

1. Cut down the paper for the inside of your book. We'll be sewing down the middle of the paper, so these pieces are going to be two-page spreads. I'm using computer paper (grain long), and I'm going to cut them in half by length.

Inside paper dimensions = the height I want the finished book x double the width I want the finished book.

Paper grain should be running parallel to the short side of the cut-down papers, therefore parallel to what will be the book's spine.

To cut: Gather 6-8 sheets of the paper and align them neatly. I place my ruler at 5.5” (half of the 11” length). You can draw a line where you need to cut with a pencil if it helps. Pressing firmly on the ruler, use the utility knife to trim down your stack of papers. Don't try to cut through all the paper at once. Let the blade do the work, cutting one sheet at a time. Since I cut 6-8 full sheets in half, I have enough for two pamphlets.

(Photo by Claire Marks)

2. Cut your cover paper to be about 1/8” to 1/4” larger than the size of your inside papers. We’ll trim it later. Again, make sure the grain of your cover paper is running in the same direction as your inside papers.

3. Put your inside papers on the back side of your cover paper. Sandwich two small pieces of cardboard or chip board on one side of the stack and clip them all together. This will keep your papers from getting out of alignment. The cardboard keeps the clip from leaving marks on your book pages.

(Photo by Claire Marks)

4. Draw a light pencil line dividing your book pages in half.

5. Mark where your sewing holes will go in pencil. Put one hole in the middle, one each about 1/2” from the top and bottom of the inside pages, and one each about halfway between the middle and outer holes.

6. Use the awl to carefully stab your sewing holes. Be careful not to push the awl all the way through, or the hole will be too large.

(Photo by Claire Marks)

7. Cut a piece of string more than double the height of your book. Be generous. It’s better to have too much than to not have enough! Thread your needle so you have a 2-3 inch tail. Don’t knot the end of the thread.

8. Always sew starting at the middle hole. If you want your ending knot to be hidden, start sewing from the inside of the book. If you want to incorporate the knot as a decorative element, start from the outside.

(Photo by Claire Marks)

9. Pull the thread through the middle hole leaving a few inches left over. Sew down through the next hole (doesn't matter which side). Come back up through the end hole. Pull your thread so it's taut. Now go back down through the hole next over from the end hole. Go up through the middle hole again.

10. Sew in this same “inside, then outside” manner until you've reached the opposite end hole. Lastly, come back down through the second hole in from the end.

(Photo by Claire Marks)

11. Tying off – Remove your needle. Make a square knot with the starting and ending tail of your thread.

12. Fold your book in half and crease. If you don't have a bone folder, you can just use something hard and smooth like a Sharpie cap or spoon to crease.

13. Use your ruler and utility knife to trim the final edges of your book flush.

(Photo by Claire Marks)

Optional: Sewing on a sewing machine

After Step 4, use your machine to sew straight down the spine, starting about 1/4” in from the top and ending about 1/4” from the bottom. I used six stitches per inch. Any more and the frequent punches from the needle might stab your book in half. Fold and trim your pamphlet.

More coronavirus crafts: Make an upcycled monster plushie

Let's block ads! (Why?)

"craft" - Google News
April 22, 2020 at 08:21PM
https://ift.tt/2VRk5vc

Make a notebook out of old paper: Coronavirus craft time - cleveland.com
"craft" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2YrY2MS
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update

Bagikan Berita Ini