Annnnnnnnd, we're off!
30 projects in 365 days? That sounds manageable. (I've got four queued and ready to roll.)
I mentioned that phase one of this project is all about using up existing supplies. This is part of my idea that sometimes creativity comes when you GET IN A BOX. Setting parameters and working with what you have can make you even more inspired. The example I like to use is the Project Runway one: the challenges when the designers had to "make it work" with car parts always had much more interesting results than when they could use any fabric at Mood.
I have had a case bound grid journal from Paper Source in my cupboard for years and knew it would have to be Project 1.
Hilariously, I have already attempted to do a tutorial of this process (and I've already given a handbound book away!) but every five years you get to recycle blog content so we're good. Plus, I've gotten moderately better at taking photos of myself doing projects in five years. Though if I do anything right in the next five years it will be hiring an assistant to help me take photos.
I didn't have any great patterned paper on hand for the cover of the book so I decided to really go for it and stamp my own with a hand-carved stamp I made a few years ago. I already had white bookcloth and kraft paper on hand so it was a no-brainer to use white paint.
I love the look that results from a hand-carved stamp. The imperfections really make it. (I you want to carve your own, this is a great kit, I love this brayer and I have had great results with this printing ink – though any craft paint works.)
The hardest part of this project is (sadly) sourcing the book kits. You need a text block and precut book board which isn't easy to find. Paper Source has these square ones in limited quantities. Blick has these smaller ones at a great price if you want to make a bunch (teacher gifts anyone?). I am sure there are more, but these are the only brands I have tried. Other than that, you'll want:
- PVA glue
- a glue brush
- pencil
- ruler
- book cloth
- bone folder
- scissors
STEP 1 : cut your book cloth down so it's a few inches taller than your book and about 4-5 inches wide. Fold it in half the long (hot-dog) way. You now know where the center of your spine will be. Place your ruler on the fold and measure out about the width of your text block on each side.
For this book, my text block is 10/16 inches thick. I went 9/16 out on either side of the 6 (see those marks on the ruler?) We measure out this far to be sure our book will open and close properly. Mark these spots with a pencil in two places of the book cloth.
STEP 2 : apply glue to the bookcloth starting at the pencil marks and pulling out all the way to the edge of the bookcloth. Line your bookboard up with the marks and push down to adhere.
STEP 3 : do the same on the other side, being careful to line the top of the two bookboard pieces up.
STEP 4 : apply glue to the top of the bookcloth and pull it tightly over the bookboard.
STEP 5 : use your bone folder to smooth out any wrinkles of the booktape on the back and front sizes. (At this point you can add a bit more bookcloth to the back center – see final photo in step 12 below – but it's not necessary.)
STEP 6 : congrats! You have just combined two pieces of bookboard (your covers!) with a spine!
STEP 7 : we are now going to cover the book with paper. The amount of paper you'll need will vary based on the size of your book. You will want 2 pieces (one for the front and one for the back) and you should shoot for a few inches taller and wider than what your final book will be. Apply glue to the backside of the paper, taking care to pull the brush off the edge (on to scrap paper). We need that whole edge covered with glue.
STEP 8 : turn the paper over and line up the glued edge against the spine so it covers the bookcloth edge but leaves about an inch of cloth showing. Use your bone folder to smooth things out.
STEP 9 : turn the book back over and use scissors, to cut wide U shapes out of the two corners, making sure to leave about 1/8 inch of space between the paper and the bookboard corner.
STEP 10 : apply glue and fold down the top and bottom sides of the paper.
STEP 11 : use your bone folder to tuck in the extra little bit corner – this will give the book a polished look.
STEP 12 : apply glue and fold over that final side. Pull tight and smooth out with the bone folder.
Repeat steps 7-12 for the other side. Congrats! Your cover is complete!
The final step is to drop in the text block. The text block is a "pre-glued set of pages" and it slips right into your covers. Stick yours in and be sure that it fits. To hold it in place, we need to cover the whole front and back pages with PVA glue. This part always makes me nervous.
What I like to do is get it lined up in the cover exactly how I like it. Then I carefully set it on the table and open the front cover. Slip a piece of scratch paper under the front piece of the text block and apply glue to the whole thing, pulling the brush over the edge of the page and on to the scrap paper. Without moving the text block, close the book and firmly press down the cover. Remove the scrap paper.
Then flip the book over and do the same to secure the last page of the text block to the back cover.
Tuck fresh scratch paper (without glue on it) behind the covers to protect the pages and stick it under a heavy book for a few hours. The extra scratch paper will absorb any extra moisture. This glue is no joke and your book will hold beautifully.
Hooray! A REAL BOOK. I've learned a lot of DIY tricks over the past decade but book binding is top ten for sure. When I make stuff, I am trying to make stuff that I would actually want to buy. This is one of those projects for sure and a perfect kick off to MAKE&GIVE30.
And now! The giveaway. Since this is a journal… leave a comment telling me something that you'd write down in it. Grocery lists? Dreams? Things your kids say? Funny Leslie Knope quotes? I'll draw a random winner by the end the week. Giveaway open to anyone, anywhere.
GIVEAWAY CLOSED! Random.org chose #278 as the winning comment which is Sara (Kanapi). Sara, please email me at elise.blahaATgmail.com and I'll send out your book. Thank you!
enJOY it 
432 responses to “PROJECT 1/30 : a handbound journal”
I love this!! I’m in the midst of wedding planning and this would be a beautiful back drop for my many lists and the grid paper would be a great place to practice my (fake) calligraphy for all those envelopes I’m about to address.
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oh my gosh. I’ve been wanting one of these journals since I went pouring through your archives a few years ago. as for what I’d put in it, I’m going to say everything. funny quotes, journaling, article ideas, menus… and probably a few photos slapped in, as well.
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What a great journal. I love the hand stamped look. I would write down the funny things my kids say. Thanks!
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I have always wanted to start a book of my favourite quotes so I have them all in one place. And maybe one day create my own book of quotes and illustrations. This would be a perfect excuse to start!
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I’d use it for taking notes at meetings. I have seven journals with note of the lst 11 years.
I’m so glad to see your firsr project was the one I like to do the most. Almost all my friends have journals I handbound for them.
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That is so cool! I used to bind journal using thread and needles and it was rather tricky. Great to see other ways to do binding. I love to journal as a way to reflect and process, so I’d use this journal daily to write down thoughts and prayers.
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I would use it as a travel journal. We have a road trip coming up in May! Thanks for the chance.
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What a fun pattern! If won this notebook I’d use it for my garden journal. As my garden has gotten bigger and more diverse each year, I’m starting to realize the importance of taking notes!
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As a data analyst, I’m always in need of a place to work through equations and keep track of random thoughts at work. But I also want something cute and stylish for work that makes me smile when I see it. This would make a great work notebook for me.
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Thanks for sharing this tutorial! I’ve tried binding books before but I’ve never been very successful. Right now I’m working on a new business plan with a friend so I would use this to write down all of our ideas and to keep track of our progress 🙂
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Love this! I would probably write in it all of my random tasks I think of throughout the day I need to do as well as random thoughts.
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I love that it is graph paper!
I would probably keep a knitting/ craft idea journal with it. the graph paper is perfect for sketching out pattern ideas!
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Beautiful! With the grid patterned paper, this would be perfect for keeping track of my knitting projects!
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I would use it as a gratitude journal for my 20th year of life ;b. I want to focus on feeling-centered goal setting this year, and ways to share love and warmth with those whom I care about.
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I love the graph paper. I’d def use it to sketch out quilts. I like to see a quilt/quilt block and do the math to figure out how to make it. 🙂
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My journals house lists, paintings, watercolors, writing, and really random thoughts! I have a collection and I would love to have this one!!
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I would keep it on my nightstand and use to to write about the stuff that pops in my head when getting ready for bed 🙂
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I would start Morning Pages again with the journal!
Love that you are able to get another project under way!
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Love it! I’m an avid collector of notebooks and have every one I’ve ever written in 😁 Id use it for notes, journaling, lists, doodling, anything and everything! 🙂
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Definitely all the lists that I make on slips of paper and then promptly misplace. Love how beautiful it looks!
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I love this journal, and you’re right about the hand stamping–the cover is perfect in its imperfection. I’d love to use this book as a place to gather all of my favorite quotes. I find great quotes everywhere and usually jot them down on pieces of scrap paper.
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Very cool, I’d use it for meal planning and grocery lists. So fun!
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I would definitely be using this to make lists! I love a great list (and crossing thing off of it!)
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Love this! I would use it to write my next novel 🙂
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Awesome! I’m a teacher and would use it everyday in so many ways! Love it!
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I write in a journal almost every day–thoughts, ideas, what is happening in my life. I would love a beautiful book like this one for my next personal journal. Thanks for the giveaway!
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My seven year old daughter likes to read your site with me sometimes. I explained how you had your own business doing what you love (making stuff like her); she was hooked. “What is she working on now?” She would love to have something you made.
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I would keep it by my bed and journal before I go to sleep!
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Love it! I would write down my running to-do list. I love being able to visually see everything I’ve accomplished, but also being able to constantly add things and get rid of things that no longer seem so necessary.
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I just started Fringe Hours by Jessica Turner and this would be perfect for jotting down the answers to prompts, ideas sparks and random thoughts. Woohoo and the math teacher in me loves the graph paper.
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I want to start using the bullet journal system, so that’s totally what I’d do with a beautiful handmade journal like this.
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This turned out great! Cute 1st project!
It would be a great book for planning our garden, landscaping, etc with the grid.
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Hmmmmm I could use it for a million things….how about on my nightstand to keep notes about my kids days and little things they say that I don’t want to forget.
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Hi Elise ! My youngest (aged 10) has just started writing and illustrating stories and is pretty into it ! Sure to become a family treasure ! Would be a lovely present to my little man from a very inspiring lady (you, not me, hum, hum) ! Love, Kim
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How beautiful!! You make it seem so easy 🙂 I would write about my plans for my fledgling garden – the graph paper would make it so perfect for sketching out beds! Can’t wait to see what other projects you have in store for us! Thank you!
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I love notebooks and diaries. In a perfect world, I’d write an outline for my first novel. Probably, I will write meal lists. Ah well.
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Love it! I think I’d probably use it as a gratitude journal.
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I’d use it for writing recipes and keeping notes on additions/changes that I make to each one. I easily fill 2 journals a month doing that and I keep each one, and I love having a vastly different array of sizes, colors and styles.
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Too cool! I think I’d use this as a catch-all type journal for grocery lists, to-do lists, random bits of inspiration, and sketches of art journal layouts. So basically a physical version of my Evernote. 🙂
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I would use it to write daily goals in it, since you inspired me doing that! xo
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Quilt project ideas. Quad rule is ideal!
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Wow your book really does look professionally done. If I win I’d use it as a dream/goal/big idea journal.
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I would use it to draught knitting designs!
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I would use it to keep track of all the funny things my kid does.
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Last year, I started keeping track of what we ate for dinner: what we ate, which one of us cooked, when we went out, etc. I meant to do it all year, and I stuck with it… for exactly one week.
I recently found that list and thought it was so interesting — especially when it reminded me of a recipe I’d found online, and we’d really liked, and I had since forgotten about. I’d like to start up again, and this book would be a perfect place to keep the record!
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I’d write about our family meal times – what we ate and what we discussed, personalized with quotes or specific thoughts from the teenagers. I’m thinking they’d love to read those in 10+ years! I LOVE this! Thanks, Elise!
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A catch all for all the thoughts. and lists. 🙂
Such a fun giveaway!
xo,
Christen
ChristenKrumm.com
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It would make a great travel journal!
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Such a beautiful piece! I’d use it to journal notes for grad school and keep ideas for projects in…what else?
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I want to become more of a journaler. Recording the random parts of days and weeks that I don’t want to forget in 10 years. If I had a beautiful journal to use, maybe I would be more consistent!
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