Snow Storm Hardcover Journal

I made this journal a couple days ago for the Trans Canada Etsy Team's February Challenge. The theme of the challenge is Snow since we still have lots of it around the country, even if it was scarce for a few days in Whistler! Visit the TCET blog to vote for your favorite item in our snow-inspired challenge (hint: pick "D"!) This journal has a white leather spine and the covers are finished with beautiful Japanese Chiyogami paper that has fine gold and silver bursts that remind me of whirling snow during a blizzard. There are 256 pages of gorgeous snow white cotton paper with torn edges.

And a little more repurposing

I have two more books made from repurposed materials to show you before I move on to other things.

This first one is a hardcover book, using reclaimed bookboard in the covers. The spine material is cut from a discarded pleather jacket. The paper on the covers is from a red paper bag, and the pages are all cut from brown paper bags. (And it's just a pretty red book, very nice to share today on Valentine's Day!)



This next one is made entirely with discarded paper. The cover of the book and slipcase are cut from the cover of a large sketchbook. This is the "Crossed Structure Solo" binding structure. The pages are all from the recycling bin and include previously used papers that are still mostly blank, as well as some lined pages from discarded notebooks, etc.

More repurposed materials for bookbinding

I have a few more items around here that I have made with garbage, er, I mean, repurposed materials. This first photo shows two small tea-bag notebooks, bound using a simple pamphlet stitch. The covers are cut from tea boxes, and the pages are actually the paper wrappers from the tea bags that came in the box. So these two little items were a long time in the making, as I drank my way through all the tea.


I saved all the seed packages after planting our vegetables last year. Some of the seeds came in little boxes and some came in paper envelopes. I transformed the little boxes into notebooks, then I made a cardboard slip case and covered it with the envelopes. Perfect for the gardener who likes to keep track of his veggies!


This next one is a bit odd. I had saved an old calendar that was full of photos of houses. I used the house photos to make this house-shaped book. It is basically an origami house structure, with a hardcover on each end. Not sure what practical purpose this serves, it was just an experiment that didn't come together very well. Old house photos aside, the structure might work well for a special greeting card or as a display format for some kinds of images.


(If you want to make an origami house, check out www.origami-instructions.com.)

Repurposing materials for bookbinding

A while back, I asked Pegg, fiveforty.etsy.com, to help me come up with some ideas for making books with repurposed materials. Pegg is a weaver, and so she wove two book covers for me to play with. This first one is woven plastic - this is the kind of plastic that comes wrapped around products at grocery stores before they are unpacked and shelved. Pegg collected the plastic at her local grocery store, took it home and wove it on her loom. Then I used it to make a photo album. Pegg also made another one for me, using lotto tickets. She cut them into strips, stitched them, then wove them together to make this book cover. It made a very sturdy book cover and I was able to case in a text block (consisting mostly of reclaimed papers in reds and blues) and have a wrap around cover with a button closure. Thanks for working with me on these projects Pegg! Check out Pegg's recycled textile rugs, woven using pre-used sweaters, t-shirts, jeans, etc in her Etsy shop, atFiveForty.Etsy.com.