I’ve always gone through artistic phases. I get hooked on a craft/art form, get really into it for a few months, then move onto something else. A few years ago, I was super big on bookbinding! I would create my own books and journals from scratch!
My first attempt
This was my very first attempt at bookbinding. I read tutorials, watched videos, and this was my final product! It was made 100% by hand. I cut out the pages, sewed them together, cut out the cardboard for the covers/spine, covered them in fabric, then glued the signature block (pages) to the cover.
The fabric was actually taken from a rag in my mom’s “rag drawer” because I didn’t know what to use LOL.
A decorative journal
This was a slightly more professional attempt. I set out to create a decorative journal for my sister. I went to the fabric store and bought a Chinese silk fabric (it’s stunning in person!) and a few embellishments.
Family scrapbook
I made this scrapbook for my mom for mother’s day (if I remember rightly)! Again, all the pages were cut and sewn, the cover/spine was created and covered. I also had to write out Evans on the cover! To do this, I typed “Evans” in Photoshop in a cursive typeface, printed it out, glued it to the cardboard, then got a piece of thick cord and carefully traced over it (gluing the cord down as I went). Then, finally, I covered the cardboard/cord in lambskin. I had to carefully press the skin down around the lettering to make sure it would “pop” like that and properly read “Evans”.
Then, after all that, I actually filled the book up with photos and embellishments. 🙂
Book of Zamorak
I’m sorry for the ugly, watermarked picture. I posted this on my deviantART page originally when it was just a WIP. I don’t actually have a higher quality photo and the book is currently sitting in California. 🙁
But anyway, this was a MASSIVE project! It was a form of “fan art” for a game I used to play called RuneScape. There’s something called a “Book of Zamorak” in the game.. kind of like a bible for a fictional religion. And I decided to recreate it!
The whole thing took like 15 hours to do! All of the pages (hundreds of them) were cut to size and then hand dyed to make them look aged. I dyed them in tea, coffee, and balsamic vinegar. Sadly you can’t see how cool and aged they look in the photos. That process alone took like 9 hours! I had to dip them in the tea/coffee/etc. one at a time, then leave them out to dry all around the house! Haha.
Then I had to cut out the pieces of cardboard for the covers and spine. But I also had to carve that Zamorak logo out of cardboard, then glue it to the front cover.
Then, finally, I covered the cardboard with lambskin that I bought on eBay.
RuneFest guestbook
This is another RuneScape-related book. When I made this, I was working for a RuneScape fan site (I still am, actually, lol) and we were going to the gaming convention “RuneFest”. I tasked myself with creating a “Rune Tips” (the fan site) guestbook for people to sign at the event.
I designed the cover art, got it printed (through Zazzle, I think), then created the whole book from scratch. The spine is covered with this really awesome leather I bought on eBay.
Is there anything you can’t do, Ashley? 😀 I made several scrapbooks for my friends’ birthday. Exhausting, but fulfilling.
That’s awesome! Scrapbooking is very cool. I’m always amazed when I see some of the super creative and well put together scrapbooks.
Well…that’s pretty badass!! I never thought of doing something like this.
It’s a lot of fun!
Haha, my sister and brother both play Runescape from time to time
Bahahah awesome! I was super addicted for a few years. I don’t play anymore though. 😛
Oh, wow! This is amazing! I really love notebooks and journals, but I’ve never thought about making one!
You should give it a try! You’ll feel so accomplished lol. 😀
These are friggin’ awesome! I love original journals and books. These are beautiful, Ashley!
Thank you Carrie! 🙂
What??? This is seriously so cool! Now I want to look up tutorials and make pretty books! I guess I never realized that you could do this yourself… Lol. Thanks for sharing! The books are beautiful!
You should totally do it! Once you get the hang of it, it’s not even too hard. 🙂
Wow! That’s very cool! I’ve never done anything like that I don’t think. As a kid – 13, 14 years old my brother and I made a scrap book for my great grandparents 60th anniversary – but we used an existing book and pasted in pictures and shapes and stuff. It was a lot of work, so I can’t imagine going back that extra step! You’re amazing, all the things you can do blow me away!
I do a lot of handmade cards and bookmarks! (you can finds a few examples here: http://www.pinterest.com/readingwabc/bookmarks/) I find that a lot more useful as I read a lot and need bookmarks all the time and I don’t buy greeting cards anymore.
Making journals looks difficult to me, but they are so pretty 🙂
Oh my god those are SO cute!
Thanks! I’m always happy to share 🙂
I once did an internship in a big library while I became a library assistant (we have apprenticeships in Germany) and I also worked with a professional book binder there. I still have the book somewhere. I also made a paper holder thingy. It was really fun and I still tell people that I made that myself. 😀
That is awesome! Your projects all turned out really nicely! I wish I could do this, but I’m pretty awful at crafts. It always sounds like a fun idea until I get started and realize just how untalented I am, haha. I usually end up getting frustrated with the whole process and give up.
That is awesome! I have wanted a handmade journal for so long. I may have to try my hand at this. I definitely want to make a TBR jar and paper mâché it with book pages. I’ve seen a lot of BookTubers do it.
These all look so cool! I think my favorite one’s the decorative journal — love the golden leaf bookmark you added in. <3 I used to like art and craft, but then gave up on it because I was too impatient and didn't have much time, heh. So nope, no book-related craft projects for me. Though I DID try to make a notebook for myself once. It was really thin and ugly and now I don't know where it is, lol.
I feel really out of it because I had no idea you could do something like this! So awesome! And that is one fantastic first attempt, it looks great. The decorative one is so pretty. Ah, RuneScape. I remember that. That’s so cool that you recreated it in real life. I really want to look into this now!
I actually have an Etsy shop where I make journals! Mine are spiral bound.
Here’s a link! https://www.etsy.com/shop/BoundByPaper?ref=si_shop
That’s so cool!
That’s so cool! I’ve never thought of binding my own books. I love scrapbooks, but I lack the patience to do it.
I love working with my hands and making creative things, especially bookish crafts. I make tons of jewelry inspired by books. http://thenerdyjournalist.tumblr.com/
I’ve been considering starting an Etsy shop, but I’m not sure if anyone would buy my jewelry.
I’m also starting to do more bookish photography (similar to the photos by Margot from Epic Reads).
I love the jewelry! They’re all so cool! 🙂 I think you should start an Etsy shop. If you’re making the jewelry anyway, there’s not a whole lot of extra effort into starting a shop and putting the pictures on there. If they don’t sell, no harm done. But if they do, then that’s incentive to make even more!
And I love the book photography idea. I wanted to do that at one point but it didn’t really pan out.. it’s so cool though!
Great examples Ashley! I love how you showed how to make bookbinding more personal. There’s no better gift than an absolutely personal journal–bound exactly the way you want it.