October - Make a Book : the small black book

 I've tried writing instructions for making simple books before, and - oh boy! - there's nothing like trying to do something seemingly simple to prove how complicated that can be.  So, here's another attempt.  I've decided to set myself a task for October, to make and blog about making as many different types of simple books as I can.  Journals, collage books, sketchbooks, whatever.  I might run out of book types before 31st October, hopefully not.  I decided not to challenge myself to making and blogging about one every single day.  That'd tempt Fate too much.  Life gets in the way sometimes and if the sun's shining and I want to garden, then the computer's getting turned off and the scissors and glue stick put away.

Okay, let's start with a book I'm calling the small black book.  

Points to note: 

(i) - It has a minimal number of inner pages, but obviously you can make it much larger, adding as many pages as you want.  This example is simply to show you the technique.  

(ii) - I've used black card for the front cover, back cover and pages.  But use white if you'd prefer.  Or pink, blue, polka dot, stripes ...

(iii) - The book's the size I made it because I had a limited amount of black card, so used what I'd got.  You can make it taller or wider, whatever suits your needs.  

What you'll need to make the small black book: 

Four pieces of thin black card, 4 inches x 3 inches.

Three pieces of thin card, 1 and a half inches x 3 inches.  (Please note, I used white card simply because it shows up better in the photographs than black.  Use the same colour or use a contrasting colour, it's entirely up to you.)

A glue stick

Scissors

A heavy book 

Small length of ribbon

Masking tape 

I decided to add some decoration - in the form of gelli printed paper - to my black card.  You can leave them blank while you're assembling the book if you wish, or paint/collage as you go.  

I added my gelli prints to both sides of the black card, using the glue stick and pressing firmly down.  

Next, I folded the three strips of card length ways.  

Then I stuck one side of the white strip to the side of one of the pieces of black card.  (This is the side that'll form the book's spine.)

Take another of your pieces of black card and glue it to the other side of the white strip. 

Take another folded white strip and glue it to the back of the joined pages.  

Glue another piece of black card to that white strip.  You've now got two inner pages and one of the cover's assembled.  Add the third white strip and you're nearly done.  

All ready for the remaining piece of black card to the glued on.  (You see how easy it'd be to keep going, making your book fatter and fatter with lots and lots of pages.)

Now you need to strengthen the book's spine.  

I added masking tape along the spine, but you could use decorative ribbon or washi tape.  

The masking tape was covered by more gelli printed paper.  

I added ribbon, approx 21 inches long, using the glue stick and positioning it so that the tails are about the same length.  

To make extra sure my ribbon stayed secure I added more gelli prints over top of the ribbon here and there.  (At this stage, it's handy to leave your book underneath a heavy book and let the glue dry 100%, everything firmly in place.  Actually you can do that earlier on, at any stage in assembling your book.  It's especially necessary if you use a not-so-solid glue, ie: PVA.  The wetter the glue, the longer it needs to dry.)

Here's the book's ready to be further collaged, stamped, stenciled, anything you like.  

I've worked on the book a little since taking these photos, adding more detail.  Including a little pocket to put a tag in.  Plus, a little bit of Keats in the final photo.  Can you spot it?