Becoming a bookworm

Usually, I bind books in stages, preparing a few books rather than complete one then start making another. Maybe I might do that some day but not now, not when I'm rushing to complete as many before Term 2 starts. 

Stage 1: cut up the board into smaller sizes, usually slightly larger than A5 or A6. I used to use 900gsm greyboards but now I've started using 1000gsm whiteboards. These white boards are easier when the fabric is light coloured and the background of the backing board matters.

Stage 2: prepare the parts of the book - the covers for the covers (LOL!), the pages, signature covers, charms etc. The covers (fabric or paper) also needs to be cut and glued onto the boards.

Stage 3: While the glue dries, I fold and cut paper into the right size, print lines if I need to. This part is quite monotonous and sometimes I do this while watching Criminal Minds or some other show to distract me.

Stage 4: The outside of the cover done, I'll need to do the insides of the cover. This is either a fly page or patterned paper covering the board on the other side. Glue goes on and I wait again.

Stage 5: Sometimes I press the boards after they're dry.

Stage 6: Decide on stitching pattern, draft if necessary.

Stage 7: Find thread and wax it. I've used polyester, cotton and linen. I like linen for it's strength, cotton for the colours. I don't think I'll use polyester anymore, now that I've found linen and cotton threads.

Stage 8: Poke holes in the cover (and flypage, if there is) and pages.

Stage 9: Sew. Attach charm, perhaps?

Stage 10: Press. Sometimes I press for a few days.

Well, there you have it. Bookbinding in a nutshell.

I'm toying with a series of bookbinding classes for the June holidays but let's see how things go in term 2 first. 

Covers: Wilmington's Bunny's Day Out fabric (front), faux suede (back), 1000gsm whiteboard
Pages: 80gsm, 2 shades of green, acid-free, 8 signatures of 10 folios, 320 sides. Unlined
Stitch: 7-hole coptic
Thread: waxed cotton, variegated green
Size: A5

Covers: Lecien's Happy Chihuahua fabric, 900gsm greyboard, 120gsm endpapers
Pages: 80gsm, 2 shades of blue, acid-free, 7 signatures of 10 folios, 280 sides. Unlined
Stitch: woven longstitch, kettle
Thread: waxed cotton, variegated blue
Size: A5

Covers: Wilmington's Bunny's Day Out fabric (front), faux suede (back), 1000gsm whiteboard
Pages: 80gsm, 2 shades of green, acid-free, 7 signatures of 10 folios, 280 sides. Unlined
Stitch: 7-hole coptic
Thread: waxed cotton, variegated green
Size: A5

Covers: Pattern paper, 900gsm greyboard, 120gsm fly pages
Pages: 80gsm, white, acid-free, 7 signatures of 10 folios with signature covers, 280 sides. Unlined
Stitch: 7-hole single needle coptic
Thread: waxed linen, 4-ply, Robin's egg blue
Size: A5

Covers: Korean quilting cotton, 1000gsm whiteboard, 160gsm flypages
Pages: 80gsm, 2 shades of green, acid-free, 8 signatures of 10 folios, 320 sides. Unlined
Stitch: criss-cross kettle/Coptic
Thread: waxed cotton, variegated green
Size: A5

Covers: Laminated pattern print, 900gsm greyeboard
Pages: 80gsm, white (one book) / rose (other book), acid-free, 8 signatures of 10 folios with signature covers, 320 sides. Unlined
Stitch: Coptic, Roman links
Thread: waxed linen, dark chocolate
Size: A6

Covers: Laminated pattern print, 900gsm greyeboard
Pages: 80gsm, white, acid-free, 8 signatures of 10 folios with signature covers, 320 sides. Unlined
Stitch: Coptic, Roman links
Thread: waxed cotton, variegated brown
Size: A5

Have a blessed evening!

Flutter by

I'm liking this combination of book and bag. Maybe I'll make such for the larger journals as I go. This way I'll use up more fabric? LOL!

Yet another coptic-bound hardcover book. I think I have about 10 to go. Ran out of glue and had to buy some this morning. Waxed linen threads have also arrived from Sweden. Fast shipping :-) Problem is, now that I've tried the variegated threads, I don't know if I want to move to linen. Linen's stronger but the cotton variegated threads are prettier. Hmm, why doesn't someone make variegated linen? Or maybe I've not found them yet.

Have a blessed day!

Clearance sale now on on Facebook

I'll be taking on something new from next year for 3 years. It's something I've been looking forward to though I'm still waiting for final confirmation that it's on. It's going to take up most of my time so I'll have less time to craft :-(

I'll still craft though, but I won't be taking any more customised orders.

I'm clearing on-hand stock now on Facebook, selling some items almost at cost.

Check them out!

Shades of purple

Purple seems to be the new black. I get more and more requests for purple items. It's a pretty colour, my mum likes it too. Her favourite colour.

Double-wrap 7-strand suede bracelet with a Love charm.

Have a blessed day!

Starry, starry night

These two emerald green acrylic stars are double-sided and light so they'll not weigh down the dust plug. I only have these two stars and 1 green tassel so it's really OOAK. I might go look for other colours of the stars since they're so big and pretty :-)

Made a bunch of these keychains with 4-strand suede braids and charms. I like the leftmost the most. Christmas colours :-)

The braid and charm are attached via lobster hooks so you can detach and attach to a dust plug or shepherd's hook bookmark.

Have a blessed day!

Afternote: made some in gold :-)

Tassels and charms

Made some bracelets and dust plugs and added charms and tassels.

Have a blessed day!

Afternote: made one more

Starlight

I said, "Oh my, what a marvelous tune"

It was the best night, never would forget how we moved.

The whole place was dressed to the nines,

And we were dancing, dancing

Like we're made of starlight

Like we're made of starlight

This bling charm reminds me of that song from Taylor Swift's latest album. It's attached via a Byzantine chainmaille weave with a grass green suede tassel on another chain.

Have a blessed day!

Afternote:
Made another one.

More kits

These 3 are available as a kit. I've just posted them up on Facebook. Found 3 double-sided heart charms to go with them too :-)

These are 3-braid single wrap ones. I don't have other colours at the moment nor others long enough for double-wrap.

It seems that

3-braid, single wrap needs 1 yard,

3-braid, double wrap needs 2 yards,

6-braid, single wrap needs 2 yards and

6-braid, double wrap needs 4 yards.

Anyway, have fun with these :-)

Afternote: I forgot to include instructions (no picture tutorial at the moment)

1. Cut the yard of suede into 3 equal strips. At 12" and even with braiding, this should be long enough for most wrists.

2. Clamp 3 ends with the ribbon end with a pair of pliers. It doesn't matter which end you use, lobster hook or heart charm.

3. Braid

4. When it's long enough, cut and clamp.

Three suede cuffs ready for braiding (18cm, 20cm, 20cm). Affixed with antique bronze rose snap. Make your own following the tutorial I learnt from here.

Have a blessed day!

Same, but different

Made these two antique bronze shepherd's hook bookmarks with box weave chainmaille and the largest owl charms I have. The left hook is a plain hook and the right one has patterns etched on both sides.

DS and I prefer the left one, DD, the right.

Have a blessed evening!

Go green this Christmas

Go green this Christmas and make your own gift bag rather than use wrapping paper that will be ripped and thrown away.

Anyway, if you haven't noticed how I make stuff by now, I'm winging this. That's why there are no specific measurements. This also means that you can make it any size you like as long as you know the ratios and what to look out for.

Material

• 4 pieces of fabric - outer (1pc), lining (pc), top (2pcs) - the outer and lining are large rectangles, twice the size of your final bag when you fold breadthwise, meaning breadth meets breadth and length is halved. The top parts are as long as when the outer is folded half, as wide as 4 times the cords / ribbons you're going to use. Please remember to include sufficient allowance for sewing.
• cord or ribbon for drawstring top
• bells, charms (optional)
• label (optional)

Method

1. Prepare the materials above
2. Fold in the breadths of the top pieces and sew near the edge. This is so that the ends won't fray. See yellow arrow.
3. Take the lining and fold half breadthwise (breadth meets breadth) and crease it along the length. See red arrow. Fold both top pieces into half lengthwise (length meets length) and place them along the edge of the lining, one on each side of the half where you just creased. All frayed edges need to be aligned.
4. Place the outer piece on top so that you have a sandwich. Bottom - lining, middle - top piece folded half lengthwise, top - outer piece. Sew along the frayed edge of this 'sandwich'.
5. Open the 'sandwich' and top-stitch near the edge. See red arrow. You may wish to add a label at this time.
6. If you want squared off corners, open them up and fold them 45-degrees across. Think tetra packs or milk cartons. Same concept. Trim off the excess. See red arrow.
7. Fold the whole thing such that the outer is folded half on itself, and ditto the lining. Sew round the 3 edges. Remember to leave an opening for turning. Trim the part where the outer and lining meets. See red arrow.
8. Turn it proper way out and sew the hole closed. Cut 2 pieces of cord or ribbon. These will be longer than the length of the outer or lining. Thread one through one of the top pieces and out  the other and knot it. Thread the other through the other end and knot it. Add charms or bells, if you like.

Have fun!

Charmed by Owl City

DS asked for Owl City for the charm for his bag.

Incidentally the colours go so well together with the antique bronze, blues and browns. I just hope the glass dome will be ok after a few months.

Have a blessed day!

ps: No rights infringement intended here either. Perhaps I'll go check what the copyright law is...

Quick update

So the PSLE's over and we're in spring-cleaning mode. I managed to squeeze out some items though.

Antique bronze shepherd's hook bookmarks with full Persian chainmaille weave and charms. The squirrel and dolphin were a gift from a supplier so I only have 1 each. The Sue Bonnets and bunnies I bought from South Bridge road.

We finally bought E6000, the industrial strength glue for sticking the ring bases to the fabric-covered buttons. I like the filigree ones though DS said it looks too fat for the ring. I think it's so pretty that it can be worn on its own. :-) DD has claimed the butterfly, by the way, LOL!

More stuff coming, after the spring-cleaning. That's for sure. The postlady's been here quite often with packages for us that we'll be making into some pretty items in time for Christmas.

Watch this space.

Have a blessed day!

Charmed!

Oooh! The Faith charms have arrived!

I wasn't expecting them till early next month and I'm so happy that they arrived. It just so happened that I ran out of charms while I was making more shepherd's hook bookmarks but I decided to just do the Byzantine weave anyway so when the doorbell rang, like 15 mins ago, I quickly opened the package, pulled out one and attached it!

I like it that it's super shiny with a clear print of the word 'Faith'. I'm so tempted to buy the other charms available from this shop :-(

Have a blessed day!

Plasticky

Bought a stack of plasticky canvas recently. Sure reminds me of Cath Kidston material, in terms of print and feel. It's the thickest material I've sewn. Not the toughest though. That would be faux leather 'cos it wouldn't cooperate with my sewing machine's presser foot and feeder dogs.

I've not quite thought of what I want to make with these yet but made this to try out sewing it. It's so stiff that it's tough to flip proper side out. On the upside, it holds its shape very well. :-)

Simplest item to make was an unlined pencil case. Added a label to the front and a charm to the zipper pull.

Have a blessed day!

Splashproof

It was supposed to be a quick trip to Chinatown to restock my batting supply. I thought I had enough but there are just so many types of batting, in terms of material, thickness and whether there's adhesive. Since I was there, I detoured to another shop and caught sight of this laminated material rolled up and stuck in a box in the corner and I bought two rolls :-)

Made two pencil cases. The salesgirl at the shop thought I'd be making a tote. She suggested I reinforce the seams with binding. I was thinking smaller items actually. Maybe later, if there's enough for a tote.

Blue zip's flat and lined with cotton. Magenta zip has triangle sides and a base so it can stand. I added a large jump ring and charm 'cos the zipper pull seems too tiny. Maybe I'll do that for the blue zip too.

Have a blessed day!

Happy National Day

Here are some pics of what I've been making recently. 

Byzantine bookmarks with anodized aluminium rings and charms.

 

 Antique bronze bookmarks - Full Persian on the left and Byzantine on the right.

For the most important book in the world :-) 

These Byzantine star keychains remind me of the song that goes like...

There are five stars arising out of the stormy sea...

Happy National Day!

Make a mark!

DS used to fold dog ears. I don't like dog ears. I'll remove them if I see them on a library book. I much prefer to remember the page number or use a bookmark.

This is DD's request. She chose the spine, the weave and the charm. This is the larger version (and thicker) of the spine. There were plain ones in silver, gunmetal and bronze, zig-zag ones even but she chose this one with the sun and stars detail.

I'm waiting for her to finish reading this book. She's read it 3 times already and going to finish reading the 4th time soon. I'm wondering what's so captivating about this book?

Have a blessed Sunday!

Productive weekend

Finally attached toggles to these chains. It's a simple toggle but I like it 'cos it's a bit heavy and has nice clean lines. The hole is in the bar rather than a soldered ring. Would have been nicer if the hole in the ring was incoporated as well. I like it too that this simple toggle doesn't distract from the woven chains.

 

Made a second shaggy bracelet. Only bought two types of long magatama beads. The frosted green one and  this blue one. I like the different shades of blue and teal. 

Another chainmaille belt similar to the earlier one with the 3-by-1 weave. These are larger (and heavier) antique bronze rings. Matched it with a pretty heart charm and flower lobster hook.

Have a blessed day!