This is a tutorial for making repurposed journals out of a few pretty common household materials.

 

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Materials needed

A hardcover book, dust sleeve removed.

Note: When finding a good cover, take a piece of standard 8.5″ x 11″ paper and fold it in half. The cover should be the same size or slightly larger than the piece of paper.

Always perform this test, because hardcover books come in a wide variety of sizes. A book that is too small will not protect the edges of the pages, and a book that is too large will be very difficult to bind.

3 to 4 yards of thin string or yarn

The string should be about 1/8″ thick or slightly smaller. Cotton twine or “Sugar ‘n Cream”-type yarns work well.

A yarn needle

Masking tape or cloth tape

Tape

Razor blade or sharp knife

Paper

Standard 8.5″ x 11″ paper works well, although this technique can accomodate many other types of paper.

A couple of large beads

The holes in the beads need to be large enough that they can fit on the string or yarn you will use. A small piece of string or fishing line can help string the beads onto the yarn.

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Prepare the Cover

Take the hardcover book and the razor blade, and carefully cut the block of pages away from the cover.

If you open the book, look at the area where the block of pages meets the cover. There should be a thin layer of paper joining the two. Cut through the paper on the front and the back of the book. Be careful not to cut through to the spine of the cover.

After the pages have been separated from the cover, it should look like this:

..minus the cat, of course.

Take the masking or cloth tape and cut two strips that are the same length as the spine of the book. Tape the rough edges where you just cut so they look a little neater.

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Prepare the Pages

To assemble the pages of your new journal, you will start off by making little “booklets” called signatures. Take about 10 pieces of 8.5″ x 11″ paper and fold it in half so that it will be able to fit inside the cover.

The number of signatures that you will need depends on the thickness of the cover’s spine. To see how many signatures you need, make 5 to 7 signatures and fit them snugly into the cover. Your signatures should fit somewhat like this:

As you can see, the folded ends of each signature are able to touch the spine. The signatures should be snug and fill the spine area completely. Any signatures that are not able to touch the spine should be removed.

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Putting It All Together

 

Next, we will secure the signatures to the cover and bind the book together. The signatures will be basically tied to the cover, with a decorative weaving done up the outside of the spine.

The first signature will be tied directly to the spine.

Open the cover and place the first signature inside, with the folded edge of the signature lined up against the spine of the cover. Open the signature to the center fold and run the yarn from the back of the book cover to the center fold, as shown.

The leading end of the yarn is pictured as the blue piece of yarn that goes behind the book cover. Tie the signature tightly and securely to the cover, but make sure not to apply excessive pressure because it could cause the spine to tear.

Cut the “tail” that remains to a length of one or two inches. Tape it to the inside of the spine.

Now, we will add the rest of the signatures by tying them to the cover in a slightly different way.

Take the next signature and open it to the center fold. Lay it on top of the inside cover and the first signature, similar to how you did with the first signature. Run the yarn up the center fold of the signature and wrap it back around the cover. Do this loosely so that a loop of yarn remains where you first started, at the bottom of the book.

In this picture, the yarn has not been wrapped around the cover yet but you are able to see the loop at the bottom of the book. Take the end of the yarn and feed it through this loop, as pictured below.

Pull the rest of the yarn through until it forms a knot.

This is what the knot looks like when it is fairly loose, but until the rest of the signatures are secured, you must keep things very tight. This is what holds the pages to the cover, and you want everything to hold together securely, so keep the string held tight from this point until the weaving starts.

Repeat this process with the remaining signatures, until all the signatures are secured to the cover.

Next, we will complete the binding by weaving the remaining yarn up the spine. Start by threading the yarn through the yarn needle, and be sure to keep the yarn that binds the book held tight!

Close the book and hold it so that the spine is facing you. There should be as many strings on the spine as there are signatures in your book. They should be spaced evenly and fairly tight against the spine of the book.

We will start weaving closest to where the loose yarn starts. In this picture, it is at the bottom left corner of the spine.

Pass your yarn needle over and under the strings in an alternating pattern that pleases you.

I did a basic over-under-over weave, but many different patterns work. Just be sure to change your pattern as you go back through or else your weaving will come undone! You will learn quickly what works and what doesn’t.

As you weave, try to keep the yarn tight and neat. Occasionally you will want to push down your weaving to make sure it is evenly packed and straight.

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Finishing Up

Once you reach near the top, weaving will become very hard to do. The next steps illustrate how to finish off the weaving, and how to add a built-in bookmark to the book as a finishing touch.

Here is how to finish off the weaving.

Wrap the yarn around the top a couple times and pull it tight. It will look something like this:

I like to poke the yarn up through the top of the coil of yarn so that the next step is a little easier.

Now, we will make the bookmark. Lay the remaining yarn down along the side and tie a double knot at a point close to where the spine ends.

It should be at or below where the spine ends–we will be adding beads to it as well, and the beads must be able to fit below the pages for it to work properly.

String your beads onto the yarn. Sometimes it is easiest to do this by feeding a thin piece of folded string or fishing line through the bead, and using that to thread the bead onto the string. The following pictures should help illustrate this:

Pull the end of the red string and……

It pops onto the white string! Pull the rest of the end through the hole in the bead, then tie off with a double knot.

Trim the end and you’ve got a finished bookmark!

But wait! You’ve got a finished journal too!

 

Now go write in your new journal and enjoy it! Or.. bat around the beads with your paws.

The end!