The past few days I have been collaging two 4 x 5 canvases to be the covers on a accordion book. But it is a book with a secret. This was in the book "Cover to Cover" but without instructions. So with a little work I have created at least something similar. They make wonderful gifts!
Previous Book spine.
Previous Book spine open.
Sorry about the pictures, the covers were a beautiful collage of Japan with Kabuki images from posters. But basically the book is two covers with an accordion fold and held together at the spine with bias tape loops and a dowel.
When you remove the dowel you get a secret picture. So today I will show how to make this easy, lovely book.
What you will need:
Two bookboard weight cardboard covers or I was lazy and used two 4 x 5 painting canvases. Decorated as a collage or just a picture, whatever you like. You can make the book as large as you want.
A piece of cardstock for the accordion part. I cut mine 11 x 4 3/4. It just looks nicer a little bit smaller in height then the covers.
Bias tape or ribbons. Something sturdy to make the loops. They need to be strong to hold the book together and survive everyone wanting to see the secret.
Dowel or I like to use a chopstick. You could even use a pen with a flower on top. Decorated as you like.
The covers
Book covers.
Accordion fold.
3 3/4 x 4 1/2 and placed them inside each other. That gives me 20 pages. Four signatures gives me 80 pages in the book. It looks nicer if the signatures are pressed under a heavy object overnight.
Cardstock pieces for signatures.
Cardstock and signature together.
Open the signature and place it on a foam mat. Piercing through the fold all the pages and cardstock making two holes about one inch from the each paper edge.
Holes made in signature and cardstock.
Then with the thread and needle sew through the small piece of cardstock and signature so that the thread ends are inside the signature.
Sewing the signature together.
Tie a knot or bow, this needs to be tight but not so tight you tear the paper. Do this to each signature.
Bow tied finishing the signature.
Back to the covers, decide which is the front and which the back. Get the bias tape or ribbon and the dowel to close the spine. Next you need to play a little with the tape to see how big the loops need to be. They need to allow the dowel to go through but still close the spine tightly. Now this is the tricky bit. Turn the front and back covers decorated side down, with the front cover on the left and the back cover on the right. Then take the tape strips and place them so the alternate on the covers.
Playing with the bias tape making loops.
Put the dowel in the loop to help gauge how big a loop to use and cut them long so they are deep into the cover. Once you have them lined up glue them to the covers. Now let the whole thing dry, waxpaper and a weight is helpful. While the book covers are drying think about the inside covers and how decorative you want them. Now all the really scary parts are done! I used a take away chopstick that I cut to size, I left it a little longer to make another surprise element for my book.
dowel can be woven in to close the spine.
Now that everything is dry we can finish the book. Making sure the secret picture and covers are right side up, glue the first and last tabs to the accordion. Make sure the according fold is even with the cover edge. If you close the book make sure you have wax paper over the glued areas. You don't want to glue the cover to a signature. This is sometimes easier if you do one cover at a time.
Aligning the cover with the front section of the according.
Another view of aligning, you can see the loops on the edge.
One final step! The inside covers of the book need to be made. But first insert the dowel just to make sure the loops are right. I've had to tear the cover off many a time to put in a new loop. Luck is with me today, it is tight but I can get the chopstick into it. Cut two pieces of paper or cardstock 1/2 inch smalller on the top and one side than the size of your covers. If you use cardstock it helps cover up the ends of the tape loops a little better. Doing one side at a time makes it easier. I used some pink paper that says " I love you". Got to keep it cute! Done!
Book with chopstick spine closed.
Book without the chopstick. Now you see the secret picture.
Front cover of the book.
Sorry this is so long but I wanted beginners to be able to use this tutorial. If you find any problems with this please let me know.
Thanks for your time.
Thanks for sharing you great tutorial! It's amazing that you were able to figure it out on your own! WTG!
ReplyDeleteSuzi #5563
Thank you, I appreciate the compliment. I hope you will try making one they are so beautiful and different. Usually I do classic bookbinding, so it is fun to do something so different.
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