Friday 8 September 2017

Holiday Album



Holiday Album



Hallo There!


This is one you can take with
you and insert the ephemera as
you go and add a few pictures
when you get back.

You might want to get a cuppa
at this point....

Craftyfield is going to show us
how to go about a Midori style
book:


"The trend for Midori books has reached 
our British shores, an offshoot of the recent 
popularity of planners. Personally, although I had
 trouble giving up my pocket diary, 
all my planning is digital. 

Still, I saw potential in the Midori for
 a book of sorts, that would suit the
 commitment phobe in me. 

The Midori uses elastics as binding, and,
 with this system I can add and remove pages 
without fuss. Moreover they don’t need
 to be all the same size!


I enlisted Mr Google to answer the question
 “What is Midori?” in a clear and concise manner:
“Midori” refers to a particular Japanese brand 
of traveller’s notebooks, which also makes
 several supporting products such as 
various types of refills, standalone notebooks, 
stickers, and the like. “Fauxdori” is a blanket term 
generally used to define traveller’s notebooks
 that are not made by Midori. 
So strictly speaking I made a Fauxdori….




Today I am showing you how I made and 
decorated the cover for my Fauxdori and how 
to make a simple notebook. 


I selected a heavy calico for my cover and
 gessoed the fabric both sides in preparation
 for painting in acrylics.

For smaller Fauxdori you could use already
 prepared canvas, such as Texture mounted
 sheet by Stix 2 which you can decorate anyway
 you like and even use with your printer.

Dimensions:

I decided on my pages size to be 
8” tall and 6” wide 
so I created a cover 9” tall and 14” wide.

I cut a piece of heavy weight calico
 11” tall by 16”, adding 1” all round for a 
“seam allowance”.

In the metric system, the cover will be
 23cm tall by 35cm and require a piece of
 fabric 28 by 40cms. 

This will accommodate A5 notebooks.

If you want to create your own book in a 
different size, use the formula:
Height (of finished book) = page height + 2(1/2”) margin
Width = page width x 2 + spine + 2(1/2”) margin

Add seam allowances if you are wrapping 
the fabric or paper over to the wrong side. 
The spine will depend on how many notebooks
 you want to fit in but I suggest 1" (2.5cm) minimum.


I applied paints and spread them with a 
painting knife (you can us old credit cards instead). 
I tackled one side at a time to avoid the 
paint drying too quickly.


Adding layers of paints in blue and white



Stencilling with acrylic paint and the Drop Screen
 stencil by Imagination Crafts.



Stencilling with Grunge Paste and 
Tim Holtz Sunrays stencil and a DIY stencil 
die-cut with a Mixed Media Thinlit.
 (In the end I didn't use Andy Skinner's
 Route 66 stencil.)


Stamping :
I used Archival inks in Blue and Brown 
and also acrylic paints with several 
Paper Artsy sets


As a final touch I used Color Bloom 
sprays on the Grunge paste.

Backing the cover:
 I cut a piece of sturdy card measuring
 9” by 14” and tidied up the excess material, 
including the corners. 

In the Midori style I rounded the corners
 of the cardboard although with the fabric 
on top it will not look completely rounded.

I used liquid glue to stick the cardboard
 to the canvas.


Now onto the binding. 
The notebooks or pages will be held by elastic
 cords threaded through holes in the cover. 

The picture shows the sequence to 
follow when threading the cord. 

First find the middle of the cover and make 
3 pencil marks ½” from the top of the cover, 
in the center, ½” left and ½” right 
of that the mark.

 Repeat ½” from the bottom. 

The cord will need to be at least 4 and a half
times  the height of the Midori cover.



 Make the holes and set eyelets if you wish
 to minimise the wear and tear on the holes. 

An additional hole in the middle of the spine
 will be used for the closure of the Midori.


Thread the elastic cord for the closure with
 both ends on the inside of the cover, making sure
 you have enough room to go over the book
 before tying in a knot. 

To prevent fraying you can pass the
 ends briefly through a flame. 

You can add charms before threading.


 All threaded now... 

I have left quite a bit of length on the
 cords at this stage as I want to "live" with 
the book before cutting the excess. 

The edges are rather rough but I decided 
not to line the inside as it would have made the cover
 more bulky and not supple enough.



The classic Midori would contain standard notebooks,
 shop bought. Today I will show how I made my 
own version of a notebook, more of a sketchbook 
really, since I used watercolour, cartridge papers
 and some of my own Gelli prints. 

In a future instalment I will show you 
other inserts I made for my Fauxdori.


Gather your pages and cut them to the same height.
 My Fauxdori will work with standard A4 pages, 
folded in 2, but I cut mine to 71/2" (19cms) because 
the Gelli prints had an unsightly blank margin. 

Fold the pages in half and score them, then line
 them up together and staple them in the middle.

I can open my stapler as you see in the photo 
to reach anywhere on the page and then I 
have to close the staple myself with pliers or similar.


All stapled and the stapler back to closed position.


 With the notebook bound, I cut the pages 
to the same width with a craft knife and a ruler.
 
To put in the Midori open the book to the 
middle pages and place under one of the 
elastic cords. 
Simple as that!

 Photos of the finished book. 

The spine...



 The back...



The front...


And the "notebook"..."


Supplies:

DecoArt Paints:
Stencils: 
Stamps: 
Ink: 
Sprays:
Glue:
Eyelets:
You'll find the cord in haberdasheries.


Wow Craftyfield that is a fantastic
tutorial!  Thank you very much
I'm looking forward to more!

In the meantime I shall be starting
a Fauxdori of my own and to this end
I have bookmarked this page as
there is no way I am going to
remember everything - I did think to print 
it out but in consideration of the
environment I think the bookmark
will suffice.

These would also make rather nice
presents wouldn't they?

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx



13 comments:

  1. Superb tutorial, love the cover and I'm really looking forward to seeing the next instalment. X

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  2. Fantastic project Christine. Super post and tutorial. Really enjoyed reading it.
    Flo :)

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  3. What a great tutorial. Thanks very much. I will definitely have a go at this. Looking forward to the next instalment.

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  4. Fab tutorial and awesome journal have a lovely weekend xx

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  5. Great tutorial and lovely detail. Happy crafty weekend, Angela xxx

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  6. wonderful tutorial and a gorgeous make! Love it! Hugs rachel x

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  7. Awesome tutorial. This is a pretty book and will be fun to use! Thanks for joining our FIRST challenge at Mini Album Makers!

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  8. Oh la la, what a fantastic tutorial!!!!
    So much details, and all what is needed by everyone to create a beautiful hand-made "faux-Midori" like Christine's one.
    Thank you Christine!! xxx

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  9. This is incredibly cool Christine! You are so talented and I just love this project in and out! I'm so thrilled that you shared with our first challenge at Mini Album Makers. Big hugs, Autumn

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  10. The cover is absolutely incredible - glorious colours and textures - and this is a fantastic tutorial too. Thank you so much for joining in with the MAM challenge!
    Alison x

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  11. Amazing!!! Such a gorgeous and textured cover!

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  12. Absolutely amazingly cleverly put together, I am so glad you decided to add it to our mini album makers challenge, - thank you!

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