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:
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
