How to Make a Woven Scrap Journal

comments (17) September 16th, 2015     

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Join the ends of the binding strip at the spine of the journal. Fold the raw edges under and glue them in place.

Incidentally, once the glue has dried and you remove the paper clips that were holding things together, you may find that the clips have made crease marks in the binding strip. Not to worry-just run a hot iron lightly over the binding a few times, and those creases should vanish.

Fold and staple stacks of paper together to make "signatures" of pages.

Now, cut some paper to make pages for your journal. The pieces should be about 1/2 inch smaller than the cover on all sides and wide enough for two pages. I added some extra pages cut out of an old catalog, just for fun and visuals. You could also use old magazines or wrapping paper-anything pretty. We're going to combine these pieces of paper into something called "signatures."

To make a signature, stack six to eight pieces of paper together, and fold them in half as a group. Flatten the stack back out and place it with the fold facing down. Staple twice along this fold. (Or, if you prefer, you can sew instead of staple.)

Repeat this process to make four to six signatures (depending on how thick your paper is and how many pages you want your book to have). I recommend making enough signatures to fill the spine of your book. I use four 8-page signatures for a 3/4-inch spine.

Apply E6000 glue to the inside spine of the book.

To bind the pages into the cover, lay the cover open flat, with the woven side down. Apply a generous strip of E6000 between the spine folds.

Place the folded edges of the signatures into the glue.

Place the signatures side by side with their spines in the E6000, as shown. Make sure each signature is in contact with the glue.

Place the finished journal under a heavy book while the E6000 dries.

Then, fold the cover up around the pages, making sure the signatures stay in place. Place the journal on a flat surface, with a heavy book on top. Allow the E6000 to dry for a full 24 hours, and you can start using your journal!

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