Hobby: The Scrap Book

So a book without pages is fairly quickly completed. Here is the process I went through for the scrap book.

First I had to back the fabric. I lined the fabric with heat and bond and then bound it to Japanese rice paper (in this case Kitikata). Now the fabric is ready to be glued to the board.

When I glue the fabric to the board, the picture spot will have some corners that could expose the board. This is the corners of the picture spot lined with paper to hide that board.

This is the front cover with the boards glued on. I premarked the places I wanted them to be so when I glued them, it would be easy to position them on the fabric. The fabric in the picture spot is also cut and ready to be finished.

This is the cover ready for the "paste down". The paste down was tricky because I had to figure out where the picture spot would be and NOT glue that part of the paper. Also, the cover is so big that it was quite the job to get the paste down completely covered in glue and on the cover BEFORE it started to dry Needless to say there are several mistakes on the front cover, but I'm not going to point them out ;) It's too bad too because the back cover is nearly perfect!

Here is the finished front cover

The back cover is basically the same method. After I'm done, I cover them with wax paper and press them with a load of books, over night.


Ah, now the covers are done and I've put the marking and holes in the extension piece and cut the slot where the picture will slide in. Here is the finished product.

My favorite part of the book: The fact that by chance I got the two flowers on the cover in a perfect spot.

What I'd do differently: Because I was so worried about the glue drying on the past down, I was a little hasty on the front cover (which resulted in the mistakes). Next time I'll remain more calm and maybe try something else to keep the spot where the picture will go dry from glue. Maybe taping waxed paper or something where it goes . . . Any tips Lindsay?

Finishing touches. The posts I bought for the book were a little to short on one side for the finished book, so I already had to put the extension posts in. I might head to Micheal's tomorrow to see if I can find some longer posts.

NOW don't think this is anticlimactic. It really does go by fast when you do it after the baby's asleep ;) I still have to make the box and that is where the REAL time and effort takes place.