ARFBOOK

I got really sick of not doing any drawing or writing, and I'm pretty sure that wasn't to do with the books i previously owned, but in case it was, I decided to make one! I usually keep it closed with an old hairtie, and stash my good pen, and an IKEA pencil in there for doodling or journalling wherever I go. Its roughly A6, although after cutting the pages to be uniform, it's probably a little smaller.

Binding the Book

I started by stitching together around 8 sheets of a5 together, into a section (technical term, i think it should be "segment" personally) and put a strip of masking tape on the centre fold to prevent tearing. I dont know if that was strictly needed, but when i soaked the pages in tea to stain them , i think it mightve saved the paper.

I stitched all the "sections" together trying to keep it neat. I didn't really look at many guides for this, but they recommended using a template when putting the holes into the paper. I did not do this, and it seemed to work out fine.. so... maybe you don't need to? IDK, i'm not ur mum, do as you please.

I clamped them all together and lined them up so I could assess if they were straight. I reccomend using clamps to keep everything tidy and organized.

Stained and Special Pages

I stained all of the pages with tea, and let them dry. Unfortunately, i probably should have done this before stitching the sections together, but we all make mistakes. The wrinkled pages are kinda tight I think, and it doesn't bother me too much, but it's not perfect if that's something that would bother you.

I didn't take any photos of the cover process, but I cut up an old Upngo box, and glued it so it would be a double thick cover, I then glued the front and back pages of the sections into it, and added more tape for security! After I did that, I made the outer cover out of some regular paper that I folded like a dust jacket and taped. Then I found some nice brown thick paper/thin cardboard, and then cut it and glued it to cover where I glued in the paper, and make it Nice and neat.

Glamour Shots

Finally, I added a little pocket using a neat little guide I found on youtube and threw a couple of stickers I made in there! Here's the glamour shots! I'm really quite proud of it as you can potentially tell! All in all, it took maybe 6 hours, with a lot of breaks.
So, if you're bored and stuck, go and make a book and put some shit in it! I usually feel some pressure when writing in a nice crisp new notebook, or drawing in one, and this process has really eliminated it, as the book is mine, its kinda shitty, and I love it.