Back in September of last year (just before I got pulled away from this fun stuff for months) I posted about a doodle-picture I saw on Twitter and liked so much I recreated it (with the generous permission of the artist) in cruddy baltic birch.
Since then she has posted more wild-cool designs (so creative, I wish I was an artist) and I thought one might make a neat notebook cover. So I pinged her again and she indulgently again said I could go for it (she really liked the last one) and I went nuts.
As in, I not only adapted her design for the cover, including some cutouts I could highlight with a colored sheet (not at all original; I’ve always admired books like that others have done), I also insisted that the paper fit the (non-notebook ‘standard’) dimensions of her original so I decided to cut all the pages to size from pretty big sheets.
And then I decided the spiral bindings that are Very easily available just wouldn’t do so I bought stretchy string that I never used before to bind it with.
And then I decided I’d do a made-up hole pattern so no standard hole punch for the paper would work so I had to find a puncher device to do one hole at a time (for a stack of paper, I’m not That nuts).
And then I decided the stretchy string would also work well to tie the book closed so I designed a double-piece closure thingy based on (‘lifted from’) the original art.
And then I cut it on ProofGrade Basswood Ply and weeded FOREVER and then strung it all together and here it is:
As is always the case when I post, it’s late and I gotta work tomorrow so I can’t dump all the wisdom I acquired here right now, maybe I’ll update later.
It was a fun project and I think I want to keep messing with Notebooks going forward. I gotta make that hole-puncher thing worth it…
Love that clasp! Wanting to do notebooks too. I have a box of ‘spirals’, so I really need a punch for the sheets that will go inside… not cheap. Need to bring all my paper in to work (print shop) and sit after hours one day and just punch it all so I can make 'em at my leisure.
Yea, I ended up grabbing a puncher that also has swap-out attachments for stuff like button/snaps and rivets; as well as lots of different hole sizes. I don’t do much clothing stuff but figure the multi-use aspect will come in handy and make it seem worth it. shrug. It’s possible I was looking for an excuse to buy some new tool…
Thank you! I like how they look too but it is Amazingly impractical in its current design. Really difficult to separate them, too tight a fit in the ‘keyhole’ on the larger piece. I’ll have to tweak the design to make it work better if we ever go into business.
A beautiful piece. I was thinking Chicago screws over those wire things, but the string is a good result and the clasp concept great also, I have been thinking belt clasps could be interesting as well.
I was thinking a belt clasp too! The clasp as it is is kind of a very minimalist sort of belt clasp, but something less simple could be easier to manipulate. I think I may work up some options…
Thanks for the thoughts and thank you for the compliment!
I think she has another one that would make a very nice clock! Challenge accepted!