Isle of Dogs . . .

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It's October 1 and that means another challenge from the Mini Album Makers Challenge blog. Our sponsor this month is Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts.

Join us for free classes and enter your own mini album for a chance at a grand prize from our sponsor.

My book this month is Isle of Dogs:

The minute I saw this book at Good Will I knew it was meant for me. We have rescues and my son and daughter-in-law have rescues. And when everyone is together the rescues outnumber the people and craziness ensues.

I wanted to make a mini-book out of this and decided to take the original pages out and insert signatures.

Remove the pages from the book:

You can do this in 2 easy steps, reserving the pages to either read later or use in another art project.

When choosing a book, make sure the signatures are not glued to the book spine. Otherwise, it's almost hopeless trying to get the pages separated from the covers.

Pull the front cover back, away from the book pages. You'll expose what's called the end papers. The end papers connect the signatures to the front  back covers. 

 

Using a craft knife, carefully, cut down the length of the end papers - between the front cover and the first signature. Make sure you're not slicing through the cover or spine.

 Next, pull the back cover towards the front cover to expose the spine. Using your craft knife, slice down the back end papers.

You will end up with all book pages intact to save for later and a book cover in tact to use for a project.

Use decorative paper to cover the inside of the front & back cover as well as the spine. 

I used 3 signatures for this project. 

A signature is a group of papers that are stitched (or glued) together to form one section of a book. It's called a signature because . . . back in the day when books were written by hand, each finished section was signed by the author or whomever did the writing/copying. 

Most books have several signatures. This one has 3 signatures.

When binding books by hand, since we don't usually have access to professional binding machines, each signature should have about 3 folded sheets of paper or cardstock. Of course you can use more, but that could result in ruffling - when the pages don't quite meet evenly. Sometimes it's a good thing and sometimes not. It depends on the look you're going for. 

 

For this book, I used 3 sheets of 8.5 X 11 cardstock, folded in half to get a signature with each page measuring 8.5" tall X 5.5" wide. As seen in the photo above, all 3 signatures were put together with a 3 hole pamphlet stitch. 

It's the same stitch I showed here: Pamphlet Stitch  -  this time using only 3 equally spaced holes. 

I attached the signatures one to another with a cardstock hinge.

1. Cut a piece of cardstock the same height as the signature and 1.25" wide. 
2. With the 1.25" up against a score board, score at 1/2" from either side. This will leave a 1/4" gusset.
3. Add score tape to each of the 1/2" sides, making sure to not put tape over the 1/4" gusset.
4. Attach one signature to the front of the hinge and one signature to the back of the hinge (see photo above). Note the 1/4" gusset is not attached to any signature.
5. Once the 3 signatures are hinged together, attach an additional hinge to the first page of signature 1 and the last page of signature 3.
6. Attach the first and last signatures to the inside of your book.

Time now to decorate with your favorite papers and embellishments. 

Thanks for visiting my post for Mini Album Makers Challenge blog. See you next month!

Comments

[Anne R]

Wow Nancy, I learned so much reading through your wonderful tutorial! I have always wondered where the term 'signature' came from - now I know. The tip about the right kind of book to use is excellent. Your finished mini book is beautiful, I love how you decorated the cover, the 'who rescued who' sentiment is so very true! Anne xx

[Astrid Maclean]

Fabulous cover and super tutorial!! I had quite forgotten about cardbooard hinges, so thanks for the reminder, I will have to utilize that one again soon. Great alteration of the cover, rescues are so lucky to get loving new homes! A wonderful project all round Nancy! xxx

[Gloria Stengel]

What a great tutorial for doing this, Nancy! I buy old books at the library sometimes, and there is an older man who volunteers there and he won't sell them to me because he knows I cut them up. ha ha ha I avoid going in when he's on duty. {giggle}

[maj.]

That is such great cover! Thank you for the tutorial!

[Autumn]

I just love how your cover coordinates with your book title, Nancy. How fun! Great informative post and your assembly wasn't something I would have ever thought to do, so I have learned a lot today. Thanks for the inspiration. Hugs, Autumn

[Margaret Mifsud]

Wow!! This is brilliant Nancy! Loved your step by step for replacing the book pages with your own signatures .. will definitely be keeping this for future reference. So glad you explained why they are called signatures too. Now it finally makes sense .. LOL!! Gorgeous altered cover too! Love that quote 'Who rescued Who' . I think they give us so much more than we could ever give them. Fabulous post!! hugs xx