Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Tiny Printable Blank Books

I needed a very, very small TARDIS-looking journal for a project I'm working on, and thought I would share how I made it, and how you can make other tiny blank books, with you.





These books are fairly to scale for a Barbie-sized doll. You can use them as doll accessories, or as gifts for a book-obsessed friend (I have many of these), or just leave them for people to find in odd places, whatever.  :)


Supplies needed:

White cardstock
Printer paper
Printer
Glue tape or glue
Marker that matches the color of the book you want to make
Ruler or straight edge
Small pointy object (I used a push-pin)
Scissors or exacto knife (a paper-cutter is handy as well, if you have one)
Print-out of book covers
Print-out of book pages


Step 1: Download the book covers and pages using the links above. Print the book covers out on cardstock, and the pages out on regular printer paper.

Step 2: Cut out your book cover along the printed edges. Cut your book pages into long, thin strips (this is where a paper-cutter is helpful to get a nice straight cut). There are two sizes of book, large and small. Choose a strip that matches the size of your book!

Step 3: Flip your book cover over and, using your small sharp object such as a pin and a ruler, score along the fold lines. You can fold without scoring, but this gives you a much cleaner edge. Fold the top and bottom tabs over first, then the side tabs. You may need to trim the sides of the tabs a bit so that they sit flat and the white doesn't show when looking at the front of the book. Once you have that folded to your satisfaction, you can put a bit of glue on the side flaps to hold them in place.


Look carefully to see the score marks on the back of the book cover.


Step 4: You should be able to see where the spine should go by looking at the flaps inside of the book.Use your straight edge to score the two lines of the spine , and fold upward. The cover of your book is almost done!

Score and fold along imaginary red lines.

Step 5: All this folding may be causing a bit of white to show through at your creases. You can color the edges and creases with a sharpie that matches your book color to disguise this. Or, leave it as-is for a weathered appearance.

Yum, marker smell!

Step 6:  Fold one of your page strips, accordion-style, to create the interior of your book. For super-straight folds, I again recommend scoring lightly before folding. Check to make sure your pages fit inside your book. If you haven't folded them PERFECTLY even, that's ok... just trim off the top and bottom of the folded pages. 

Step 7:  Run a strip of glue along the interior spine of your book cover, and the outside flaps of your pages. Carefully line up the pages inside the book cover and press in place. And there you have your teensy tiny book!



Book covers included in this tutorial:

TARDIS journal
The Neverending Story
A City With No People
The Big Peruvian Book of Small Peruvian Snakes
A diary
Mr. Bunnsy Has An Adventure
Handbook for the Recently Deceased
Pretty blank book

I most likely will make some more when I have the time. Let me know if the comments if there is anything particular you want me to do!

A whole library, right in your hand!



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