A bunch of books.

[MagiKelly]

It’s been a long time since I posted any of my work. I still seem to end up mostly doing books. I keep changing how the pages are added as I can’t decide what offers the best use. Currently I’m favouring Midori style or disk bound. I’ve also been gravitating to pyrography as my carving skills are wanting. Also I had an old alligator skin I was given by a neighbour who had it in their loft for years. I had it for a long time too without using it till I finally had an idea of how to use the section round the cloaca

 

[MarshalWill]

Those are quite attractive, especially the alligator one. Looking good.

[HandyDave]

Really nice work. I had the very same idea couple years ago with a nile croc skin i had. Made a keychain for a good friend. He likes to get people to smell it then tell them where on the croc that piece came from lol. The 1911 grips are also from the same nile croc skin. Atleast i know now i wasnt the only person to look at the cloaca and think that would make a nice eye socket 

 

Edited September 7, 2023 by HandyDave

[YinTx]

Nice work.  I've been wanting to do the disc bound journal for a while, but kinda uncertain how to do it.  Did you leave a plastic sheet under the leather, or just cut the leather and add the discs?  I worry they would work loose over time...

[MagiKelly]

4 hours ago, YinTx said:

Nice work.  I've been wanting to do the disc bound journal for a while, but kinda uncertain how to do it.  Did you leave a plastic sheet under the leather, or just cut the leather and add the discs?  I worry they would work loose over time...

I just cut the leather and insert the discs. At first I thought it would only work with thick leather but I’ve used pretty thin leather and it works fine. Thinking about it, paper is really thin and it works fine. 
 

To make sure my cutting us accurate I tape a piece of paper, punched for the discs, to the leather as a guide. 

[Chux]

I'm a little lost with these disks, tbh, I honestly thought it was the rings (like the ones you see on the inside of a day planner) that were showing. Kinda of curious how that all comes into play and works. Sorry if this is a dumber question than I already think it is 

[MagiKelly]

On 9/9/2023 at 11:03 PM, Chux said:

I'm a little lost with these disks, tbh, I honestly thought it was the rings (like the ones you see on the inside of a day planner) that were showing. Kinda of curious how that all comes into play and works. Sorry if this is a dumber question than I already think it is 

It is not a dumb question. I have given these to people who have not understood the way the rings work even when holding a book. It is straight forward when you see a page taken out and put in This page explains it well, I think, https://getorganizedhq.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-discbound-planners/

If you want more information I can take some pictures of covers without the discs to show how they are cut etc.

[Wepster]

Your work is quite nice. I am curious about what punch you have chosen. I see several on Amazon, and one at Staples (i think, with using it, I like the Staples one better).

Also, the paper I am finding on Amazon seems to be somewhat heavier stock than what is usual for a notebook. Is it necessary to hold up to the open style of hole? Or can a copier weight paper be used? (reminds me of the loose leaf ledger (used a post system) books my father used 70 years ago (a circle and a triangle, base of triagle at edge of paper, apex at the circumference of the hole) seems they are still used   https://www.staples.com/Wilson-Jones-End-Balance-Ledger-Forms-9-1-4-x-11-7-8-Green-WLJGN2D/product_507104?cid=PS:GS:SBD:PLA:Paper:NIT823:BAU

Edited September 11, 2023 by Wepster
added info

[MagiKelly]

@Wepster I have a couple of punches. I used to have the happy planner one too but gave it to someone with a book so they could add their own paper. The two I still have and use are the staples one and the Atoma one. The Atoma one is really expensive and perhaps not worth the extra money. I eventually got it because I really like the Atoma aluminium discs. These discs have a flatter edge profile that the Atoma punch mimics, however they do work fine with the Stpales Arc punch. I just prefer the look of the Atoma holes with Atoma discs. 

From my experience any of the punches work with any of the discs and they all have the same spacing so are interchangeable. None of the punches will punch a lot of pages at once. I guess this is because of the amount of tabs you are punching that with a thick stack the forces needed would be too great.

I should point out that none of the punches will cope with punching the leather covers. I tape a piece of punched paper to the leather. I use an oval hole punch to punch the rounded part of the mushroom tabs and then cut the straight stem parts with a craft knife.

I have used standard thin copier paper in must of my books and had no problems so don’t think you will have any problems with that.

[Wepster]

 Thank you, very useful information. Now on to more stuff I dont need! I really like notebooks. I even have 3 of these (ebay and goodwill, 3 different radii)  https://www.lasscowizer.com/cr-20-corner-cutter/

 

 

[clivel]

A free pattern for a discbound leather notebook cover can be found here free disk bound leather portfolio pdf pattern scroll down to the bottom of the page to download the pattern.

This makes use of the cheapest Staples cover, which consists of two sheets of plastic, these are folded back on each other and are then slid into a pocket, this gives two advantages.
Firstly, one does not have to cut the multiple holes required for the disks, and secondly one does not have those huge, butt ugly discs sticking out the back of the notebook spine.

Clive

 

[MagiKelly]

I like the look of the exposed discs. This may be because I use the metal discs mostly or just my preference. I have thought about having the discs internal to the book but then you lose the option of folding the front cover round to the back like a spiral  bound notebook. If they are going to be inside it feels like the easier option is just to install a standard ring binder mechanism, which I have done on a number of books. 

[MarshalWill]

Sound logic, MK. I also like to fold the front cover around to the back.