Brony Bookbinding - Pony Themed Journals

[MisterBull]

The bottom panel is finished! I'll let you guys decipher the writing yourself using this Equestrian letter sheet here:

As an added feature to the journal I'll also include a Tolkien-ish letter sheet on the very last page of the journal. Something like this:

[MisterBull]

Feeling somewhat burned out on the inner cover designs I decided to turn my attention back to the main outer cover material.

I measured out and cut the vinyl (yes, that's what I'm using). did some more measurements and a bit more cutting and now I'm working on the embossing.

The tutorial I learned this technique from said to first spread glue over the cover before laying out the fabric. But I'm a bit nervous about the glue drying too quickly on me so I'm just getting the embossing out of the way. When I'm ready to glue it all together I could just rub everything into place when I'm ready

[MisterBull]

The emboss work is finished and I successfully glued and applied it to the boards (I had to take it off and reapply it a few times which unfortunately cost me just about all my glue, but its done!)

Atm, I'm just doing a bit of antiquing, by applying a bit of gray colored marker and smearing it around with my finger. When its done, I feel it'll start to resemble that of an old book.

Oh, and I should add, when I fold those winged edges over the boards it gives me an idea of the cover's thickness... this cover is darn thick!

[MisterBull]

Bad idea with the markers. After feeling I might have overdone the antiquing I found out that all the marker can very easily be wiped away with a damp napkin. The cover is completely spotless of marker as I type this.

Not sure whether or not to feel good about this or not. Sure, its good news in that when I totally mess up I can wipe it away. But its bad news in that the desired effect wont so easily last.

What if the user of the journal got caught in a rain storm and upon getting home they try to dry it up a bit?

Yeah, you get my point... c.c

I'll just have to either figure out another way to go about it or just skip the antiquing bit entirely.

Meh... I'm going back to bed. I'll just sleep on the thought.

No pic, as there's not really anything to show.

[MisterBull]

Here you see the book completely glued together. I'm letting the glue dry over night so to avoid completely screwing it all up.

Of course, I'm having doubts on the stability of the project atm. Despite having measured everything to a T I'm discovering a few annoying flaws and one major flaw that could totally make this project go kaput.

The smaller issues are ones that probably can pass as noticeable blemishes. first little flaw that I noticed was that sometimes during the process of gluing the cover material to the boards, it apparently slid a couple of fragments of a centimeter making it slightly out of line which makes folding the winged edges over the cover board a bit crooked and whatnot. the second slight error is that because the cover material is a bit off, one of the books corners has this nasty exposed spot. I may have to purchase some brass book corners to cover that up

The one major error was discovered when I started gluing the end pages to the boards. When I try to close the book, the paper's edge wants to slide up the board, and when I try to open it, it wants to slide back down.

This means that I may have made an incorrect measurement on the spine. I'm hoping that by tomorrow when the glue is all good and dried that this wont be such a problem.

But if it is, then... well... this project is as good as ruined.

I'd have to start right back at square one, and that will ultimately suck...

[LeafyGreene]

Just one word... WOW! This is absolutely one of the best projects I've ever seen attempted! I did some simple bookbinding years ago to make volumes of some magazines I wanted to save, but this goes well beyond anything I ever attempted.

[MisterBull]

Just one word... WOW! This is absolutely one of the best projects I've ever seen attempted! I did some simple bookbinding years ago to make volumes of some magazines I wanted to save, but this goes well beyond anything I ever attempted.

lol, well I'm glad that someone likes it

[MisterBull]

Alright, so I got a bit impatient, but the glue has completely dried and now I can have a better look at the book as it is now... coverings and all (minus the decorative bits)

This is the part where I ask everypony for opinions. Should I keep working on this project or scrap it and start fresh and anew?

In my honest opinion, even though some of my earlier fears were proven wrong, I'm still seeing other flaws that can and may have already ruined the project for me.

Please observe the image and read the descriptions I post here to understand why I feel that way...

> #1

Here you see the fully bound book sitting right next to an age old classic. This is somewhat for comparison to another book, but its also my chance to show off a book from my own personal collection. I totally recommend Felix Salten's Bambi as a good bedtime read! but I'm getting a bit off topic here... c_c

> #2

okay, first issue. No matter how hard I try, I cant seem to keep the pages nice and flush. this is a shot of the side edge where the paper seems to jut out a bit crookedly. I could try sanding it down, but I fear that if I keep sanding away at this that the book would just become a warped mess...

> #3

And here, for some reason the cover looks a bit fat. I've pressed it between my fingers a few times, but it still retains that random mass... It may be how it was glued or something. Its not warped, in fact the book is pretty solid. Its just this middle part that looks a bit odd...

> #4

And here we can see that the vinyl became wrinkled for some reason. This might have happened while I was working the winged edges around the cover board. Honestly, I dont really know how this can be fixed.

> #5

And in the final image, I present the smallest and possibly the most insignificant of errors. The ribbon is too loose. Maybe its not such a problem, but the ribbon should probably stay centered. Perhaps I should had did a bit of head banding to fix that before gluing the book together. But I'm not yet any good at doing such thread work. (lol, bad excuses)

there are a few other problems that I could not fit into this image without it getting ridiculously too big for my liking. one of those problems has to do with the emboss work becoming a bit smoothed out and faded towards the books spine. The other has to do with the end pages being a bit roughed up from earlier sanding.

From all these things, I think I've learned a few simple lessons that I can certainly use on the next attempt. But for now, I really need to decide just what the heck I need to do with this one.

I certainly don't think its e-bay worthy in its current state (yes, I want to make and sell these things...) . Perhaps if I later added in the finished decorations that maybe it would even out, but I seriously have my doubts.

I'd really like to hear some opinions on this...

[MisterBull]

From the Ponychan thread:

Anonymous Tue, May 8, 2012 7:57 PM No. 38206

>>38203

Hmm. What I would... I say you start over, but before that, use this book as a test subject of personal use!

It might not be in the right state to be sold -I share your observations, as a fellow perfectionist-, but this is your chance to see how sturdy the book is as you built it.

Write, draw, paint on it, flip through the pages, use it to its fullest and see how well it stands to the rough and tumble life of a personal journal.

I think this will be the best way to see if there's something fundamental to be changed in your process that you wouldn't have found out otherwise.

Reply • Report Anonymous Tue, May 8, 2012 7:57 PM No. 38207

*What I would do...

Speaking of perfectionism, oh ho ho.

Reply • Report Anonymous Tue, May 8, 2012 7:59 PM No. 38208

What I'm getting at, is that it's better to find out if there's something important to improve before you start selling these.

Reply • Report

Anonymous Tue, May 8, 2012 8:01 PM <a href="http://www.ponychan.net/chan/collab/res/37703.html#38209">No. 38209

>>38208

Okay, I've got to stop hitting "reply" before thinking everything through...

Anyway, I think this way you'll find out what exactly are the weak points in the process, and hopefully that way you'll find out the reasons behind the imperfections that popped out just now.

Reply • Report

My response:

Misterbull101 Tue, May 8, 2012 10:59 PM No. 38210

>>38209

I actually kinda like your idea here. Use the book as a sort of 'Beta' book and also as a kind of personal journal.

that being said, I dont think I'll apply the decorations to this one, but rather save them for a much more complete and perfected final form. I'll still finish work on the inner cover pieces though I may work more patiently at them and finish them over a period of time.

This will also give me some time to save up for some better tools needed for these kinds of journals. A book press, sewing rack, hole puncture rack and a few other things come to mind.

Oh, and I've decided to tackle some much smaller projects until my methods are completely perfected. And by 'smaller' I mean smaller journals half the size of this one. Instead of 30 signatures I'll go with 10 or 15 and I'll trim the pages in half to meet the ideal size.

I'll begin work on this shortly. Perhaps tomorrow. Or whenever I get the chance to go to the store again and purchase some more glue... c_c

Reply • Report

nuff said. I'm calling it a nigh- erm, morning c_c

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Bad idea with the markers. After feeling I might have overdone the antiquing I found out that all the marker can very easily be wiped away with a damp napkin. The cover is completely spotless of marker as I type this.

Not sure whether or not to feel good about this or not. Sure, its good news in that when I totally mess up I can wipe it away. But its bad news in that the desired effect wont so easily last.

What if the user of the journal got caught in a rain storm and upon getting home they try to dry it up a bit?

Yeah, you get my point... c.c

I'll just have to either figure out another way to go about it or just skip the antiquing bit entirely.

Meh... I'm going back to bed. I'll just sleep on the thought.

What if you used some kind of sealant over the cover like glue or something?

[MisterBull]

What if you used some kind of sealant over the cover like glue or something?

That's a thought! I'll have to experiment.

I'm sure that there's crafting sealant out there that may work on vinyl.

thanks for the suggestion!

[Hollow]

That's a real shame the book isn't cooperating with you. It looked epic for a while there. But well, at least you can learn from this!

I'd love to have a sketchbook like this, but knowing me I'd never use it because it's too pretty.

[Ginger Mint]

hi hi

This is amazing! I'm going to have to save these photos to use for guidance if I ever get some time and materials to make one myself.