Pocket Notebooks

May 31st, 2011

I was asked recently to document a couple of tutorials for Making Magazine – for their July Issue (No.9) – origami bookmarks and pocket notebooks. I’ve just received my copy of the magazine in the post. Unfortunately they couldn’t squeeze in the images for the pocket notebook tutorial as this had to go onto a single page in the end, so they’ve just included the text. This might be a bit confusing for people, so I thought I’d post the images here so that you would be able to see an image of each step.

The technique is simple and the notebooks can be made really quickly ad effortlessly. The results are stunning and you’ll soon get addicted and be making lots of these to hand out to friends and family.

You will need (to make three notebooks):

1 sheet of A4 patterned paper
6 sheets of A4 plain paper
A metal ruler
A sharp pencil
A cutting knife
A cutting mat
A stapler

I don’t like to create waste, so we’re going to make the more of the A4 sheets of paper and take advantage of some easy maths. An A4 sheet measure 21cm across, so if you divide this by three you can cut three long strips each measuring 7cm wide from the single sheet of patterned paper.

Next take the 6 sheets of plain A4 paper and cut these into 7cm strips as well. You then need to cut these in half (nearly) so that you get 6 strips from each A4 sheet – they need to measure 7cm x 14cm in the end.

The next step is to take a patterned strip and on the reverse side measure along both of the long edges and make some marks at the following points:

2cm, 2.2cm

then also at 16.2cm, 16.4cm

You then need to crease the strips along these marks, so line your ruler up against the first two marks, pull it up against the ruler to form a gentle crease, then reinforce this crease by running the back of your thumbnail against the paper along the length of the ruler. Do the same for the mark that is at 2.2cm.

Next take your stack of plain paper and place this within the fold to check it looks Okay and fits well. Then check the second set of pencil marks and make sure these line up with the edges of the paper.

If not, adjust the marks. Take the plain paper away and crease the second set of marks.

Add the paper and line it up in the first folded pocket you made. Once lined up, use a stapler to secure the paper in place. You can either use just one staple in the middle, or use two staples on either side.

Depending on where you’ve put the staples, you may find that the notebook cover is too long, so trim it down to fit.

You will now have a notebook with a cover that folds round the paper and slips under the stapled flap.

Posted in Tutorial Tuesday |