IPad Stand using a Book Cover Repurposed #2

PART 2 -

A Rewarding project. 
IPad Stand:
2 -   1937 / New Standard Encyclopedia Volumes IV and V (I bought 6 volumes at a yard sale years ago)
        The covers are a very nice, embossed, burgundy cloth.
Scraps of Chipboard
3 -     Silver Grommets
15" - 1/2" black elastic
PVA Glue

TIP: The stand could also be made using book/chip board and covered in whatever makes you happy...cloth, paper, newsprint, repurposed leather clothing, purse - it's limitless. 

PROCESS:

Separate the spine from the front cover of one book
 and the back cover from the other - leaving a small strip.

Glue the two small strips together so the outside looks like the
next picture. This is the inside showing the small strips glued together. 

 

Spine glued together

On the inside cut a piece of heavy weight chipboard
to fit the width of both spines glued together.  Because I
intended to use one of the loose end papers that matched the inside
covers to cover the inside of the stand at the spine
I used hinge tape to reinforce the hinges at the cover and spine.

Completed Stand

*  From here I glued a matching end paper over the spine and onto the edges of the covers.

*  A 1/2 strip was cut from the edge of one of the covers cut away from the spine.  It was glued to the inside, outer, edge of the bottom cover.  This is a stop for the top cover to rest against when propped open.  The pull on the elastic from the IPad stops it from slidding back and laying flat.

*  I attached 15" of 1/2" black elastic with a grommet to the sides of the top cover and the center of the back cover.  It was important to use grommets large enough to capture the elastic and hold it in place while it was being stretched.  The 15" length of elastic can be varied depending on the size of your books.

That's pretty much it.  Like I said it's easy and fun and pretty and interesting and well worth the effort.

If the instructions are "Clear As Mud" please don't hesitate to email me.  I'll be happy to clear things up. 

IPad Stand using Book Covers - Repurposed #1

Having a hard time separating myself from the books that don't have a "near future" purpose and don't have much of a redeeming value that anyone else would want them.

To reduce the length of the post I'm sending this in two posts. #1 shows the finished project. #2 shows the process.

Stand as assembled. The elastic serves two purposes; it holds the IPad
in place and keeps the stand in the open position. 

Design Thoughts:
I wanted to make a stand that would present my IPad at an angle that was comfortable for me to read or watch videos while doing other things (like eating or working on my art). Making my own IPad Stand means I get a comfortable slant to the IPad that complements MY upper body height when sitting and/or standing.

My thoughts immediately went to book board or foam core - two materials I'm good with and could, in a short time, build a stand with a drawer, cabinet - yep - Idea's run amok. Thank goodness ideas fly at me at rapid rate and the book cover idea came in before I could get my board out ;) I considered the time and effort of making my stand vs the visual payback (how much would I love it when I was done) vs the cost and time of going out and purchasing a plastic manufactured stand (hoping it suited my body height). The visual payback is HUGE.   It turned out that I couldn't help myself and was deconstructing and reconstructing book covers before I was out of my PJ's. Love it.


Two 1937 cloth, embossed, book covers.  Each separated from 1/2 of
their respective covers and glued together at the spine.  The inside of
the spine was reinforced with book board and covered in matching end paper. 

A variation using two different book covers.

An Easy Peasy AND Rewarding project.

IPad Stand:
2 - 1937 / New Standard Encyclopedia Volumes IV and V (I bought 6 volumes at a yard sale years ago)
The covers are a very nice, embossed, burgundy cloth.
Scraps of Chipboard
3 - Silver Grommets
15" - 1/2" black elastic
PVA Glue
 When assembled:  3 3/4" tall (spine), 9 1/2" wide, 6 1/2" deep


Grommets hold 1/2" elastic in place.  The IPad's pull on the elastic brings the
cover forward so the spine stands straight and prevents the cover from
collapsing backwards from the weight of the IPad.  The 1/2" stop  glued to the
bottom cover (cut from one of the  discarded covers) lets the top cover rest -
preventing the top cover from sliding forward and laying flat.

The stand can lay flat for storing and/or slipping into a purse to
take out when dining alone.  Pretty fancy.

When The Student Is Ready...The Teacher Will Come

In my case this Buddhist Proverb couldn't be more timely...

1.  I came across a book binder on YouTube that put together awesome instructional videos of various book binding and case making techniques  http://www.youtube.com/user/Ceropegia?feature=watch. 
Sage Reynolds, the book binder, has an impressive list of videos, take a look.  While I knew (or have seen in the books I own) the processes for making most of the books and cases in his videos I've learned techniques, from his videos, on how to make them more efficiently and cleanly.

2.  My friend Tom let me borrow his precious, beautiful, leather bound antique book dated 1866.  Actually, I've had it for a couple months.  As a thank you, and in line with my quest to get more familiar with binding and box making techniques, I'm going to make a Slip Case for the book.  As luck would have it I came across a gorgeous piece of burgundy Italian leather that would be perfect to cover the Slip Case.   Now I need to learn how to work with tanned leather ;)

I've done a good job with Slip Case's in the past but I've never covered one in leather.  The books in my possession didn't have Slip Case instructions using leather.  I turned to the Internet and for the 2nd time in two days the Buddhist Proverb applied to my journey.

I found the Papercut Bindery blog by Roger Grech  http://papercutbindery.blogspot.com/.  He has generously blogged his process of creating a leather bound book. From #1 Choosing the Paper - to the latest installment #8 Paring the Leather.  It's not a Slip Case - which is OK because I can make and cover a Slip Case.  He goes into detail in paring the leather.  Roger's photographs and writing do a very good job to illustrate his process.

His blog makes me think I can make a large leather bound book like his.  If I can get away from making boxes (I love to build boxes) I might give this a shot before I go my class at Arrowmont.  It will give me some practice. 

Cloth Covered Slip Case for a Vintage
1950 Montgomery Ward Catalog

It wasn't difficult getting the stripes to align at the head and tail.
The question is - how do I get leather to look as seamless?

Book Repurposed - Fast and Way Too Much Fun

Having finished the portfolio I was feeling pretty good about getting back into cutting and gluing stuff together again and wanted to get right back into another project.

I save scraps - can't help it.  Some time ago in an effort to clean out my side of my husband's garage I started to throw out books that were in bad condition and had no redeeming qualities in content.  I got as far as tearing out and throwing away the content - but kept the covers.

Design thoughts:
--Utilize chip board scraps (I didn't worry about the grain of the chip board and/or paper)
--Repurpose one of the saved book covers. 
--Insert a box that could essentially hide small things or become a conduit to a mixed media book project.
--I liked the inside covers of the book cover and decided I wanted to see as much of them as I could when the book was opened, yet have a big enough box to make the effort worthwhile.
--The large space between the edge of the cover and the box was considered.  Since the inside of the book would not likely show on any book case I would put it on I decided to err on the side of being able to see the inside of the cover vs covering it up with a box.
--Since this was a trial - I wasn't willing to use my "good" paper.  I used 2 pieces of 12' x 12" paper - on the thin side but worked well.
--PVA watered down by 10% was used on the paper to cover the box.
--Straight PVA was used to construct the box and adhere it to the inside of the covers.

The closed book cover is 5 1/2" x 8".  The box is 3 3/4" x 5"

Outside of Book Covers

Inside of Book Covers

A 2" wide band of black book cloth has been glued to the spine.
Mock headbands were made.  Showing clamshell box top and bottom made from chip board scraps.

Finished Book-Clamshell Box on my shelf.

Book-Clamshell Box showing box attached.

Book-Clamshell Box open and complete.

Decided what I want to put in the box so I added a removable set of dividers.

My goal is to get more comfortable and faster in covering boxes.  This was fun and could be done in an hour.

Portfolio

Ya Hoo!  I received my confirmation from Arrowmont of my upcoming class "Books-Leather Binding Thru The Ages" taught by Jana Pullman http://www.westernslopebindery.com/index.html   I figured I should put aside my jewelry and sculpting supplies and bone up on book board and book making. 

I chose to start off with a handmade portfolio that would house a lined pad, hold a pencil and have a pocket to hold ephemera.  To start with, for inspiration, I cleared off all my work tables and brought out my books on making books.  My "go to" book gal is Alisha Golden http://makinghandmadebooks.blogspot.com/  (I have all her books).

At any rate I found what I was looking for in Unique Handmade Books by Alisha Golden (pg 118)and changed it up to suit my needs and technical ability.

Size closed: 8 7/8" x 6" x 1 1/8"

Supplies:
General bookmaking supplies (book board, PVA glue, general tools)
Lambskin tanned leather (picked up in a bargain bin in downtown Asheville, NC)
Blue paint specific to leather
12 x 12 (2 sheets) of adhesive backed fabric sold by The Paper Studio (I love the colors and have held on to these for over a year for just the right project)
Black 1" Elastic and 1/2 of a suspender hook for closure
3 snap rivets from Tandy Leather

Variances unique to my portfolio:
--I used leather vs paper.  I have had the black distressed leather for some time and wanted to experiment using a soft leather.
--The leather was distressed during the tanning process.  I wiped blue leather paint over the leather, let it set for two minutes and then wiped it off with a dry paper towel.  I had to do this a couple of times to achieve the hue of blue I was looking for to remain in the veining.

Covered Portfolio - unpainted side on left - painted on right

--I wanted to incorporate pockets directly into the lining of my portfolio vs adding them on top.  So, I cut slits into the lining of the fabric where I wanted the pad to be inserted and where I wanted the left side ephemera pocket to be - gluing only the areas around the pockets.
--1/2" elastic was used to hold in the pencils and an elastic closure vs ribbons. 
These two variances took patience (the old saying measure twice, cut once came to mind many times). 

Board: 5 1/2", 7/8", 5 1/2", 1", 1" (all 8 3/4" long)
Hinges are 2 board widths

--In the picture above you see Lotka paper (plum color) glued to the inside of the front and back sides of the portfolio.  I didn't want book board to show if the insides of either pocket were visible.

This is the back side of the lining for the right side of the portfolio (sorry for the confusion)

--Elastic to hold pencil:  I positioned a piece of tag board on the board where I wanted the elastic to hold the pencil.  I marked the position of the elastic, turned it over so the marks were on the bottom and put glue on the top - holding the tag board in position on the book board I gently laid the lining on top of it and pressed down.  When I turned the lining over I was able to see where I needed to cut the slits in the lining for the elastic.  The elastic was inserted and glued down (see black tabs in picture above).
--A piece of chip board the size of the back of the lined pad was cut off 1 3/4" from the bottom, covered in packing tape (to prevent it from being glued in place) and inserted into the lining at the slit.  All of the area with the exception of the large piece of book board was then glued with straight PVA glue, turned over (top to bottom) and put in place on the right side of the portfolio.
--The lining was smoothed in place with a bone folder - paying particular attention to the area surrounding the chipboard and the hinge areas.  The chipboard was removed after about 5 minutes creating the pocket for the pad to slip into.
--The same method was used in covering and creating the left side lining and pocket.

The colors of this paper are vivid.  The white papers indicate the areas slit open for pockets.

--All raw edges of the lining (outer edges and pocket slits) were highlighted with an orange Copic marker and lightly glued to prevent future fraying.
--All exposed leather edges were painted the same blue as the veining accent.
--I left a little extra space between the bottom of the pad and the outer portfolio in case I wanted to tab a page for quick reference - it wouldn't hang below the outside of the portfolio.

Cutting the boards was standard.  Covering it and figuring out the lining to accommodate a pad and ephemera was a fly by the seat of my pants operation.  Please comment or email me if you have any questions.

Happy Mother's Day.
Janet

Glue This To That

Look what I found!  No not tulips.  I just threw in this picture of my birthday flowers because they were pretty and I didn't have a picture of anything glued together.  HA!

I found (it wasn't really lost) a web site that let's you input the type of material you want to glue to another type of material and then suggests a glue.  Hot Dog!!  Guess the name...

http://www.thistothat.com/

Granted - we all have our favorites, our tried and true - but for somebody like me that stretches the envelope every chance she gets, I found this fascinating.

I'm preparing to glue seed beads and other glass/ceramic smallish things to a vintage 1972 Porsche windshield to be repurposed as a fireplace screen.  I'm going to find some "Loctite" glue as this site recommends.

Janet

The Past IS My Present

Another one of my gifts (to myself ;) was a weekend art class...

A serendipitous search of the Internet led me to a weekend class being taught by Sandy Webster (www.sandywebster.com) only 1 1/2 hrs away from my home at The Creative Arts Center in Dalton, GA.          "Building Boxes:  Creative Spaces for Small Collections"   

Two important items to note; 1.  OMG! The Creative Arts Center in Dalton is a hidden gem - would take another class there in a heart beat.  2.  Sandy Webster - my kind of teacher.   I was concerned about the size of the class - 12 - and needn't have been.  Sandy didn't sit down for two days!  She was ALWAYS roaming the class and teaching to EVERY student; she got as excited about a student's project (all of them different) and their process as they did (sometimes more) and stayed with a student until he/she "got it"; she received as well as she gave. I like teaching and hope to publish a book on foam core one day ;) - she was an inspiration.

Most of the students were from the Chattanooga, TN Book Arts Group.  I didn't get permission to post pictures of any other student's project (if I do I'll post them later).  Their projects were all different and were incredible.  

"The Past Is My Present" -  I can't help it - while I get excited about new and modern - I'm most comfortable with what I can identify with (even a little bit) and what has a "story". 

This is my project:  Outer Box (green) 17"h x 11.5"w x 1.75"d - Inner Box (Magenta) 11"h x 8.5w x 2"d (before the walls were put up the back was covered with a newspaper ad from 1956).  All made out of book board (thick chip board) covered in Lotka Paper (a nice handmade, mailable paper).

Contents:  String of crystals from the Treasure Bay Hotel chandelier that fell during Katrina; old copper number 3(I'm the middle child of 5 girls); loose tumbled Apache Tears behind Mica (my grandma brought them back for us after a trip panning for gold in California);  My Aunt Ginger was rooting thru some things and found my Grandmother's false teeth in a little change purse - of course I got them.  Her teeth are here surrounding her picture with a vintage metal yellow flower earring in the corner.  (my Grandmother was a piece of work);  false set of miniature books made from the spines of vintage books (behind the books is a box containing a scroll describing the box's contents); small sea urchin; vintage watch (the metal bar rolls away and the watch comes out to reveal loose old watch parts behind it); miniature Miss Worth perfume bottle and old necklace; old rusty wheel (I love wheels) and sea glass; vintage watch parts box (pull the rhinestone string at the bottom and the box comes out to reveal a hidden alcove); vintage contact lens bottle (I know because it was mine) filled with Peridot melee; Old composition doll; key guts and hanging key (I love keys) over Herkimer diamonds (double-terminated quartz crystals).

Scroll covered with red leather (from old purse).

I have a week left of my Birthday Month - Ya Hooo!