The Gryphon's Feather Studio

Leather Wrap a Purchased Journal: Another Graph Paper Journal Hack

Gryphon prefers to use graph paper (quad paper) in his sketchbooks because it works equally well for drawing and writing. He uses them to work on drawings, RPG character designs, logos, poetry, and fiction. He and his closest friends often develop creative story lines they all work on simultaneously, writing fiction and drawing characters.  Sometimes the works are collaborative and meant to fit together into one whole; other times the work is parallel, and exists in the same story arc.  

When he filled his latest sketchbook (wire bound, black covers, serviceable but dull), Gryphon asked if we might find something that would have graph paper and be "cooler."  I poked around online, not really finding anything.  I realized I probably was going to have to create something for him.  We took a field trip to Barnes & Noble so he could look at the way various writing journals were constructed. He loved the ones that had the leather flap that wrapped around and tied.  He also really liked the embossed leather designs on some of the lined journals.  Gryphon had one of them a few years prior as his special "writing notebook" for a language arts class, but lined paper just wasn't going to work.

Barnes & Noble had some refillable versions of both the wrapped and embossed types of leather-bound journals, but there weren't versions with graph paper, even as refills. Rather than drive myself insane trying to find a graph paper refill online and then try to match that refill size to a cover, I decided I could make one at least as nice as what Barnes & Noble had, and, most likely, make one nicer.  (yeah, I know- not terribly modest of me!)

I did not want to deal with having to source sheets of graph paper large enough to use for pages to bind a book from scratch, so I purchased one of the very same journals you saw here in my DIY planner hack. (except this one was black.)

Note:  Barnes & Noble sells these Miquelrius blank graph paper journals for $9.95 in their stores & online.    (You have to search Miquel Rius as two separate words. Also, I'm not a Barnes & Noble affiliate.)  Amazon carries the brand, but only seems to have the more expensive version of the same book for $15.99 - $23.99. The only real difference seems to be that the more expensive version has an elastic closure, which doesn't seem to justify the price difference. 

 

I helped Gryphon find his old writing journal, and he agreed to sacrifice the cover for his new sketchbook.(Of course, we saved the book block full of writing.)  I also snagged the ribbon bookmark from that journal. I dug through my leather stash, and found  a leather upholstery remnant in the perfect color to match the cover piece.  If I hadn't had green leather, I would have used black or navy.

I also found a zipper pocket I had cut out a thrifted leather bag that was about the right size for the project.  (I had left the fabric interior pocket attached, so I had a fully working lined pocket.) The leather pocket  was used to create a built in place for drawing/writing supplies.  

TIP #1:  Leather Sources

Your local Goodwill, Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store will have leather garments and bags that provide more leather for the same, or lower, price than you can buy the same amount of pieces of leather elsewhere. You'll find variety in color, texture and thickness.  Be sure to read the label to be sure you are purchasing leather. 

Also, upholstery remnants can be purchased from various decorator fabric places/re-upholstery places that work in leather. 

TIP #2: Don't Use Leather?

Thrift stores are also a terrific source for quality faux leather materials.  You can find lovely faux leather in the form of garments, and bags.

 

How to's are fairly straightforward:

I simply cut two pieces from the leather remant- one to create the cover and the other to create the tie.  

To cut leather, and have it come out straight and smooth, I prefer to use a rotary cutter.  Of course, I use a straight edge for the straight lines, but I used a dinner plate as a guide to create the curved edge for this cover.

TIP #3: Adhesives

I glued the book into place using Beacon 527 glue.  Beacon Quick Grip would also work well. I use these glues when having a flexible, clear, waterproof bond is necessary. Both glues can be found at Wal Mart, Michael's, JoAnns, etc.   

I glued the front cover of the Miquelrius book first and weighted with several heavy books.

After allowing to dry for 24 hours, I glued the bookmark to the spine, and glued the leather across the spine of the Miquelrius book.  

Next, I glued the back of the Miquelrius book to the leather.

Before weighting it down to dry, I smoothed and tugged the leather tightly across the spine and back cover.  Before weighting it down from the top, I placed a stack of books next to the spine, and a stack right next to the fore-edge of the newly adhered Miquelrius book; then, I stacked books on top to weight it all down.  (the books on the sides prevented the Miquelrius book from sliding off the leather and helped keep the leather on the spine nice and tight.  I allowed it to dry for 24 hours. 

I glued in the leather tie, making it stronger by feeding it through the leatehr cover in a couple spots.  This takes the stress off just one point.  I glued all points of contact between the tie and the cover.  I weighted it down, also, and allowed it to dry.

Next, I glued the decorative pieces we had cut off of Gryphopn's old writing journal. Besides using the cover, I also used the spine.  I placed waxed paper on top of and under the cover, wrapped the leather around, and weighted it down.  

To attach the pocket:

I trimmed the scavenged pocket, making sure it fit and the whole thing would wrap nicely. Then, I tucked wax paper inside, and glued the leather front of the pocket to the fabric interior pocket.  I weighted it down, and allowed it to dry.

Next, I replaced the wax paper with a clean piece, and glued the back side of the scavenged pocket to the interior of the leather flap.  I weighted it down, and allowed it to dry. To create a zipper pull, I cut a bitty strip of the green leather, threaded it through the loop on the zipper, and sewed a few stitches through the green leather strip near the loop to hold the zipper pull in place.

The drying time required between each step might seem daunting as it makes the project take a few days.  However, given the sketchbook was going to be carried around in a backpack full of school books, get lost in a teenage boy's messy room, fall off any number of flat surfaces, I really wanted it to hold together.  Allowing adhesives to dry completely, and weighting down the surface are important for creating a strong bond. 

In fact, the photos you see are what the sketchbook looks like after several months of use!  I just shot these images this week.  (This morning, I found Gryphon's sketchbook open and tangled in the blankets on his bed looking just fine!)

 

My "Brain-in-a Book": A DIY Custom Planner Organizer Catch-All Hack

I wanted to share a recent project where I converted a graph paper journal into a handy planner, organizer, and catch-all:

I needed a new planner, as my pocket size Moleskine planner had just a couple months left.  In recent weeks, I had found that style of planner was not working out well for me; I needed a different set up in my new planner.

In the past, I've been a fan of the binder-style, customizable systems for years.  I prefer to mix and match the planner inserts between brands (daytimer, dayrunner, dayplanner)  to come up with a system that works for whatever is going on for me at any given time. I referred to my planner systems as my "brain." I talked about this in a blog post HERE and in this interview I did for Lesley Riley a couple years ago:

Check Out Art Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Art And Soul Radio on BlogTalkRadio

 

However, I really cannot afford to purchase any of that stuff these days, so I set about making a planner from a blank book and other materials I had on hand.

I started with a Miquelrius graph paper journal/sketchbook I had in a studio cupboard. I love graph paper books; I'm particularly fond of using them as what I think of as "catch-alls." I fill them up with snips from magazines, quotes, lists, notes, plans, sketches, website addresses, love notes from my littles, and all manner of flotsam, until the book is full, bursting with stuffed-in goodness.  

This particular journal sells for a good bit less than it's Moleskine counterparts, has a flexible cover, and 300 graph paper pages.   In order to convert it to a planner & organizer, I made several modifications:

1. I scavenged an elastic closure, accordion pockets and ribbon bookmarks out of my filled, archived Moleskines.  
2. I attached the elastic closure through the back cover. 
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4. I reinforced the inside covers of the journal, front and back, with lightweight cardboard, which I covered with a text weight paper.
5. I glued accordion pockets inside the front and back covers.

Then, I did something of which I am very proud!

I STOPPED!  I THOUGHT!   I RESEARCHED!  Instead of plunging ahead willy-nilly, I took a deep breath and PLANNED!

 I looked around trying to determine what I wanted to include and how that might all work.  I browsed Pinterest and Moleskine, and googled for "DIY planner", "planner hacks", and "Moleskine hacks."

Moleskine has free planner printables availble for download on the myMoleskine community site.  You do have to register to download, but it is free.  I haven't been bothered by any spam in the year or longer I've been registered. 

Making a list of what I wanted in a planner was key in not creating a big, fat monster.

I knew I needed a monthly calendar to keep track of family appointments, commitments, events, and such.  

Since I wanted to commit to blogging regularly again, and have some amazing concepts for my creative business underway (more soon), I wanted a second monthly calendar for organizing that arena.  

I have always worked well with a weekly planner.  Besides the obvious weekly reminder of any appointments, I use the weekly planner to make brief notes about a given day- what I've done with my time and what I have to remember to do.  Knowing where I have spent my time, and being prompted about specific tasks  is very useful for me. (I have ADHD.) 

I also like to jot down notes from phone coversations, ideas that have popped into my mind, things I need to research, items to add to lists, phone numbers that don't need to go into my contacts list... that sort of thing. I knew I wanted more than one page for notes related to each week.  

I still wanted to use the book as a "catch-all" because I wanted to have just one book in my everyday-bag.

 

I downloaded monthly calendar and weekly planner pages from the myMoleskine site, and scaled them to best fit my pages.  The files can't be edited easily, so I simply opted to scale them in the dialogue box that comes up for my printer. Some pages I scaled larger than 100% and others smaller. I printed them on the lightest weight paper I could find in the house.

Before going any further, I removed a ton of pages from random spots through out the journal to accomodate the girth the calendar & planner pages would add. I know that the catch-all portion will cause the book to get nice and fat.  I didn't want the book to start out looking like a filled journal!

After calculating how many pages I needed for each section, I counted out the pages in the journal I would need to achieve my desired layout, and divided up the book.  Since I carry my book around in my bag, divider tabs would just get trashed. Instead, I glued scrapbooking paper to the front and backside of a page to create a sturdy divider. I added another one of those scavenged accordian pockets to one of the dividers just because.

 

 

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I carefully peeled back the cover to lay bare the spine of the book.  I glued 5 ribbon bookmarks into place on the bare spine, and glued the cover back onto the spine.

 

For the weekly planner portion, the blank weekly calendar went on the left-hand side of the page spread, leaving the right side, and the next whole page spread blank- four pages for each week.  Every week has 2 two-page spreads.  I included only a few months worth of weekly planner spreads because I wanted this portion to balance with the catch-all section. I didn't want to run out of space in the catch-all section before I ran out calendar/planner pages. 

To recap a bit, the section in my new "brain-in-a-book" are:

• monthly calendar- business (1 month per page)
• monthly calendar - family (1 month per page)
• weekly planner (4 pages in two page spreads/week)
• catch-all

I wanted to have place to store some paper extras- forms or bits that I didn't need every day, but I use here and there.  These I will just glue onto pages as needed. To create a storage folder, I removed the black thin cardboard cover from a knockoff of the Moleskine Cahier journal, leaving both sides intact- still in one large piece.  Using some more scavenged elastic, I created places to store those bits of paper. I glued the storage folder onto one of my divider tabs.

 

 

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Note about adesives:
I used Krylon spray adhesive to attach the printed calendar & planner pages, scrapbook papers, and accordion pockets.  I used "Quick Grip" glue to attach the elastic, the bookmarks, the carboard reinforcement on the covers, and the folder for extra paper forms.  I chose "Quick Grip" because the bond is quite strong and dries flexible.

 

While I did invest time in the creating my new "brain-in-a-book", I didn't have to spend any money to create what has turned out to be a terrific planner for my needs!

re: create - slippers

With the cold weather upon us, I realized I needed a new pair of slippers; my pair from the past few years had been too worn out to last past March.  Buying a new pair of slippers wasn't an option, so with necessity being the mother of invention, I repurposed some items I already had to make a pair of slippers for myself.

I used two previously thrifted items, both found new with tags: a pair of Ryka sneakers and a J. Jill re:create cardigan. I ended up not liking the way the sneakers looked on my feet, and I accidentally put the cardigan in the dryer.  The sweater didn't felt at all but it did shrink quite a bit. I loved the embroidery and trim on the sweater, so I added it to my fabric stash.

(of course, I forgot to take "before" photos: luckily, Google images came to the rescue.)

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 Together, they made a cozy pair of slippers, with soles perfect for mad dashes outside for taking out the trash, letting out the dogs, or running out to the garage for this or that.

 

=

I used the two front panels to wrap around the shoes.  I fed the mary jane straps through the sweater "wrap" and covered the straps using the trim from the cuffs of the sleeves. One side of the trim was ribbon and the other sweater, so I simply cut a slit into the sweater side and fed the strap inside.  The buttons, also from the sweater, are purley decorative; I cut away the sweater from the velcro on both the strap and shoe.  Some places are securely glued, others sewn.

I'm really happy with how they turned out.  

Studio Tour

Okay, just as a frame of reference, the room size is basically 9.5' x 13' with a triangle missing from one corner where a closet was created sometime in the house's history.

Just for some sort of logical perspective, I'll start with the doorway and go around the room.

At the top of the doorway are some of my favorite pieces of art.  These were given to me as a gift by one of my favorite artists ever, my youngest little. Here's a closer look:

 
I have this kid's book display rack doing double duty to hold magazines, and a collection of books that have accompanying CDs for the littlest's distraction enjoyment.

 Onward!

Next is the maple cabinet.  The top half holds books, journals, tchotchkes and vintage cameras. The bottom half has electronics, magazines, art supplies in three drawers, and the other drawers are currently empty.  The cabinet space on the lower right has book covers from old books that I want to re-purpose. 

The closet is mostly empty- it has my easel and my photo equipment.  I am patiently waiting for Joe to make some shelves for in there. (The closet is a triangle-shaped space that didn't work well for clothing on hangers anyway.)

You can also see my work table.  I'll talk more about my table soon; it is another DIY project that needs to be completed.

Here's a glimpse inside the cabinet: 

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I used vintage cameras as bookends inside this cabinet and on the shelves in another corner.

Next, comes the long cabinet that you saw below the chalkboard & picture line.  The cupboard/filing cabinet was left on the street outside of a local business bearing a "free for the taking" sign. The cabinet is a heavy steel office unit in a sort of dark raspberry color with a removable wood top.  There is a single shelf in the section on the left, behind two removable steel sliding doors. On the right are two file drawers.

Colored pencils are divided into two groups- water-soluble and not, and kept on two different lazy susans to reduce the margin for error. I have them further split out into warm (red/orange/yellow), cool (blue/green/purple) and neutral (browns, whites, blacks).  My pastels and crayons are in plastic trays on the top surface of this cabinet broken out the same way. The corner of the desk has paintbrushes, sculpting tools, blending stumps, scissors, brayer, exacto, razor blades, & water containers.

The next images are a closer look at my storage in this area.  This is the corner of the workspace you saw above.

 

Next up is the corner with the white cupboard. You can see where I painted the interior panels on the the insides of the doors with chalkboard paint. This cupboard contains journals I am working into, canvases, wood boards, along with some other supplies.  The black cabinet beneath houses my vinyl record collection, and one drawer has the littlest's aforementioned books on CD collection.  The other drawer is empty. (I have empty drawers! ) Big canvases, rolled canvas, canvas board, works on paper, and my drawing board are stored on the floor between the cabinet and the stereo.

Then, of course, comes my beloved stereo:

 

 
Isn't she beautiful? Sigh. Okay, onward.

So, the unresolved corner was resolved with a little set of shelves that had been in the basement. The mirror in the corner helps reflect light around the room and brightens that corner quite a bit.  The shelves house my journals and book-binding books, and I have my printer on the top shelf.  My full-size (22" x 30") sheets of paper are stored in a cardboard container behind the couch. My stencils are in a huge, rectangular, wire basket under the footstool.  Current reading material is in the basket on the floor on the left of the couch. A peek at the bookshelf:

I ended up covering the floor in layers of various wool carpets. (While I loved the way the floor looked, it was very splintery.) I didn't really need that many carpets to cover the floor, I just like the way they look layered. They also feel nice underfoot. (and under my seat!)

This photo, of course, has led us right back to the door!  I kept to my goals of making the room functional, warm, and comfortable.  My family has already been hanging out in here quite a bit! The sofa is my oldest's new favorite homework spot, and the middle slept on there last night.  I've spent less than $20 on making this room happen.  I do still need some additional hardware for the table project, so that will be the only other expense.  Except for the freebie cabinet I found on the street, I simply moved things out of my old space and other places in the house. I used several different cans of leftover white paint to paint the walls, and used supplies we already had on hand to tackle the various painting jobs.  Joe will be re-purposing wood for the closet shelving.

I think need to come up with some sort window treatment (nothing too curtainy, just something to deal with the stark bare window feeling created by the dark woodwork around the window). I'll make that out of something I already have in the house. I have been thinking of shredding a sheer panel to make a short valance-curtain-veil sort of thing; we'll see.

Come back soon to visit!

 

 

A DIY Picture Hanging Line

(I've raised the lamp since I too this photo. I can see the chalkboard when I am seated at the worktable, but it is smack-dab in the center of the view from the couch.)

I wanted a picture hanging line to run below the chalkboard I painted in the work area of the room, but I wanted it to be wire and not string/cord, because of the way fiber tends to stretch and sag.  I did a little searching about for something simple to buy, but when I looked at the product, I knew it could be made for significantly less. 

I headed to the hardware store and purchased:

• 8 feet of 1/16 inch wire rope @ $0.10/ft = $0.80
• 2  1/16 inch cable ferrules @ $0.50 each = $1.00

Buy the wire rope longer than the intended length of your line, as you will need wire to loop through the ferrules and to accomodate the placement of the studs in the wall.

1/16 inch wire rope

cable ferrule

I also used tools and supplies I had on hand.

• stud finder (could be optional, but with our plaster walls, if I want the screws not to pull out, they need to go into a stud.)
• measuring tape
• screwdriver/drill with screwdriver bit
• wire cutters
• pliers
• painter's tape, masking tape, chalk line (If your floors are level, you don't need this; you can just measure.)

I knew where I wanted the picture line, but because of our ancient plaster walls, I also knew I needed to screw into the studs in the walls, so the screws didn't just pull out.  I was lucky; there were studs fairly close by. 

Next, you would measure up from the floor and mark the wall on each end so your line was straight.  Because our house is rather old, the floors (and sometimes the walls) are not level. So, to compensate, I measured down from the chalkboard, and then ran painter's tape across.  That way, I could adjust the "straighteness" of the line visually.

Install the two screws, but don't screw them all the way in yet.

Feed one side of a ferrule onto one end of the wire rope.

Then, feed wire rope back through into the other side of the ferrule, creating a loop.

Adjust the size of the loop, slip over the screw, and tighten the screw into place.

Use pliers to clamp the ferrule closed and trim the end with wire cutters. 

Take the other end of the wire rope over to the second screw, and using the second ferrule, make a second loop.

Adjust the tension of your line, slip the loop over the screw, and tighten the screw down.  Clamp the ferrule, and trim the wire.

I used bulldog clips to hang images from the line, but binder clips, clothespins, or paperclips would also work.

block print by Gryphon Ludwig

My total cost was $1.80 plus tax, and installing the wire line took no more than ten minutes.