3 Hole Punch Books

A the moment I'm sick again, so I haven't been working on anything in the past few days. However, just before I got sick, again, I was working on those blank 3 hole punched journals modeled after the Public BoS I just finished. They are not done yet, but I have a few pics of them to illustrate the construction process.

Here is one of the heavy hardboard covers that has been wrapped in a raspberry colored leather. You can see the chipboard edging around three sides poking up from underneath the leather. The flap of leather on the right side will be tucked around the edge and glued, just like on the top and bottom edges. The flap of leather on the left edge will be where the holes are punched. That edge has a piece of card stock glued to the underside for added stiffness and manageability. You can see it in the picture below.

The card stock is on the opposite side in this pic. Two of these assemblies will form the front and back covers. The three hole punched pages will be sandwiched between them and the whole thing held together with three post screws. Then a leather strip with turned edges will be added as a spine to cover the screw heads. This will be attached with a weak glue so that it can be removed to add pages later.

In this photo you can see two of the screw posts. This one is nearly finished. The pages for this book have already been added. The hard boards in this one have been covered with a black woven cotton cloth. Here I have just finished adding a crock skin embossed leather belt that will be able to hold the book closed. Take a close look at the heavy brass buckle. Yes, that is a built in lock. I love these things! A customer came in to the shop last year and showed me one. I immediately had to have some. I found them at Van Dyke's Restorers, a great place to find antique looking bits for steampunk creations. They are a little pricey, but these buckles I got on sale for $2 each. I don't think they are available anymore. Too bad, so sad, sucks to be you :P