I’ve been doing a lot of research on binder-making techniques the last couple of weeks. In the ‘Binder Series‘ I’ll show you my take on ‘em and what I learned along the way.
First up is a quick tutorial on the first binder I ever made, The Bee Planner!
The Bee Planner
A few years ago I made my first binder, a gift for my brother ‘n law. I completely hacked it together but here’s what I can remember.
Materials
→ Cheap 2-ring 3×5 notecard binder from office supply store
→ Vinyl, from the uphostery section at JoAnns
→ Bumble bee fabric**
→ Photocopies of CD Artwork**
→ Tissue Paper
→ Cardboard or bookboard
→ Short bolt with flat head, nut and 2 grommets. Might be a good idea to bring your metal binder clip with you to the hardware/craft store to make sure all the sizes match up.
** These can be whatever, always remember to make it your own!
First, rip out the 2-ring metal binder piece from your cheapo 3×5 notecard binder. Once it’s off the plastic use pliers to pull out the little brads that were holding it in place so you’re left with two holes on each side. If the metal bends while pulling out the brads just straighten it out with the pliers.
Put the paper you’d like in the metal binder clip and measure from the very left point to the very right. Your bottom board will need to be this big or wider. If you plan on having page dividers with tabs include those in the width as well. Measure the height of the binder rings, your spine will need to be this wide + the thickness of the bottom board + a little extra to be safe.
The front and spine are made of paper (photocopies, collages, drawings) or fabric. The back should be bookboard or cardboard to give it a little weight. All three pieces are covered with clear vinyl on both sides.
Once everything is ready to sew pin it together and stitch around the edges. Also do a stitch up and down through the seems between the front, spine and back. Give yourself plenty of extra vinyl around the edges so sewing is simple… then trim the excess off after.
Vinyl sewing tips!
A sewing machine with a good strong needle will sew through a layer of paper/fabric and two pieces of vinyl easily. The problem is that the vinyl sticks to everything… the foot and the feed. This is where the tissue paper comes in. Put a sheet on the bottom and on the top before sewing:
tissue → vinyl → paper → vinyl → tissue
Once the sewing is done the tissue paper will rip off easily.
Attaching the binder rings
Once the front, spine and back are complete place the metal binder rings on the far left of the back board. Mark inside the holes on each side of the hardware. Use a sharp tool or hammer and nail to create a hole through the entire back piece the size of your grommet. It’s best to make it a little bit smaller and squeeze the grommet in, better than having a hole too big! Put it in so that the pretty side is on the outside of the binder.
Once the grommets are in place use the screws to secure the rings to the board with the flat head of the screw on the outside. Voila!
Yesterday at lunch I was trying to make a very important decision with a list of pros and cons. I’m no closer to deciding but it did inspire a new DIY Planner download! I promise this wasn’t my real list, although it was on my mind – ha!
The top sets up your 1-10 rating system, it can be whatever you want. I set it to Importance, 10 being the most and 1 being least. When writing down a pro or con I would decide how important it was to me. That way when you add them up at the end they’re weighted fairly. Make sense?
I just fell in LOVE with ‘Spell with Flickr’ by Erik Kastner, I could spend all night spelling out word after word after word. Once you’ve played with that a while check out Leo Reynolds’ Flickr, A M A Z I N G.
In fall of 1997 I took my first graphic design class at New Mexico State University. I wasn’t totally sold on pursuing graphic design as a profession. I was leaning towards it because it was more practical than being an artist but, being totally clueless at the time, I thought that graphic design was very boring and lacked emotion.
It so happened that the main design professor had the year off and a guy called Ronnie Garver was taking his place. He was a young guy who had just gone through the same program himself. Ronnie’s style was heavily influenced by Art Chantry and the Seattle grunge movement.
I instantly fell in love.
We had to keep an inspiration journal, as part of the class. For the first time I was looking at magazines as an artist and not as a silly teenager.
Buying my first copy of Raygun (above, cover by Chris Ashworth) cemented the fact that I was not only choosing graphic design, but I was BORN to do graphic design. I spent the whole semester creating projects in the middle of the night at Kinkos. Making copy after copy, with my scissors and glue stick ready to chop it all up and paste it back together again. I’d rip it up – run outside and scrape it against the asphalt till it was barely readable – tape it back together and make another copy.
A few months into the semester Ronnie announced that Art Chantry was actually coming to the campus to give a talk. The whole dept. would also be designing posters for a Von Zippers show that Chantry would see and discuss. (The poster to the left was designed/printed by Ronnie Garver & Chad Ballard for the event.) The talk Chantry gave was amazing and incredibly inspiring. Later he came into our classroom where a hundred posters were tacked to a large wall… one of my top five proudest moments of my life was when he pointed mine out!
And 13 years later, I just found it under the bed and scanned it in!
Anyways, that’s my story. Shout out to my mentor and the spark to all of this, Ronnie Garver. You rock dude, thank you.
I was thinking this morning about a post I wanted to do and by this afternoon had forgotten it already. Every happen to you?! Inspired me to make a 8.5 by 11 DIY Planner Template that’s been in my head a while now, the blog brainstorm! And to go with the new year, a yearly goal planner too.
For the Goals worksheet I create a box across the months that I want to accomplish something. The above right is one project broken down into four parts – step one due at the end of Jan, next step due at the end of may and so on…
Spent the last week re-arranging/organizing my studio… ready for crafting, sewing, drawing and computer-ing! Now… what to work on first? Happy 2010 everyone, thanks so much for reading. See ya next year! xo
I got the above stencil from Sam for christmas, awesome! Researching wireframing techniques now, trying to get in web designing mode for a top secret project coming up in the next couple of months. The JAWS wireframe (left) is the most inspiring so far, by a four year old!
Two weeks ago I was in our alley and saw three chairs a couple houses down, waiting to be picked up by the dump truck. Sure, they were an awful warn out metallic gold but so solid and sturdy! I needed to get a present for my sister and brother ‘n law (who just got a new house and need chairs) and had been looking for an excuse to use the hand-me-down sander I got from my folks. Chair refinishing!!
First I sanded down the chairs, cleaned them and spray painted them white.
Then, I scuffed ‘em back up and painted the back red to match C and Z’s red and frosty blue kitchen.
I cut out a piece of cardboard the shape of the seat and very quickly (and roughly) made up some little chair cushions.
And here it is, my very first before and after! :)
I’ve been putting together Christmas ‘mixed tapes’ for the past couple of years. Just finished my newest – I think it might be my best yet! Although the previous years are pretty fantastic too. :) All mixes are available for download below through mediafire.com. I’ve discovered lots of great new bands searching for these, if you find one you especially like tell your friends and buy their album!
A few months into the semester Ronnie announced that Art Chantry was actually coming to the campus to give a talk. The whole dept. would also be designing posters for a Von Zippers show that Chantry would see and discuss. (The poster to the left was designed/printed by Ronnie Garver & Chad Ballard for the event.) The talk Chantry gave was amazing and incredibly inspiring. Later he came into our classroom where a hundred posters were tacked to a large wall… one of my top five proudest moments of my life was when he pointed mine out!
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