Open Spine Journal
This was a quick and easy journal I put together. It measures 7-1/2" x 9-1/2". The pages are single-sheet, as opposed to folded and stitched. It's an open-spine journal with the hinge on the inside.
The cover boards are just regular cardboard, with decorative paper glued to the surface. For the front cover, I drew the scalloped frame on a second sheet of cardboard, cut it out with a pen knife, painted it, and glued it to the first sheet.
The outer end papers are glued to the coverboard. The hinge is a 3/4" strip of cardboard, attached to the coverboard with cloth tape, and then painted. I glued the hinges to the interior endpapers to secure the covers in place before drilling the binding holes.
The title page is printed. (That says “Journal” in Carogine.)
The lines are spaced 1/2" apart, to give plenty of room for ascenders and descenders. The lines are printed in a pale gray color so as not to detract from the handwriting.
There’s an appendix at the end, with details on all my alternative writing systems.
I've tied the binding ribbon at the back, giving me the option to loosen it while writing to allow the pages to lie flat. That is one challenging thing about binding a journal: it’s very distracting and difficult to write neatly if you’re having to constantly fight the book to make the paper lie flat.
When I fill up the journal, I expect that I will knot the binding ribbon and secure it with glue.
The back cover is just decorative paper glued to cardboard. I painted the edges, masking it with low-adhesion Frog tape. The paper wrinkled up a lot, though, so that was probably not the best choice. I think it probably would have been better to paint the cardboard and cut the paper shorter. But overall, I'm reasonably satisfied with the outcome.
without trust, there can be no friendship.