So… I’ve started a new hobby.
It’s called junk journaling. I’m still very new at it and still learning, but the more I learn, the more I realize that there’s a seemingly infinite number of things I could potentially learn. And that’s led me down several YouTube rabbit-holes, from bookbinding, to paper-making, to paper dyeing, to sewing and needlework… One can easily get overwhelmed. One has gotten overwhelmed (“one” being me).
I knew that if I waited until I figured it all out before I made my first junk journal, I’d never make my first junk journal. So I jumped right in and I’m on my fourth one now. But don’t for a second think that I’ve made four elaborate vintage-y junk journals with all kinds of fancy pockets and tags and ephemera and ribbons and lace. No. They’ve all been very simple so far. For each one I focused on learning just one thing. That kept me from getting overwhelmed, and ensured that I actually finished something!
Maybe I’ll share my previous junk journals in future posts, but today I want to share the one I just finished: Junk Journal #4!
This journal is a cute little thing–about the size of a passport (5.25″ x 4″x 0.75″). I modelled it after the passport-size notebook by Traveller’s Company. For those that don’t know, Traveller’s Company (actually, I think it might be spelled with one ‘l’: Traveler’s Company) makes a notebook system they call Traveler’s Notebook. It consists of a cover, which is a simple sheet of leather with elastic bands, and notebook “inserts” that you secure into the cover with the elastic bands. You take out inserts as you use them up and replace them with new inserts. You can have multiple inserts in your notebook at the same time, and there are a variety of insert types available–for instance, lined paper for writing and sketch paper for sketching to name just two of the options–so that you can customize your notebook for however you want to use it (in this case, for writing vs sketching). Fans of Traveler’s Notebook love this customizability.
I somehow or other, during one of my YouTube rabbit-hole jags, came across this Traveler’s Company notebook system and became instantly obsessed. It’s so simple, yet so cool. Just looking at them makes you want to travel, just so you can sit in a café somewhere far from home and write in your cool notebook that just screams “I AM A TRAVELLER AND I WRITE STUFF”.
But you know what’s even cooler than a Traveler’s Company Traveler’s Notebook? Junk journals! That’s why I wanted to make my own junk journal version of the passport-size Traveler’s Notebook.
Originally, I wanted to make a cover with elastic bands and inserts, just like the Traveler’s Notebook, but I didn’t have any suitable elastics on hand and didn’t want to buy any. (I’m trying to keep my junk journals 100% made of upcycled material!) So I ended up making a bound journal. Maybe in the future I’ll experiment with cover and insert systems.
So, I just want to introduce my new hobby with this post, and maybe share a little bit of my process for putting Junk Journal #4 together.
As you can see, I’ve already shared some photos of my process, starting with making templates for the cover and inserts. (Sorry to make you scroll back up to the top if you want to see the photo again.) The templates helped me keep track of the maximum size each sheet of paper could be in order to fit the size of cover I wanted.
The templates also helped me decide how many signatures I wanted. I could maybe squeeze three signatures in but it would be a tight squeeze and potentially difficult for a relative beginner like me to sew the signatures in. So I settled on two signatures.
While in the midst of obsessing over the Traveler’s Company Traveler’s Notebook, I found out that a neighbour will be travelling to Japan in the near future. I happen to have a lot of Japanese material to work with, so I decided that that would be the theme for this project.
I had two maps, one of Japan from an old 1970s school atlas, another of the Tokyo subway system. I thought these would be cool as the center pages for each signature.
I had found two blank notebooks of sketch paper at Value Village not too long ago, plus one dot grid notebook. These are perfect for a travel journal! Some people like to sketch the sights when they travel. For those that are not artistically inclined, the thicker paper is ideal for gluing bits of memorabilia onto. Of course, you could also simply write on it. As for the dot grid paper, it helps you draw straight lines, columns, and boxes with ease, enabling you to include many things useful for a traveler, such as a mini-calendar, a ledger for keeping track of your travel budget, or a packing checklist, just to name a few.
I have a collection of old textbooks for learning Japanese. I thought it would be fun to include some pages with language lessons. It’s always nice to learn a bit of the language of the country you are visiting.
The other sources for pages to include were a vintage Japanese primary school reader, an outdated Lonely Planet travel guidebook, an unused restaurant review journal, and an ’80s era hardcover glossy book about Japan (I forgot to take a picture of it). I divided the pages up into two piles and mixed the order of the different types of pages up for some variety. I then used my template to either fold or trim the pages down to passport size.
For the cover, I glued two pieces of cardstock together. One was the cover of the book I took apart for Junk Journal #3 (which I will perhaps share in a future post), the other was the lid of a box of Pot of Gold chocolates I received for Mother’s Day. I simply glued them together with white school glue, then trimmed to size using my template.
Once I had my cover and signatures, I could see that my signatures were too thick to fit the cover! I had to remove a few pages to slim it down.
For the binding, I decided to try a 4-hole pamphlet stitch. I’d so far done 3- and 5-hole pamphlet stitches, so it was time for me to try something new. I used a piece of scrap paper to make a template for where to punch the holes.
I was so proud of how easy it was for me to sew the first signature in. Until I realized I had made a mistake. I had sewn the map shut! Argh! I had to undo it and rebind. It was a lot trickier the second time around.
After I successfully sewed the signatures in I realized something else: I didn’t like it. I’m not sure an even-numbered stitching works very well. Inevitably, you will always end up with two stitches overlapping, which might be okay for some people but I like symmetry and I just don’t like how it looks. So I decided I wanted to hide the stitching. Problem was, I had no idea how to do that.
This is the point in my junk journaling journey at which I went down the bookbinding rabbit-hole. It is sooo cool! There’s a method of binding that you are all familiar with even if you have never taken particular notice of it and didn’t know it had a name: have a look at any hardcover book and it’s more than likely bound using this method. It’s called “case binding”, but you probably just call it “hardcover”.
I looked at a few different tutorials and diagrams and got the gist of how a case binding is put together. I thought I could probably do something along the lines of a case binding to cover the ugly-to-me spine. First step: cut off the covers. (I’ll admit, it hurt a bit, but it had to be done. Trust the process.)
Next, I cut two scrap pieces of paper and one piece of chipboard the same size as the spine.
I cut slits into the two paper pieces. This was so that when I glued the paper to the spine, the paper would sit around the thread instead of on top of it, thereby creating a relatively even surface.
When I made my Junk Journals #1 and #2, I covered the spines by gluing paper to them, but I had trouble gluing onto the yarn I had used to sew the signatures. So this time I wanted to somehow build up the gaps between the threads and create a new flat surface for ease of gluing. I’m not altogether sure this step was necessary, but it seemed important at the time.
Next I glued a wider piece of paper to the spine and then glued end papers to this piece of paper.
Phew! Once I figured that part out, all I had to do was glue the chipboard spine piece I had cut out plus the two covers onto some decorative paper.
I used some vintage origami paper and a type of Japanese wrapping paper used for gifts.
Then all I needed to do was glue the end papers to the cover to attach it.
It still turned out fatter than I wanted. I don’t like “alligator mouth”. I like it to close neatly.
I decided to add an elastic to keep it closed. I punched a hole into the back cover with my awl, poked both ends of the elastic through, and sewed a “button” to the two ends with some scrap fabric and embroidery thread.
All that was left to do were some finishing touches. I added some pockets and tags to each signature. The first was a simple side pocket.
For the second signature, I wanted to add a button & string envelope.
I made the button out of the chipboard from a cereal box and the clear plastic from the “hangy” thing on an earbud box. I don’t have any fancy tools. I used a nickel to trace circles and cut them out with scissors, and a hole punch for the clear plastic, then sewed them on with needle and thread.
And that’s pretty much it!
All in all, I think this turned out to be a cute little traveller’s notebook. In spite of its diminutive size, it’s packed full of fun and useful information for the first time traveller to Japan, pretty pictures and patterns, a smattering of language lessons, and plenty of writing space to record the adventure. I’m not sure how well the binding will hold up though. I’m going to try making more of these, but hopefully my technique will improve.
If you want to see a flip-through of the completed notebook, I’ve uploaded it to YouTube.
Feature image credits: Tokyo alleyway by Chris Yang on Unsplash, Hand holding passport by Oleksandr P on Pexels.
