Patrick Troughton 500 Year Diary Mini Leather Book--2nd Day of Doctor Who!

On the 2nd Day of Doctor Who, my true love gave to me...

 Patrick Troughton--Doctor number 2!
He's catching up on his life with his 500 year diary!
You could always just buy a little notebook, a journal or something...
but mini things just melt my hearts!

If you missed yesterday, I thought it would be fun to do a Doctor Who Day countdown!

Like the "12 Days of Christmas"...but for Doctor Who!
(Because you and I both know that we are really counting down for the Christmas episode!)

Come back every day for the newest project!

The 500 Year Diary!
This is an awesome project...but it may feel intimidating.
This is a real book binding tutorial!

Here's what you will need:
Scrap leather (3 1/2 by 2 inches)
20 sheets Light weight paper (2 7/8 by 1 3/4 inches)
2 sheets Cardstock (2 7/8 by 1 3/4 inches)
Cutting mat
Either a rotary cutter or hobby knife
Ruler
Needle and heavy thread
Metal poker or awl
 leather groover tool
Hot glue/gun
Glue stick
Rubber cement
Piece of ribbon (1 1/2 by 2 inches)

 First cut your leather to size above.
Cut off the corners to make rounded edges.
Mark the center line with a pencil.
Then mark it 1/4" on each side of the center line.
Repeat on the bottom edge
Score the line with the awl and the ruler.

 Next use the groove making tool and carefully carve out little ruts along that same line.
If you don't have a groove tool...carefully use the hobby knife or the awl a few times to get a groove so the book will fold over.  Don't cut all the way through the leather.
Then cut your paper to size and fold each sheet in half.

 Stack 5 sheets of paper together and line them up on your rulers edge.
Mark the paper 3/8 of an inch on each side.
Then stick your awl inside the stack of paper and push it through at the marks.
It's pretty easy to get it through the right spot.
Next thread that needle and start sewing those pages together.
Start from the outside and push the needle through one of the holes,
Run the thread through the inside page and out the other hole.
Tie it off.

 Once it's tied,
Get the next bundle of 2 hole poked papers and go in one hole and out the other.
Then tie it off to the first one, keeping them lined up.
Repeat for each stack of paper (in our case 4 times)
Essentially, you could make the book as big as you want!
Tie it off and clip the thread.

 Make sure the pages are lined up and squeeze them together with some clothespins.
Run a thin layer of hot glue along the spine.
Next, fold your 2 cardstock sheets in half.
Apply glue stick all over half of the paper...making sure to get in all the corners.
These are going to glue to the first pages of the book you just made.

 Oops, here's the glue picture again!
(I blame the whole waking up at 5:00 this morning)
Oh well...
So glue the cardstock to the book pages...
Then take the piece of ribbon (burn the edges slightly so there is no fraying)
And hot glue it to the spine and over the edge of the cardstock.

Perfect!  The book is nearly done!

Now you will need the rubber cement.

Apply rubber cement to the outside pages...ribbon and all...but not along the spine.

And on the leather...just where the pages will line up...not on the spine.

Let the rubber cement dry completely...then stick the pages to the cover.

There will be a gap where the spine is so the book can actually close completely.

Just stick on page at a time and make sure it can close.

Phew!  Are you exhausted?

It might seem daunting, but it is a very simple book binding and looks 

awesome on a tiny little book!

You can leave it as is...just a cool rugged leather book...

or get a Pilot Gold Marker and add the look of guilding!

 I did some spine stripes...and border...and went ahead and wrote 

500 Year Diary!

 I wish you could see how adorable and small it is!
Pictures just don't show the actual size...nor does this miniature brick background!

 It's just a little taller than this Tardis in a Bottle Necklace I did last year.

 So cute!  You could poke a little hole in the spine and attach it to a chain
for an adorable necklace if you wanted to!

What do you think?  Would you try some mini book binding???

I am posting these now to give you time to do this yourself.  

Start on December 13th and make a very geeky someone in your life extremely happy!

(if you do...please tell me in the comments--I'll be your best friend!)

This post published on Doodlecraft first