DIY-Notebook / Paper As Material

Paper is enviromentaly friendly. Paper is versatile. Papier is genious...
You've always wanted to make a beautiful, feasible and useful present out of very little material (that you always have at home) for someone or even for yourself in a short period of time? Then follow this instruction step by step and learn how to design an simple yet beautiful notebook for the most beautiful ideas.

The two-hour-DIY-project "Paper as material" examines the self-made notebook as a medium, which supports creativity, concentration and manual skills for anyone. After this instruction one is going to hold a natural, standardized and ready-to-use notebook in the hands, which offers space to note, to draw, to write, etc…

• 60 sheets of printing paper A4 with a weight of 90g
• 1 cardboard (for the cover) 300 x 210mm with a weight of 160 - 200g
• 1 cardboard (for the template) A4 with a weight of 120 - 160 g
• Sewing threat
• Sewing needles
• All-purpose-glue
• A ruler
• Sticky Tape
• A pencil
• A Stanley-knife

• Differently colored tape rolls

Prepare 60 sheets of paper.

Fold all 60 sheets of paper in the half.

Take four sheets of paper out of all 60 sheets of paper and arrange them together. Repeat this step till all 60 sheets of paper are used. You should get 15 bundles of paper in the end.

Cut out a stripe out of a 120 - 160 g paper sheet. The template should have a length of 210mm and a width of minimum 20 mm. Make holes into it. The holes should have a distance between 10.5 - 20 mm.

Use the stripe as a template to make holes with a thick needle into the paper-bundles. Each bundle should have approximately 20 holes in the end.

Use a needle and a thread to sew together the bundles. Start by sewing each bundle step by step.

After having 15 tied bundles finish the inner paper part by sewing the 15 bundles together.

For the cover you can use a cardboard which a size of minimum 300 x 210mm. Cut the cardboard with a knife so that it fits the size of half of one a sheet of paper (so that it is A5 in the end). Also leave one stripe of cardboard with a length of 210 mm for the middle part of the cover.

In the end you should have two pieces of cardboard with a size of 148 x 210 mm and one piece of cardboard with the sice of 150mm x 210mm.

Use all three parts of cardboard to finish the cover. Use an all-purpose-glue to glue together the long edges. If it's not stable use an sticky tape to bind the edges additionally.

Merge the cover and the bundles using two A4 sheets of paper and by using a normal glue; one sheet of paper goes at the first page of the bundle and one sheet of paper at the last page of the bundle.

As you hold your notebook in your hands you can now start with the design. Use for example colored tape to mask the corners and the edges.

You are now ready to use your notebook. Thank's for your attention.