How – to project: A book of circles

Use ephemera to create this how-to project – a book of circles. Simple bookbinding and mark making for a satisfying creative fix. Punctuate your day with the pleasure of mindful/mindless repetition.

You’ll need:

• A few sheets of ephemera: Old book pages, maps, music, paper bags
• White paint or gesso
• Wide flat brush
• Hole punch or awl
• Ribbon/twine/string
• Brushes/pen for mark making
• Ink or paint

Step – by – step:

White-out the pages with paint or gesso, allowing some of the texture of text or image to show through. I’ve prepared around eight pieces, but may not use them all.

When dry, repeat on the other side.

Arrange in a pile, with the largest on the bottom, and the smallest on top. (They don’t necessarily need to be centred.)

Fold all the pages in half-ish. (Some of my pages are off to the left.)

Make a hole half way down the crease, through all the pages. I used the awl first, and then enlarged each hole with the non-bristly end of a paint brush.)

The minimum length of ribbon or string is three times the height of your book, but you may want extra for a wraparound tie, or a bow.

Top tip: Make it easier to thread the ribbon through each hole by reinforcing the end with sticky tape fashioned into a point.

Starting at the middle hole on the outside, thread the ribbon through every hole until you get to the smallest page. I had to do it one sheet at a time because the holes were a little ragged. Patience! Leave a tail that’s at least half the height of the book (longer if you’re having a bow.)

Now take the ribbon up and over the top edge of your book, down the spine and underneath the bottom edge, back to the middle again. Gently ease your ribbon back through every page to the outside. For a more detailed description of each step, see page 86 of Bound.

When you’re back where you started, make sure that each end of ribbon is on opposite sides of the long spine length.

Tie a knot, or two if you don’t think it’ll hold. Watch this film for bookbinding knot tips.

Leave the ends long, or trim as you wish.

Now you’re ready to make marks!

On each page, make circular shapes with the ink or paint. Small dots, huge rings, blobs, balls…roundish shapes.

Take your time. Maybe fill one or two sides a day. Or cover every page in a rush of marks. Whatever makes you happy.

Give your book a title, simply written in pencil.

Please share your creations, using the tag @paperhazell and @thetravellingbookbinder on Instagram, The Travelling Bookbinder on Facebook and @paperhazell on Twitter. Can’t wait to see what you make!

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And you could move on to filling pages with inky alphabets too.