I love my Bind-It-All!
No, they do not pay me to say that ;)
As a papercrafter and instructor there are alot of options available to me (and to you too) for binding books: I could use binder rings ... I guess I could sew some paper bags together and make a book that way ... or just buy a pre-made book and wrangle with the binding in order to decorate the pages ... or learn to make coptic stitch journals but I hear it takes a long time ... nope, I always reach for the Bind-It-All. It's because my trusty Bind-It-All is tried and true, always ready for me to use in a snap!
So, what makes the Bind-It-All more attractive to me over other binding options?
Compact--the Bind-It-All stores easily and it has a small footprint. I can leave it out on my table while I am crafting and it won't be in my way. It's easy to take to crops, classes, and events, especially when stored in my Bag-A-Bind. Also, since it is compact, I can store it within easy reach of my scrap table.
Versatile -- You can choose the size of your book, you can easily mix pages of different materials and sizes, and you can choose how much o-wire to use to make your book stable. With Binder Rings you'd need about 6 - 8 of them to bind the book I show you later in this post. And then you'd have to figure out how to line up the holes--yikes! This is because the book I am going to show you incorporates pages from 4x6 all the way up to 6x12. Here's another book that uses 6x6, 6x8 and 6x12 pages:
I can create the most custom books using my Bind-It-All--you can't buy this book from any store ;) Also, the O-Wires come in so many colors and sizes, I can always find something to match my project. Colored binder rings are difficult to find and pricey (in my experience).
Economical -- I can use as much or as little binding wire as I want--I decide how many loops to use. And I can really get alot of bang for my buck--just one length of o-wire costs about $1 retail (for the large sizes, small sizes are under $1 each) and I can easily make 3-4 books out of one length of wire. You can use more O-Wire if you book needs more stability or as little as 1-2 loops if you're creating a wall hanging or other non-book project. And if you're out of O-Wires, use ribbon, fabric, tulle...anything flexible can be used to bind books with the Bind-It-All! Here's a book I bound using ribbon and my Bind-It-All:
To demonstrate how easy the Bind-It-All is to use and how useful it is for creating, I created a mini book in just under an hour. I created this not-so-mini 6x12 book about our road trip to Arizona last summer -- I plan to give it to my sister once I am finished using it as a sample ;)
This mini can be made in just about an hour. Here's the steps:
Create A Base:
I like to use 5-6 pieces of 6x12 chipboard. For each piece of 6x12, you'll need one sheet of 12x12 patterned paper to cover. You can also cut the chipboard down to other sizes like 4x6, 6x6, 6x8, and 6x9.
For this book I used:
- 3 pieces of 6x12 chipboard
- 3 pieces of 12x12 patterned paper
- 6x9 chipboard
- 6x6 acrylic pages x 2 -- from Zutter
- 2/3 sheet of patterned paper (to cover both sides of the 6x9 chipboard)
- 3 pieces of 4x6 chipboard
- scrap paper to decorate 4x6 chipboard
- 1 sheet of Donna Salazar's ARTISTIC PAPER
Cover the 4x6 chipboards with Artistic Paper cut down to 4x6 and with photos. If your photos are digital prints like mine (5.3" wide, not 6" wide) then use a scrap of patterned paper to cover that last little bit of chipboard on each page.
Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
Decorate The Base:
Inking, painting, and misting are all things you want to do before you bind the book--doing them afterwards can result in pages getting stuck together or the wet medium getting on things where you didn't want it. I painted all the edges of my chipboard with a beige paint to bring in the colors from my photos and then I misted it all with a couple colors of spray ink. After the pages are dry, you're ready to bind.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Bind with the Bind-It-All:
Start with the largest pages, 6x12 in this case. Set the Bind-It-All on the C Setting (for use with books that measure in 1/2" or full inch increments i.e. 6", 6.5", 7" and so on).
Punch the top and the bottom of each 6x12 page on C. Then use the peg on the black stop guide tab to insert into the holes you've punched (for proper spacing) so you can fill in the middle with binding holes.
Inner pages that are various sizes (like mine) are a little tricky but here are some tips!
For the top 4x6 page, insert it into the Bind-It-Allso the top of the page butts up against the stop guide tab (on C Setting).
For the bottom 4x6 page in it into the Bind-It-All so the bottom of the page butts up against the stop guide tab (on C Setting).
For the middle 4x6 page punch on C setting then punch on extra hole on the top and one extra hole on the bottom using the peg on the black stop guide tab to insert into the holes you've punched (for proper spacing).
For the 6x9 and 6x6 pages, punch them the same was as the middle 4x6 page.
Stack your pages in the following order:
- Back Cover (inside facing up)
- Front Cover (outside facing up)
- 6x6 page
- 6x9 page
- 6x6 page
- 6x12 page
- 4x6 pages
Thread the o-wires through the pages from the bottom. Then close using the Bind-It-AllMachine. I used 1"
Antique Brass O-Wires on my project. Flip the back cover back to the back of the book.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Decorate!
Add journaling, photos, ribbons, and embellishments to your pages as desired. To easily mat my photos, I cut some Donna Salazar Artistic Paper into the 4x6 journaling cards that are printed on the paper, following the outline of the cards. If you have a
Dreamkuts machine you can run the paper through there to get a perfect cut. Ink the edges of the journaling cards and apply them to the page perpendicular to your photo orientation. For example, if my photo is landscape (horizontal) then I placed the journaling card in a portrait orientation (vertically) on the page. This way a piece of the journaling card peeks out from behind the photo for an instant journaling spot.
An easy way to decorate your O-Wires is to tie ribbons, tulle, and trims to just 2-3 of the wires at the top of the book.
Cut titles with a diecutting machine. Use the same font throughout the book for a unified look. If you used an electronic diecutting machine to cut your titles, use the same font in a Word processing program to create extra journaling or subtitles. I used Honey Script (free at dafont.com) for the titles and subtitles in this mini book.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Here are some of the inner pages of my book, ready for my sister to add journaling:
Hope this inspires you to make some minis. Really you can create this whole book in about an hour -- you don't need to spend days on a project and whoever you give it to will appreciate the love you put into it, even if it did only take an hour. And you'll create books faster, more economically, and with more options using your Bind-It-All!
OZZ Design Team Member Jennifer Priest
