Diy Journals For Those Without A Lot Of Time

[gryphon1911]

So, I'm looking at all these DIY journals that people are doing. Everything looks good and with some time and practice I'm sure that I could do something like coptic stitch or long stitch.

 

Like a lot of people, I'm very busy and am looking for something that is a little more efficient. I've found some good copy paper (Xerox branded) and have a 7mm guide sheet that I print on it for general journaling purposes. I'm going to come up with some other templates I can print out depending on my need (calligraphy, bullet journaling, art).

 

Which then brings me to a binding method. I can have all these sheets loose somewhere, but eventually I want to merge them all into one journal.

 

Anyone else out there do something like this? Use loose paper, journal, sketch, whatever and then bind them after with Wire-O, comb binding, heat binding or similar?

 

My initial thought is that I would like something that would be able to lay flat, but since I'm not actually writing on it, that seems less necessary. Heck, I could even go with something like a three hole punch report cover or the hardcover with screws type thing.

 

A lot of the bind machines are relatively cheap, and both punch and bind, which is a great thing.

 

Just looking to see what others might have done, are currently doing and any pros/cons you've found, lessons learned, that kind of thing.

 

One last thing, has anyone found any binding system (outside of the stitched methods) that can do something smaller than 8.5x11 inch sizes? Perhaps A5 kind of thing?

 

Thanks much in advance for sharing your information.

Edited March 7, 2016 by gryphon1911

[gryphon1911]

Guess no one else does this.....

[dk76]

I have gone so far as "thinking about it" when it comes to binding.

 

I was watching Sea Lemon's tutorial on youtube. Had all my supplies laid out. Ready to go. Folded my paper and just walked away. Lol. Slacker.

 

If I wanted to bind pages that I have written on, I think i would head to Staples and pay them to wire bind ot.

[naimitsu]

So if I am understanding you correctly, you are looking to see what other people have done for their ink journals?

 

I for one cretaed my own layout in Adobe InDesign, but I might be a fluke with that. I have a childhood background in Pre-Press Printing (bascially all of the steps that produces the plates that go into the printing machines that transfers ink to the page). It is a 4-up design, which means on one sheet of 8.5"x11", I have 4 samples on there. I have been using a normal 3-ring binder with tab dividers to organize the colors. The sheets themselves are in normal page protectors.

 

As a travel/secondary journal, I keep an Apica Premium A6 notebook with gridlines (I couldn't find a lined version for a cheap enough price) with the ink name written in the ink. The notebook is also divided by colors using page flags at regular intervals to protect for future ink additions. That's the one I everyday carry in case I see an ink and want to compare it to something I've already sampled.

 

Currently, I am in the process of revamping my 4-up binder version. I have recently purchased card protectors that would fit 4"x5.5", which isn't exactly ideal as it would require me to cut more than just quartering the letter sheet, but it gave me the excuse to buy a nice paper trimmer (small victories I guess). I also purchased some chromatography paper to display the color formulations of my inks. The new format is going to eliminate some of the 1-10 ratings that most people do.

 

For the time being, if you'd like to use my preliminary 4-up layout, you can find it here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B32BcmbDCq-kb3MySU5UQ3UxeUk/view?usp=sharing

(sorry for the massive link. too lazy to figure out how to make it shorter...)

[drv1913]

I write and draw on loose, hole-punched paper, but I don't bind them. I simply archive them in cases that I buy from daytimer.com. It doesn't get much easier than that. Other than the cases, my only investment in this system is a heavy-duty, multi-hole punch and a an automatic numbering stamp that I seldom use.

 

If I wanted to have my loose sheets bound in a more permanent way and didn't want to do them by hand, I would just take them to Office Depot or someplace like that and have it done there. It doesn't cost very much, and you wouldn't have to find and then store the equipment and supplies yourself. I'm pretty sure that they can bind papers of different sizes, depending on what you want done.

 

Also, remember that there is no law that says that you have to make the book first and then fill it. There are any number of ways to bind pages by hand after the fact, and they don't have to be all that complicated even if they do involve sewing. I am quite lazy, yet I find it pretty easy to make all manner of notebooks by hand, many in much less than an hour.

[gryphon1911]

So if I am understanding you correctly, you are looking to see what other people have done for their ink journals?

 

I for one cretaed my own layout in Adobe InDesign, but I might be a fluke with that. I have a childhood background in Pre-Press Printing (bascially all of the steps that produces the plates that go into the printing machines that transfers ink to the page). It is a 4-up design, which means on one sheet of 8.5"x11", I have 4 samples on there. I have been using a normal 3-ring binder with tab dividers to organize the colors. The sheets themselves are in normal page protectors.

 

As a travel/secondary journal, I keep an Apica Premium A6 notebook with gridlines (I couldn't find a lined version for a cheap enough price) with the ink name written in the ink. The notebook is also divided by colors using page flags at regular intervals to protect for future ink additions. That's the one I everyday carry in case I see an ink and want to compare it to something I've already sampled.

 

Currently, I am in the process of revamping my 4-up binder version. I have recently purchased card protectors that would fit 4"x5.5", which isn't exactly ideal as it would require me to cut more than just quartering the letter sheet, but it gave me the excuse to buy a nice paper trimmer (small victories I guess). I also purchased some chromatography paper to display the color formulations of my inks. The new format is going to eliminate some of the 1-10 ratings that most people do.

 

For the time being, if you'd like to use my preliminary 4-up layout, you can find it here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B32BcmbDCq-kb3MySU5UQ3UxeUk/view?usp=sharing

(sorry for the massive link. too lazy to figure out how to make it shorter...)

 

Not necessarily an ink journal, but general journaling. I find that I like the security of the wire binding, but I don;t like writing in a wire bound journal and dealing with the wire in the middle while writing.

 

I just wanted to see what others may have done and make sure that I am not missing anything. I would much rather write on a loose sheet and then bind later. From the responses so far, it seems that the least effort would be to write on the single sheets and then just let an office supply or print shop do the binding - which is a great idea if I do not want to pay for a dedicated machine.

[SirVival]

Have a look at the Staples Arc system, get a set of rings and a hole puncher and you can use any combination of papers. And you can always shuffle the pages around. My current work journal and I love it.

[naimitsu]

 

Not necessarily an ink journal, but general journaling. I find that I like the security of the wire binding, but I don;t like writing in a wire bound journal and dealing with the wire in the middle while writing.

 

I just wanted to see what others may have done and make sure that I am not missing anything. I would much rather write on a loose sheet and then bind later. From the responses so far, it seems that the least effort would be to write on the single sheets and then just let an office supply or print shop do the binding - which is a great idea if I do not want to pay for a dedicated machine.

 

Ah, ok.

If you want a non-stitched binding, you can look into doing a glue & cloth binding. I've seen a couple videos where they created their own binding clamps with two cutting boards, long bolts, and nuts.

[gryphon1911]

 

Ah, ok.

If you want a non-stitched binding, you can look into doing a glue & cloth binding. I've seen a couple videos where they created their own binding clamps with two cutting boards, long bolts, and nuts.

 

Thanks!

[gryphon1911]

I just decided to stop over thinking it all and created a lined template to use for general journaling and will just use a 3 hole punch binder (1/2") for the daily writing. Once I get to 100 or so pages, I'll bring all the pages together and archive them into a report cover. Binder cost me $2.50 and the report covers cost me $7 for a pack of 10.