I love Earth Day! We were all about worms and dirt in my preschool class today! Now, as a bookbinder who uses new materials, I am always on the search for things to do with my leftovers. That extra bookboard and the extra papers. I do not like waste. I do recycle, but I love to find ways to reuse things at home. So, in celebration of Earth Day 2008, I'm happy to share with you one of my own recycled notebook creations - a dos-a-dos book made with all reused paper - recycled from school, home, and library papers.
Included with the reused paper for writing in the notebook are reused junk mail envelopes that work beautifully to hold receipts, business cards, or love notes! I had a ball carving my very own stamps for the images on the front and back of the notebooks. Stamp carving, I found, can be very relaxing and calming. You can see more pictures and read more about them here and here in my Etsy shop.
Now, does anyone have any ideas for things to do with your leftover small pieces of bookboard? I have one idea that I may be showing you soon, but I'd love to hear how you use your paper waste!
Have you visited the Planet Green website yet? This is what they say about Planetgreen.com, "PlanetGreen.com is filled with solutions-oriented tips and information that can help you make your life a little (or a lot) greener. Our eco-minded community includes fan sites, articles about how to go green, and forums where users can interact." It will be the "first and only 24-hour eco-lifestyle television network" launching in June 2008. As a very basic cable customer I won't be able to watch this network, but I have enjoyed searching their site and reading the articles. Particularly this one called "Repair Damaged Book Binding"by Jasmin Malik Chua, of Jersey City, USA. You will find a link to the information on WikiHow. I love old books, especially those that were given to me by my family. These books were read and loved by my husband's family.
The first book titled, "Bible Symbols", belonged to my mother-in-law's own mother and was generously given to me by my sister-in-law. Just look at the beautiful endpapers! The second one is a tiny prayer book used by my mother-in-law and by her mother-in-law before her. I can just imagine the hands holding it as heartfelt prayers were lifted! There is no binding on this any longer and it's been held together by tape for as long as I've had it! Again, no binding! Now, do I actually repair the binding or leave these precious books as they are? For now, I think I still have to leave them as they are - with all their character.
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