It’s Diana  here today with an accordion book inspired by a poem called Wings from W.S. Merwin. 

Joggles Accordion Books work so well for either a dedicated project or a journal. For this project, I used the Joggles Itty Bitty Accordion Book which is 3 inches in height. This heavy watercolor paper (140 lb.) from Strathmore is made to take plenty of media!

Supplies Used:

Joggles Itty Bitty Accordion Book – 3 inch  (folded to approx. 2.75” wide/page)

Joggles Cling Mounted Rubber Stamp – Nonsense Latin Text

Archival Ink Pads: Buttercup; Pale Ochre; 

Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads

Giftsland Lokta Paper Assortment – Pattern Mix

Joggles Clear Acrylic Stamp Mounts

Aleene’s Super Thick Tacky Glue or strong binding glue

Joggles 6 x 6 inch Chip board sheets – 12 pack  (for covers)

Other: vellum; small shipping tags; sewing machine (needle and thread or Scor Tape); glue stick; fibers such as Kreinik Thread, embroidery floss, Forget Me Not Raffia

Here is my process:

I began by creating the background. I used Buttercup Archival Ink and the Nonsense Latin stamp to stamp all along the background. Next, I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks in a variety of colors. Ink up the acrylic block using the Distress Inks, mist the block until there are large drops of water, and THUMP it on the paper. 

You can see this technique in the following video

After the front background was dry, I used the same inks on the back of the strip of paper. You can swipe the pad direct to paper or use a blending foam. I was careful to wipe up ink messiness as I didn’t want to transfer ink to the front of the paper.

Once everything was dry, I folded the book. Fold the strip in half, then keep folding each end in half until you have 2.75” panels (approximately). I removed three of the end panels.

Next, I stitched the book along each side and bottom of the panels. You could substitute Scor Tape if you don’t wish to stitch it closed. Now you have pockets and the book will stay closed.

I used book board (or chip board) to create covers for my book. I cut the board 1/8” larger than the width of the book and 1/4” larger than the  the height of the book. I tore some of the Giftsland Lokta Paper from the Pattern Mix Assortment for covers and  adhered the pieces in place using a glue stick. Let the covers sit under something heavy for a time when you finish gluing them up. 

After printing the poem onto vellum, I tore the paragraphs and folded them into the signatures. They were adhered in place using a little glue stick on the outside of the gutter of the folded vellum so they would stay put but still flutter out like wings when the pages are turned.

I wanted this little book to be very textural, fluttery and wing-like. 

The pocket tags should be about 1.5” x 3”. Add some twine, threads and/or 🙂 ribbons to the tops of the tags. I wanted the tags to write words that popped to mind after reading the poem.

I hope you enjoyed this project and are inspired to create a little book of your own using some of these techniques and one of the wonderful Joggles Accordion Books.