Origami Logbooks

Today I joined Astro D at rubberpeace's house to have a day of logbook making. I wasn't sure what we were going to do when I first mentioned to Astro D that I wanted to get together to make journals. I knew I just needed some motivation and some new ideas. I was really surprised and elated when I learned that rubberpeace was going to teach us some origami tricks to making logbook covers and a map fold that could make a logbook that opened to a single flat sheet. All the things that we made today required mostly folding with very minimal glue and sewing.

We first learned to make a logbook cover that has a diamond design on the cover with tabs that can hold the pages. rubberpeace first had us fold some thin paper just to practice without having all the bulk. I liked this design because you can do a simple sewing technique to add in a signature or you can even tuck the first and last page into tabs to be held in that way. There are also tabs on the outside that you could add other design elements. This started with a square piece of paper and ended up as a square cover.

The next one that we worked on was similar in that you could either sew in a signature or tuck in the first and last pages. This one you start with a rectangular piece of paper and it comes out as a rectangular cover. It has tabs on the outside on the back and front that open towards the spine so you can add a decorative element to the cover as well (or you could use a two sided paper that gives a design by itself). On the inside you end up with a diagonal pocket at the bottom and a little tab at the top. This is where you can tuck in the signatures. I think I will probably use this one the most. I like the shape and all the tabs and all the possibilities of design and decorating.

At this point we took a break and had some lunch. rubberpeace had stuff for sandwiches with some fruit salad, carrots and all the condiments. For dessert Thomas made his Texas Brownie cake and we all had a piece. During lunch we discussed taking one or two classes at Papers! in Albuquerque - both the classes we looked at seemed interesting.

Well it was back to work after lunch and at this point rubberpeace was going to show us a map fold. I got excited about learning this because I had an idea for a logbook that opened up to a single flat sheet. I wanted to use this for an event stamp so that when you opened it up it was like a banner and you could see at a glance all the people who had attended the event. rubberpeace actually showed us two different folds. The first one was a little more complicated. You can start with a rectangular sheet of paper any size you want. We did two easy folds creating a plus sign from top to bottom and then side to side. The next two folds were a little more complicated. They were diagonal folds but you had to match the first two folds and all the folds have to intersect in the middle of the page at the same point for the fold to work well. After those four folds were done the next few folds were easy and then you had to do a reverse fold that was a little difficult. But I have to say it is worth it to make all the folds exact and to learn this fold because you can use it to include large pages into logbooks and scrapbooks so that they fold smaller to fit the pages but then open up large to be able to read it better or hold more information. The second map fold was a lot easier and only required four folds - I have to say I liked the first map fold better and will use it soon.

Thanks rubberpeace for taking the time to teach us all this and for your great hospitality. It was a great day with Astro D and rubberpeace and we always have fun talking about letterboxing. I also talked with rubberpeace about her most recent trip to the North Oregon Coast. Every time I hear about her trips to that area I really want to go there. So now Thomas and I are planning an Oregon Coast trip for this October. I am hoping to get plenty of ideas for places to go, things to see and letterboxes to find in the area. And anyone attending the El Rancho de los Letterboxes event in Santa Fe this September will get to see logbooks made from all that we learned today.