New Directory
Aug. 30th, 2008 09:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI've been thinking I want another directory. You can buy blank address books, but I'm not always well-pleased with the categories and amount of space they give you.
Finally I realized that I still have one blank journal for which I haven't yet found a use.
I really, really like the way directories have little tabs that let you go right to the letter you want. I thought about what I like and don't like about these and decided I would like a separate tab for each letter. I might have a different number of pages behind the different tabs, and I might never use some of them, but I wouldn't have to mix letters on the same page. So I counted out the pages in my journal and found I had enough for two per letter plus some extra.
Since the pages are so huge, I decided that two pages would be enough for any letter, so I just assigned the same number of pages to each letter, leaving one extra page at the front and the rest at the back.
Then I had to figure out the spacing. Neither quarter inches nor millimeters were quite right, but lines on college-ruled notebook paper were a pretty good distance. So I used that to make markings on the A page.
Then I had to figure out how to get the cut-ins the same distance from the edge. I decided this would be easiest with a transparent ruler so that I could line up the ends of the lines in the journal with something on the ruler. I couldn't find such a ruler at home, so I brought one home from work.
My plan was to do this as perfectly as possible, and then it would get that nice home-made look automatically because I'm not perfect.
Then for the scary part. I started cutting into the pages. Hoping the scissors wouldn't slip, that I wouldn't measure wrong, that I wouldn't cut too many or too few pages at a time. As I approached the end of the book, I kept counting to make sure I had enough pages. I did, but I was down to only one extra page at the end. I'm not sure how that happened.
I decided I wanted to protect the tabs a little and decided to cover them with "invisible" tape. I like how you can write on the tape and then erase it, but I decided that for this project I'd rather write the letters first and then cover the tabs with tape.
So the second scary part was writing in the letters. I got one of Robin's wonderful dark, thin pens and practiced on the college-ruled paper, but the letters O through Z still came out better than the letters A through N.
I decided to use scissors instead of the tape dispenser cutter to cut the tape so I wouldn't get a jagged edge. I cut short pieces and wrapped them around the edge of the page just where the letter was, worrying that I would accidentally wrap the tape around both pages. I decided the second page for each letter wouldn't need much protection, so I didn't put tape on those.
This project worked even better than I hoped. I really like my new directory.
Finally I realized that I still have one blank journal for which I haven't yet found a use.
I really, really like the way directories have little tabs that let you go right to the letter you want. I thought about what I like and don't like about these and decided I would like a separate tab for each letter. I might have a different number of pages behind the different tabs, and I might never use some of them, but I wouldn't have to mix letters on the same page. So I counted out the pages in my journal and found I had enough for two per letter plus some extra.
Since the pages are so huge, I decided that two pages would be enough for any letter, so I just assigned the same number of pages to each letter, leaving one extra page at the front and the rest at the back.
Then I had to figure out the spacing. Neither quarter inches nor millimeters were quite right, but lines on college-ruled notebook paper were a pretty good distance. So I used that to make markings on the A page.
Then I had to figure out how to get the cut-ins the same distance from the edge. I decided this would be easiest with a transparent ruler so that I could line up the ends of the lines in the journal with something on the ruler. I couldn't find such a ruler at home, so I brought one home from work.
My plan was to do this as perfectly as possible, and then it would get that nice home-made look automatically because I'm not perfect.
Then for the scary part. I started cutting into the pages. Hoping the scissors wouldn't slip, that I wouldn't measure wrong, that I wouldn't cut too many or too few pages at a time. As I approached the end of the book, I kept counting to make sure I had enough pages. I did, but I was down to only one extra page at the end. I'm not sure how that happened.
I decided I wanted to protect the tabs a little and decided to cover them with "invisible" tape. I like how you can write on the tape and then erase it, but I decided that for this project I'd rather write the letters first and then cover the tabs with tape.
So the second scary part was writing in the letters. I got one of Robin's wonderful dark, thin pens and practiced on the college-ruled paper, but the letters O through Z still came out better than the letters A through N.
I decided to use scissors instead of the tape dispenser cutter to cut the tape so I wouldn't get a jagged edge. I cut short pieces and wrapped them around the edge of the page just where the letter was, worrying that I would accidentally wrap the tape around both pages. I decided the second page for each letter wouldn't need much protection, so I didn't put tape on those.
This project worked even better than I hoped. I really like my new directory.