Make a miniature book charm for your necklace. A photo tutorial on how to make perfect little mini journal to wear as jewelry. Or just make a functional mini book.
I made this mini book necklace as part of the February Pinterest Challenge. I shared all about my inspiration and how I made it a necklace in this post, but I didn’t have room to include how to make the book. As you can tell, there are a lot of steps, and photos, showing you how to make a mini book. (Thanks for waiting while all of the photos loaded for this post—it will be worth it, I promise.)
Just one thing before I start, you can make your miniature book in any size that you want. I started by making the pages 1 inch by 1.5 inches (or 2X1.5 folded in half). It was an easy measurement, and I adjusted everything else to fit with that size page. So start by deciding how big your want the pages of your book to be.
Bookmaking Supplies
- Bookcloth*
- Copy paper
- Mat board
- X-acto knife (or scissors)
- Bone folder
- Paint brush
- Ruler
- Mod Podge (or white school glue will work)
- Thick thread, like quilting thread
- Needle
- Binder clip and double-sided tape (not shown)
*Bookcloth is fabric lined with an acid-free paper. The paper prevents any glue from coming through the fabric and staining the cover of the book. You can use regular fabric, but some glue will come through it. Test it out by glueing a small piece of your fabric to mat board and see how it looks after it dries.
How to Make Mini Book Signatures – The Inside
One sheet of copy paper was enough to make plenty of pages for my miniature book. I cut the copy paper into pieces that were 2 inches by 1.5 inches. I used a Fiskars paper-cutter, but scissors would work too. I put my cut papers into groups of 4 pages and folded them in half with a bone folder. This made 6 little signatures that are 8 pages long.
I used a binder clip to clamp all of the signatures together, with the folded edges facing up. This lets me work with the folded edges while keeping them all correctly lined up.
I measured and drew a line across the folded edges at quarter of an inch from the top and bottom and at a half-inch from the top and bottom. Basically, you want four lines that are the same on the top and bottom.
Then I used an X-acto knife to slice through those lines into the folds. You want to cut deep enough that the inside page of each fold will have a tiny cut. These cuts will show you where to stitch and make pushing the needle through paper much easier.
Start with one paper signature and sew through the top slit from the outside of the fold into the center of the folded signature. Pull the thread almost all of the way through leaving about 2 inches. Then keep sewing through each of the four slits until your thread comes out of the bottom slit on the outside of the fold.
Now grab your second signature and repeat the whole thing, sewing in and out of the slits. The first signature is still connected to the thread, and it does feel like it’s in the way a little.
When you’ve sewn through the entire second signature, pull the thread tight so that the two paper signatures come snuggly together. Use the needle to loop the thread around the top of the first signature, so that both ends of both signatures are held together tightly.
Repeat the same process with each paper signature.
When you’ve sewn through all of the signatures and they are bound together, tie the thread in the needle to that extra 2 inches of thread from the beginning. Tie it securely so that the binding will stay tight and never come loose.
To make it even more secure, paint a little Mod Podge across the stitches and the folds of the signatures. (In real bookmaking, you would actually add a binding cloth here too, but since we’re making such a tiny book, it isn’t necessary.)
All together, the signatures or pages are called a text block.
How to Make a Mini Book Cover – The Outside
Since my pages are 1X1.5 inches, I made my book boards for the cover just slightly larger, 1.25 inches by 1.625 inches (1 5/8 inches). This way the cover will only be 1/8 of an inch bigger than the inside of the book. It took me a few trial and errors to realize that the cover should only be slightly bigger than the pages inside.
I also cut mat board for the spine that is .5 inches by 1.625 inches.
Cutting Tip: Use a ruler when cutting with an X-acto knife and slice through the paper several times. Mat board is thick and dense, so it will take time to cut all of the way through it.
Use Mod Podge to glue the mat board covers onto a small piece of bookcloth. My bookcloth was 3X5 inches, but the size doesn’t really matter because we’re going to cut off any excess later.
I used a ruler to line up by cover boards so that they would be even and straight across. I left about a quarter of an inch between the spine board and the cover boards.
I put the whole thing under a very heavy book so that it would all dry flat. It takes Mod Podge at least half an hour to dry, but I left it for a couple of hours until I had time to work on it again.
Once the glue is dry, trim the bookcloth so that there is only about half an inch around the cover boards. Then, fold two sides together at the corner and cut off the corner of the bookcloth. That way you won’t have tons of bookcloth piled up at the corner.
Glue each side of the bookcloth onto the cover boards, using a bone folder to fold it tightly and press the bookcloth firmly onto the mat board. Also use the bone folder to press the bookcloth together between the boards. Place the whole thing under a heavy book to dry again.
How to Make a Book Necklace Charm
Before I put the whole book together, I added a hole for a jump ring in the cover. I used a small drill bit (5/64 inch) to make a hole in the spine. I drilled from the outside to keep the hole cleaner.
Once the book was completely put together and dry, I pushed a jump ring through the hole in the spine with pliers.
Making a Miniature Book – Putting It All Together
The end papers will hold the text block of signatures inside the book cover. You can just use white copy paper for the end papers, but I had a scrap of handmade gold foil paper that I used instead.
I cut the end papers to 1.5 inches by almost 2.5 inches. The end papers will need to be a little longer than a regular page, but you won’t know how long until you try it out.
I used two pieces double-sided tape to attach the end paper to the text block outside page.
Then I put the text block inside the cover and trimmed the end papers to the right length.
I glued the end papers onto the book cover, but I put newspaper under the end paper so that I didn’t accidentally glue the text block together too. When everything was glued together, I put clean newspaper scraps between the end papers and placed it under a heavy book to dry again.
A DIY Book Necklace
My tiny handmade book makes an adorable necklace charm that my daughter and her friends love to wear.
I think next time I make one of these miniature book necklace charms, I’ll decorate the cover before I add the text block to personalize the mini book.
The book may be small, but it’s a fully functional book that can be written in and read. It’s a great gift idea for any tween, teen, or book-lover.
Check out my inspiration for this cute little book and how to make the necklace here, plus a bunch of other DIY ideas to make.
