How to Create a Leather Bound Cookbook
A leather bound cookbook is a treasure that can last for generations. If you fill a leather bound cookbook with family recipes, you have a family heirloom. You can make a themed cookbook or just fill it with your favorite recipes. Working with leather can be difficult, but this is a good beginner project that can launch you into more difficult leatherwork projects. Your custom leather cookbook can be a heartfelt gift or a special treat for yourself.
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Things You'll Need
- Recipes
- Word processor
- Printer
- Printer paper
- End paper
- Linen thread
- Stout needle
- Piece of supple leather
- Craft glue
- Ruler
Instructions
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1
Compile the recipes that you'd like to include in your cookbook. Ask relatives and friends for their favorite recipes and any stories that accompany them. Look through your collection of recipes for ideas. Think of traditional holiday favorites that you have come to expect at family gatherings.
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2
Type the recipes in a word processing program. Include any stories or biographical information you found while gathering your recipes. Format the pages in a landscape/2-page format so that each piece of paper can create two pages when folded down the center. After you have printed your recipes, include two blank pages at the beginning of the manuscript. These blank pages will form the end-papers.
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3
Thread a stout needle with linen thread. Sew the pages together with a straight seam down the middle of the paper. If the paper is too thick to push the needle through, poke holes through a few papers at a time with the needle before sewing them all together. Reinforce the seam by sewing back over the entire seam. Firmly knot the thread before clipping it.
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Cut a piece of leather that is 1/4 inch taller than the height of your pages. The width of the leather should be two times the width of the book plus the width of the spine plus 1/4 inch.
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Lay the leather down on your work surface with the cover side down. Cover the entire back side of your paper book with glue. Smooth it out with a craft stick or with your finger so there aren't any lumps. Lay the glued surface down on the right half of the leather, leaving a 1/8 inch border of leather all around the paper. Allow the glue to dry for 1/2 hour.
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6
Spread glue all over the front page of your recipe book. Line up the glued page with the left side of the leather cover, leaving 1/8 inch border of leather all the way around. Allow the leather cover to close for the 1/2 hour drying period. After 1/2 hour, open the book to make sure that the paper lines up neatly inside the leather cover.
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Tips & Warnings
Consider using thicker decorative end-papers for the pages that you glue to the leather. Thicker paper will hold up better than normal printer paper and give the book a more professional look.
Burn the edges of the paper for an old-fashioned look.
References
- Photo Credit carved leather parchment book image by Allyson Ricketts from Fotolia.com
