Bookmaking With Kids

Most bookmaking basics are in your classroom already: paper, scissors, pencils, markers, cray-
ons, hole punches, staplers. But with some added supplies, kids can tackle projects with extra pizazz or complexity. This round-up lists tools and materials used during our Summer Camp work-
shops, with links to suppliers with low prices.

Bone folders
Kids could use tongue depressors to make crisp folds but giving them a special tool can encourage a special attentiveness. Consider Provo Craft’s 8-inch plastic bone folders, on sale right now at MisterArt.com for $1.93 apiece.

Sewing Needles
The eyes in John James Darners #18 needles are wide enough to children to thread themselves. You’ll find them at Talas, at $4.35 for a package of 25.

Awls
You need awls with strong handles to withstand taps from a hammer. We use the #1 Awls from Talas at $2.81 each, probably less with a price break for a large order. Click to read more of our resource list.

Sewing Thread
Different projects call for different threads: a heavier weight (known as 12/3) for Japanese side-sewn stab bindings and a lighter weight (18/3) for small pamphlet bindings. Again, Talas has excellent prices.

Library Book Pockets
These make great covers for single-sheet booklets. If your school librarian can’t spare some, you can get a box of 500 for $11.65 from Brodart.

SCRAP
Heaven for scroungers, SCRAP is a San Francisco warehouse full of inexpensive paper, magazines, calendars, cards, envelopes, mat board off-cuts, wallpaper, buttons, yarn, ribbon, textiles, jewelry findings, wood, plastics and more. The grosgrain ribbon, rubber stamps, colored envelopes, that fabulous floral-inclusion paper, buttons, theater-in-a-tin boxes, cover papers and collage materials we used during the Summer Camp classes came from SCRAP.

RAFT
The Resource Area for Teachers, with locations in San Jose, Redwood City, Sacramento and Denver, stocks its enormous warehouses with abundant materials that are just great for hands-on learning projects. The stickers we used during our Summer Camp classes, along with the pipe cleaners, windowed booklet covers, paper clips, hole punches, maps, rubber bands, construction paper, googly eyes and file folders all came from RAFT.

Our Favorite 11×17 Paper
The paper we use for our Victorian House books, triangular-cover accordions with buttons, 3D Panorama books, Guess Who books and many other structures is called Exact Vellum Bristol, 57 lb, manufactured by Wausau. We get it at Kelly Paper, which is also our go-to supplier for inexpensive reams of colored paper.

Paper Marbling Chalk
The chalk we used to marble paper and envelopes is called Freart Chalk and is made by Prang. One box will last you pretty much forever! It’s widely available; try a Google search for a retailer with the best price.

Tyvek
By sponging acrylics onto Tyvek sheets we created some eyepopping book covers. Tyvek is the spun polyester product that’s used in overnight mailing envelopes—thin, lightweight but amazingly tough. You can paint right onto mailing envelopes, or you can buy Tyvek sheets from Kelly Paper, among other suppliers.

Flax
Usually a pricey place to shop, Flax has a terrific sales rack where there’s always shelf after shelf of large (around 20 x 30) decorative papers, priced around a dollar a sheet. Its bags of paper scraps can be a good way to jumpstart your collection of collage materials. The feather-light paper we used inside our Japanese books was sumi-e paper from Flax.

Asian Variety Stores
Asian variety stores stock a wealth of inexpensive tools and materials that we use in bookmaking, in particular chopsticks, Joss papers and hammers.