craftlog

I’ve always liked the library kit from Knock Knock. My littlest sister reminded me the other day of how we all used to play library when we were little, and my other sister is accumulating a pretty big collection, so I decided to make one for her birthday. Supplies: a bunch of manila folders, scissors, pencil, bone folder, glue, heavy books, unruled 3×5 inch index cards, some way of printing on the cards and pockets (I used my cool Gocco printer, but you could use a stamp or a computer printer that’ll take card stock), date stamp, ink pad, card file box.

The Pockets

First, go to Mirkwood Design Templates and find the library card book pocket. I printed this out and then reduced it on the copy machine to 70%. This makes a good size pocket for 3×5 inch index cards. (If you want to have space on the pocket to stamp a due date, like the Knock Knock kit, you can modify the template.) Cut out the template and trace it on a manila folder. Cut it out to use as the master template. Once you’ve cut out as many as you want from the manila folders (I did 100), start folding. I found that the best way to do it is to first score the bottom pocket fold with a bone folder. Fold on the score and rub to crease with the bone folder. Flip it over to the back and score along the flaps at each side of the pocket. Now fold these flaps over, crease with the bone folder, and glue them down. Putting them under a heavy book to dry helps keep the flaps pressed down and flattens the whole pocket nicely. Once they’re dry, imprint them if you like. I printed out my design from the computer and used my Gocco to print it. The Gocco went through all 100 pockets without reinking, and all but a couple were perfect.

The Cards

I made a template in Word for the insert cards. There are spaces to type the Title and Author name, to write the Borrower name, and to stamp the Out date and the In date. The template is slightly larger than 3×5 inches so that it’ll print all the way to the edge of the index cards, even if they’re not perfectly aligned. I used the template to make a Gocco screen and printed 100. These didn’t print quite as well as the pockets. For one thing, there was a lot more to print and I did end up reinking here and there. Also, the font size of the text was smaller, so the lines were thinner and harder to print. Finally, since I was printing off the edges, I had problems with the ink kind of pooling at the sides and getting a little blobby. I was actually very happy with them, though. They look neat, and you can tell they were hand-printed. You could probably also rig up a way to run the cards through a computer printer instead, which would be more uniform and less messy.

Assembly

I got a 1.5 inch date stamp at a stationary store and put that, an ink pad, the cards, and the pockets in a metal card file that I found at lab. For now the box can be used to store everything until they can be put into books. Once that happens, it’s the file box to keep track of borrowed books. The pocket serves as a book plate, so both parties remember it’s borrowed. No more lost books!