Piano Hinge Book Swap

I knew my friend Judi would especially appreciate an Asian themed book! To my delightful surprise, she also made me one with the same theme.

The beads were a recent purchase from a shop in Dallas...I bought the entire string of beads just for this project. I love how they dangle from the chopstick spine!


The decorative background paper I used can be found at many stationery shops and art stores ...I think I purchased mine at Art Mart in St. Louis a couple of years ago. The image on the front I have had in my stash of collage materials for a very long time.

I needed to stabilize the inside cover as I made the piano hinge slots large in order to view the script on the chopsticks. So this was my solution...using a high fiber content paper with a hinge adhering to the first page. The cover no longer has any "play" and will stay in its proper place.

The pages were made using heavy card stock in a light gray shade. It was perfect for all the reds and blacks that I was going to use for this book!


Since the piano hinge book opens flat, it gives an artist an opportunity to make double page spreads which are my favorite. The Mah Jong tiles are used as the cohesive element.


I wish I could remember where I found the playing cards as I have now used the entire deck! Oh well....the hunt will be fun!


I like using newspapers as a background too. Since I do not know the Chinese language...it would be interesting to actually know what the text says.....hope it is not bad news!


I enjoy making tags that are part of a page. To me it adds a lot of interest. All the postage stamps used for this project came from my friend Minori who lives in Japan.


A dragon punch was used and then on the next page, Glimmer Mist was sprayed on the dragons that were punched separately. The fish and coin were from a scrapbooking convention.


Here are the last of my cards. I saved the queens and they were perfect for this page. They are inserted into the photo slots.


I really enjoy using my rubberstamps. On the left, I watercolored after embossing and on the right, I used chalks.



My daughter says to me...."you can never have too many choices"..... so I have two different stamps for the kimono robes.


The butterfly ribbon adds a lot of movement to a page....and it gave an additional punch for Madame Butterfly.


This is my last page and you can see that I used the same paper for the inside back cover with hinge as the same for the front cover.


This is the view of the book opened. The photo I took of the spine do not show the tops of the chopsticks...but they have little brass caps.

I followed the directions for a piano hinge book in Books with Girth by Cherryl Moote. She has published great books on bookbinding techniques with awesome photos and easy to understand directions. My friend Judi loves her book!