Make a Mother's Day Memory Book

To make paper by hand you need a paper making frame (deckle) which you can purchase as a kit, or make yourself. Use a picture frame, or even an embroidery hoop, with a sheer fabric such as chiffon stretched across the outside. It is usually easier if the fabric is removable, rather than trying to tip the paper out of the frame. Experiment until you find a method that works for you.

Soak scrap paper in water, then mash the paper up, or run it through a blender. 

Press a layer of pulp into the frame using a large bowl or basin to catch the excess water. Let as much water drip out as possible at this stage. 

Gently release the formed paper onto a towel to dry. You can set up layers of paper with a towel in between each layer to soak up the water. Change the towels when they get too wet, so that the paper dries fully. 

Bookbinding

Decide whether you are going to fold your paper in half, getting two sets of pages for each sheet (called a folio), or keep it full size. 

Stitch your inner pages together, down the middle of the fold if you’ve folded them, or along one edge of you’re retaining the full size sheet. (Retain two leaves for pasting onto the inner covers later).

Create a book cover backing by cutting cardboard to size. You will need two sheets of cardboard slightly bigger than the final size of your pages, a strip of card for the spine (measure the thickness of your inner leaves – the spine can be thicker than these, but not thinner), and two thinner strips for the area between each cover’s fold and the corner of the spine. 

Glue or stitch your inner leaves onto the cardboard spine of the book

Glue the card sheets, spine (with the attached leaves), and strips to a large sheet of handmade paper (you may need to purchase a larger sheet if you are unable to make bigger sheets of paper. You can also experiment with joining sheets by gluing them to the card, and gluing on ribbon to hide the join. 

Paste a clear, bold photograph (black and white works well) or simple picture onto the front cover of the book, then recover the book in chiffon or organza fabric. 

Glue the sheets of paper you retained onto the inner cover, to neaten and hold the chiffon cover in place.

Now add your memories for a gift that’s too pretty to wrap.