Friday Loves Books: First DIY :) Hollowed Book &/or Clutch

Okay since this is fairly new to me i thought i'd start of slow and give a little tutorial on how to make my fabulous book clutch, which has been become my latest crafty addiction altogether it took 3days to make but should only take 2 if you have everything at hand...unlike me :), however it does need to be left over night ot dry.

However this doesnt just have to one for the Girls but with one minor subtraction one a bright red ribbon it can simply become a hollow book to hide anything your please: from hidding your money from your siblings or your favourite sweeties, while looking to all the world like your doing something educational....reading a book :D

So What your going to need.....
1. a good sized hard back book - mine is a 437page long novel so because your dont want to go through all the pages, some need to be left dor support, its needs to be a good size or you'll struggle to fit anything into it. But dont worry to much about weight, because it becomes lighter without the pages unless your going for a very large book. Mines also just has a plan black finish with silver writing on the spine but you can get a prettier one if you like :)
p.s. charity shops and 2nd hand bookshops are great for getting cheep hardbacks - dont destroy any important books, or your parents without asking :s
2. a Stanley knife - To remove the pages to great your hollow space - just be careful please.
3. PVA glue and a OLD small paintbrush - to make your hollow space solid and to atach your ribbon or magnet (alternitive closure).
4. Felt or fabric - to line your hollowed book. p.s. is a little finiky to do.
5. A ribbon or fabric - to act as a closure for your book. Or a magnets - i didnt because it seemed harder on some of the tutorials. Sorry.
6. Clingfilm or Cellophane

So lets get started.....

First you need to work out the size of the hollowed square space your going to cut out. The most important is to leave ruffly 2cm/roughly3/4 of an inch from the outside of the book where the pages edge is, for support whithout only about 1cm between your hollow square and the spine. and 1-2cm above and bellow.
Also leave a couple of pages(3) at the start of the book before you start cutting - 1 to hide where you attach your ribbon and 1-2 pages to add to the hidden effect of your book.

Next take your stanley knift and begin cutting out your square. You can draw your square onto your book with a pencil to help or cutout a cardboard square template to help, but make your template smaller then your desired size as it will get harder the deeper into the book you go. I free handed mineand it turned out okay. Remove the cut out pages as you go to make it easier.
If it begins to dovetail a bit, meaning the sides start to slope in a bit done panic, it wont be perfect and you can go back to touch up the edges when your done.
DONT go all the way to the back page - I stopped at 375/437, so depending on how deep your book leave 75-100 pages to support it.
Once you have cut to out your space, take your PVA glue and place a small amount (size of a coin) into a dispoible plastic lid or tub, and use your paint brush to coat the inside of your hollowed space. Give it a good coating as well as the seal between the next uncut page and the walls of your hollowed space to keep the bottom attached to the walls. Go back for more glue of desired.
Now we need to leave this over night to dry. Take a sheet of clingfilm/cellophane and place this over your hollowed space - this stops the glue drying to the first couple of spare pages and close your book and place something relatively heavy ontop to force the pages together. I used a piggy bank, but you can use encycopedias or more hardback books and leave over night to dry.
Mine was ready when i returned from Uni- next day, so remove you clingfilm and tap the sides to make sure they are hard. We are now going to attach your Ribbon. You need 2x 30com pieces of ribbon, whatever colour you like, so its long enough to tie and glue down 4cm to the back of you hardback cover. Pva on the back of your ribbon and place in the middle, on the inside of your cover as well as dot glue on the rest of the back of the cover and more on top of the ribbon.
And the press the first page of your book to your glue coated cover. As seen below this will hide were the ribbon is attched inside your book. Repeat on the back cover .

If you want to start lining your hollowed space right away rather than wait a couple of hours to dry, i'd advise using hair clips or bulldog paper clamps to hold the ribbon in place and try not to force the cover to wide open while your working on the inside or the ribbon might move or lift.
As im sure you can tell from my 2nd photo my lining didnt work perfect so be careful when your measuring the lengths of the base your space if the walls of your space are tiy you can leave them or cut more felt to the length and depth required and it will help to protect the pages from things like your phone moving about inside.
Using another coat of PVA coating the sides if attaching felt there but now also adding a coat of PVA across the bottom of the hollowed space to line the bottom and your done! but leave for the rest of the day to fully dry before filling or using.
For the magnet closure you have to create a space using a stanley knife on the inside of the hardback cover where the ribbon alternativly is as well as a small space for the other magnet between your hollow and the outside edge of your book. make sure they match and glue securely in place. The magnet will work better for just using a hiding place but will work for the clutch also just be carefull have much weight is in the clutch.