It's all fun and games: vintage game-board journal

Expression, May-June, 2005 by Marcia L. Balonis

Have you noticed all the game pieces popping up in art? Dominoes, Mah Jong, Scrabble tiles, and other game pieces have surfaced as an extremely popular art use. This journal began when I started collecting vintage games to use the pieces for art projects. Wooden game pieces are perfect for jewelry making. Various other game parts make wonderful ephemera for collage and assemblage art.

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After collecting several of the games I started to wonder what I could do with the leftover game boards. All those different game boards were calling to me to be used. Then the idea of making a journal using the game board as the foundation happened.

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From the game box to a journal of fun, you too can tap into your inner child to alter vintage game boards--a perfect medium for all your artistic musings.

INSTRUCTIONS

The measurements in these directions are for a vintage Monopoly board. There are so many boards to choose from and it's fun if you pick one that has memories for you. The size of your journal is dictated by the size of your game board. 1. First snap or cut the game apart. You want two separate boards. Trim any excess cloth or paper stuck to the board after you snap it apart. Then decide how tall you want your journal. The width of the journal is dictated by the width of the game board. While you could make it narrower, I find the board width a pretty good size the way it is. 2. For this journal, I wanted to use watercolor paper from a large pad and thus, cut my board to accommodate the paper, 12 1/4-inches high. Now you should have two board pieces approximately 9 5/8" X 12 1/4". Use a strip of book board 3/4" X 12 1/4" for the spine strip. 3. Now you are ready to assemble the book. You should have three pieces--two board pieces and one spine piece. 4. Use quality book cloth to cover all the edges of the game board and to connect the spine board to the covers (board pieces). You could substitute other materials (Japanese Washi papers for one) to connect the pieces of the cover if you can't find book cloth. 5. Cut the book cloth in long strips, 3/4-inches wide, to go around the book board on the three sides that are not going to be attached to the spine piece. Apply glue to the 3/4-inch cloth strips and apply the cloth to the edges of the game board, omitting the edge that will connect to the spine. (Photo 1) Work the corners as neatly as possible using whichever corner technique you like best. 6. Now put the glue on a 2" X 14" cloth spine piece. Center the book-board spine onto the glued cloth piece. 7. Place your front and back cover pieces on the glued book cloth as well. Do NOT place right up against the spine piece. (Photo 2) You want approximately a 1/8-inch gap. I usually put another piece of book board in between the spine piece and the cover to maintain a perfect size gap. This gap is critical to make the book open and close properly. 8. At this point your covers should be assembled and all edges covered with book cloth. 9. The next step is to set up the signatures for your book and sew them. I did signatures of watercolor paper using four sheets of 12" X 18" paper folded in half. Use a bone folder to crease the paper. There are three signatures in my book. Punch holes using an awl approximately 1 3/8 inches apart, leaving a minimum of 3/8 inches at the top and bottom. I made eight holes to sew the signatures, each signature being sewn separately. 10. To sew the signatures, insert needle from the outside of the bottom hole (8) (Diagram 1) and sew a running stitch in and out of each hole leaving at least a 3-inch tail of thread at the bottom hole. Place the second signature on top of the first. Enter the top hole (1) from the outside and pull taut. From inside the second signature, go out hole two and back into hole two of the first signature. From inside the first signature, go out hole three and into hole three of the second signature. Continue this pattern until you have exited hole eight of the second signature. Using the 3-inch tail, tie the first signature to the second with a square knot. Do not cut the tail. Place the third signature on top of the previous two and sew as previously instructed. When you exit hole one of the third signature, join it to the second signature by inserting the needle underneath the stitch below it (kettle stitch). (Diagram 2) Anchor well to the kettle stitch with a couple of square knots. Trim thread, but not too closely to the knot. Add a bit of PVA to the knot. 11. The final step is to connect the signature sections to the book. The inside cover paper of my book was from a parent-size sheet of heavy watercolor paper, carefully torn with a ruler. It measures approximately 12" X 20". I chose to tear rather than cut the paper because I prefer the look. Score and fold this large inside cover paper to form to the inside shape of the book. You may want to spritz your paper with water to make it more pliable to fold back and forth without ripping. This heavy watercolor paper provides a sturdy base to sew your signatures to in the following step. 12. With your awl, punch holes along the spine of the large sheet of watercolor paper to align with your signatures. Measure the placement of your signatures along the spine section of the watercolor paper (end papers). The measurement of your signatures should be done separately for each of the signatures since they may be slightly different. I placed the signatures evenly along the spine to allow for good movement of the pages. 13. Sew each signature to the large watercolor paper (end papers). I use a heavy linen thread and embroidery needle for this step. Note: Watercolor paper is strong--you may need to use a pair of pliers to pull the needle and book thread through the holes you made with the awl. 14. After sewing the signatures to your end papers, attach to the game book by gluing the whole piece down. Apply pressure to the whole book to stick it down.