Concertina Books

A concertina is an accordian-style book made from a long sheet of paper. It allows all the pages to be viewed simultaneously (for single sided paper).

Tools:

• scissors
• pencil
• ruler
• weight (such as a heavy book)

Supplies:

• 2 pieces of decorative paper (size depends on the page size)
• roll paper (size depends on the page size)
• glue

Optional:

• thin cardboard (size depends on the page size)

Designing the Pages

The width of the roll paper will be the width of the book. The height of the book needs to be large enough to hold the largest photo and the margins. Count the number of pages in the book. The total length of roll paper needed is the height of a page multiplied by two more than the number of pages. When printing out the pages, leave a blank page at the beginning and at the end. The calculations can be done with the form below:

Pages: Roll Length: Page Width (blue): Endpaper Width: Page Height (green): Endpaper Height: Endpaper Fold:

Assembling the Book

After printing the roll paper, fold it accordian-style to the chosen page size, including the blank pages on either end.

Take one of the decorative endpapers and cut it to a height of twice the height of a page plus a quarter of an inch and a width of twice the width of a page. Lay the endpaper so the width is in front and fold the ends so they meet in the middle. Each fold will be approximately a quarter of the width from the edge. See the leftmost diagram below. Slip the blank page on one end of the roll paper inside the fold to check the fit. Adjust as needed and make sharp creases on the folds. Fold the top part of the endpaper over the bottom and make a sharp crease. See the middle diagram below.

Remove the roll paper, open the endpaper, and cut out the upper right and upper left rectangles formed by the fold (the ones with red Xs on the rightmost diagram above). Fold the shortened endpaper sides below the cuts back in. Put glue on them without going too near the split in the middle. Fold the endpaper top down and press flat, making sure not to press glue into the split. (This refolds the paper in the same order as the first two diagrams.) Put the endpaper under a weight until it dries and trim any extra length off the end of the last fold over.

Repeat this step with the other endpaper. After the endpapers are dry, decorate them as desired and slip them over the blank pages on the end of the roll paper. For heavier covers, cut two pieces of cardboard the same size as a page and glue one to each of the end pages before folding the endpaper.