Exposed: A Travel Bound Book

I wanted to make a gift for a traveler and so set out to bind a travel journal. I found a children's atlas from the late 1800s and since the spine was pretty wrecked, decided the journal would have an open spine. To bind the journal, I combined instructions from a few different sites, including the trumpetvine.com instructions I'd used a few times before, and looked at countless examples online. T

What seems to be key when binding a book with an exposed spine is to protect each signature with a smaller strip of paper, which can also add a flourish to your overall design as these pieces, when pressed together, add color to the spine and to the journal pages at the beginning and end of each signature. I chose a paper with a map print to go along with the theme of travel. I also included a page from the original atlas within each of the signatures. Here is the result!