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After months and years of use and abuse, many soft cover library books eventually begin to fall apart. Often the covers of the books begin to separate from the book blocks on these books. Fortunately, there is a new simple way to repair these books using a thermal binding machine.

Many soft cover books can be easily repaired using a thermal binding machine. If the book has begun to come apart and there is plenty of glue left in the spine you can simply place the soft cover book into your thermal binding machine and re-heat it. The thermal binding machine will reheat the glue from the spine allowing the cover of the book to bond with the book block to the cover. After the book is heated and the glue is soft simply drop the book onto the counter to ensure that the book block is settled securely in the glue and let the book cool.

In most cases simply reheating the book is enough to reattach the cover to the book block. However, occasionally there is not enough glue remaining on the book block to secure it to the cover of the book. To repair your book in this situation, it is necessary to use a thermal binding glue strip. These glue strips come in 1 inch widths and twelve inch lengths and can be easily cut with a pair of scissors to fit inside the detached spine of your book. After cutting the glue strip to the correct width and length and inserting it into your cover, simply reinsert the book block and drop the book into your thermal machine. The binding machine will melt the glue and adhere the book block to the cover. Just drop the heated book onto the counter and let it cool on the cooling rack of your machine.

If you want to repair books with your thermal binding machine it is very helpful to have a machine that can handle books up to 2″ thick. Many thermal machines such as will only bind books up to 1″ thick and many trade paper backs are thicker than this. Additionally, it is important to choose a machine with heaters that will get hot enough to activate the glue in your books.

Additionally, your binding machine can be used to help extend the life of all of the new trade paperback books that your library purchases.

Jeff McRitchie is the designer and Director of Marketing for MyBinding.com. He has written over 100 articles on binding machines, laminators, binding covers and more.

As cross stitchers, we love to create personalised cards for our nearest and dearest on birthdays, at Christmas or other special times. The chances are that these cards are much appreciated by the recipients, displayed prominently for a few days, and then perhaps placed in a drawer or a cupboard, where they will stay for many more months, rarely seen. Here’s an idea…

Why not start creating bookmarks instead for your friends? The advantages are that they will be used as often as the recipient reads a book, and will be associated with good leisure time. Also, your message of friendship will be reaffirmed every time your friend or relative opens the book. It will be useful as well as being ornamental.

There are a few principles to bear in mind if you are considering making bookmark presents.

Firstly, your chosen design should have a great appeal for the recipient. What is the favorite color of this person? A favorite flower? A hobby? You can make the bookmark with these things in mind. Do remember that this will be a quick project, however.

Bookmarks are small, and therefore, you will not be able to incorporate every aspect of the person’s likes and dislikes into this design. If your friend has lots of interests, you may consider what he or she most enjoys reading about.

Children may be encouraged to read by being given their very own bookmark, with a favourite cute character stitched onto it to make it personal for them.

The easiest way to make a bookmark is to buy a bookmark kit, choosing the most appropriate design for your friend. In any case, buying a kit for the first bookmark you make is probably a good idea, as it will contain all the necessary threads, fabric and instructions you need. You will be able to get some information from this as a sort of template for your future projects.

Traditionally, bookmarks are long and slim in shape. It is important that they are not too bulky or scratchy, as this could damage fine paper pages. You will need to consider what sorts of books your friend reads.

Paperback books are usually smaller than their hardback counterparts, and therefore you need to take this into account when considering the size. As a general rule, it’s advisable to make your bookmark between six to nine inches long and two and a half inches wide.

You will need to cut your cross stitch fabric (aida or evenweave) to the right size. In order to prevent the edges from fraying, you should stitch a piece of binding or ribbon to the edges. If you prefer, you can use a larger piece of fabric and deliberately fray the edges yourself, keeping the edges symmetrical and neat in appearance. You can then stop further fraying by spraying with a fray-stopping product.

As for the design, you can either pick a small design from a magazine or book, or if you are feeling adventurous, you can try drawing your own design. To do this, you will need a page of graph paper, with every square corresponding to a potential stitch. Make sure that you leave a small gap between the edge of your design and the edge of the fabric.

Stitch the bookmark as neatly as you are able to, and when you have finished, stitch a piece of ribbon to hide the back of the work. Make sure that there are no lumps or bumps of thread on the back of your work, as this will show as a bulge through the ribbon. You will also want the ribbon to stick evenly to the bookmark.

To give your bookmark added interest, do consider folding the bottom of it into a triangle shape instead of a straight line. You can add a tassel, some beads or a shell to the end, to make it look unusual.

Do not forget to iron the finished bookmark carefully, between two towels, so that it does not become overheated.

Once you have experimented with making one bookmark, you will be surprised how easy the next ones will be — and how quickly you will complete these projects.

I’m sure you’ll agree that making a bookmark for a friend is a great alternative to stitching a card. Individualising the design can be great fun, and also give lots of pleasure to the recipient of your gift.

John Wigham has been a professional author and editor for 20 years and is a co-founder of Patterns Patch an online cross stitch club dedicated to counted cross stitch. The website has a small team of writers who are devoted to our cross stitch club and enjoy writing about their hobby.

There are many different types of cross-stitching and embroidery yarns, and a multitude of companies that produce them. What is the difference between them and their yarns? Let’s look closely at two of these major companies, both producing high quality yarns, doing a comparison study between them at the end.

DMC Yarn
First of all, let’s look at the yarn company DMC, or Dollfus-Mieg & Compagnie, named after Daniel Dollfus and his wife, Anne-Marie Mieg. The custom in those days in France was for the husband to join the wife’s maiden name to his own, which was how in 1800, DMC became the trade name for a previously existing family company.

But it wasn’t until a short time later that they discovered John Mercer’s invention of “mercerizing” the thread — the process of passing the cotton thread through caustic soda, which modified the cotton, giving it strength, longevity, and a silky appearance; the production of their yarns and threads began at this time.

During this same time, a close friendship developed between Jean Dollfus, the uncle of Daniel Dollfus-Mieg, and Therese de Dillmont, a famous woman embroider of the time. She moved to Dornach, close to their factory in Mulhouse, and founded an embroidery school, which worked hand in hand with DMC. She later produced her famous book, the Encyclopedia of Ladies’ Handicrafts, in 1886, which was translated and sold in seventeen countries.

By combining DMC with her embroidery school, they became the giant of needlework and yarns until the onset of the first-world war in 1914. They were known for their high quality, creativity, and high standards.

Today, they still are known for these same standards, also known as an international organization, the DMC Group, for manufacturing threads, industrial threads, and textile related products.

The DMC Group remains an international organization manufacturing consumer threads, industrial thread, and textile related products. The company’s commitment to quality and creativity remains as strong now as it was in the 19th century.

The Dollfus family’s early motto remains alive today, “TENUI FILO MAGNUM TEXITUR OPUS” (translated into “from one fine thread, a work of art is born”). They have an easily found website where you can look at their environmental safety procedures, board information, safety measures, new upcoming environmental projects, financial information, and new products coming out to either order or look at.

Anchor Yarn
The second company, the Anchor product line, is a division of Coats and Clarks. This company began in 1806 — producing a 200-year history of expertise and quality. During that year, Napoleon blockaded Great Britain, which prevented silk from being brought into the country from abroad; during this same time, the Clark family had a business that sold silk threads for the warp on the looms.

As a reult of Napoleon’s blockade, Patrick Clark developed a method “of twisting cotton yarns together” producing a strong and smooth thread that replaced both silk in the looms, and linen and silk threads used in hand sewing.

In 1812, the Clark family opened the first factory for making cotton-sewing thread in Paisley, Scotland. A few years later, James Coats opened another cotton thread mill. His sons, James and Peter, purchased their father’s mill in 1830, expanding it in the next ten years by exporting to America. Andrew Coats, another family member, was sent to the United States to manage the business.

By 1864, the grandsons of James Clark, George and William, opened a cotton thread mill in Newark NJ. Five years later, the Coats family began manufacturing thread under the name of “Spool Cotton Company” in Pawtucket RI.

Thread at this time was made of three cords, and almost always used for hand sewing; it had a glazed finish, was wiry, and uneven. When Elias Howe invented the sewing machine in 1846, this thread was unsuitable because of these self-same qualities.

It wasn’t until twenty years later than George Clark developed a six-cord, soft finished thread known as “Our New Thread,” which made it the first thread suitable for machine use. This invention revolutionized the sewing industry, originating the still famous trademark for the Clark Thread Company, the O.N.T.

Over the years, the Clarks family produced many new products, which included threads for crocheting, darning, knitting, and embroidery cottons.

The O.N.T. was the first “fast black thread” along with the first American brand of sewing, crochet, and embroidery cotton to be available to the public in many colors, all color fast to boiling. By 1952, J. & P. Coats and the Clark Thread Company merged, to become Coats & Clark Inc. They are available online today (and can by found by using any of the leading search engines) from where they can be researched and supplies ordered online.

… in Comparison

Preference and experience from your own sewing likes and dislikes are ultimately the determining factor in which brand you use. I find that the Coats & Clarks (Anchor) company seems to be more for the average citizen with everyday needs and likes; while I personally found the DMC standards more for the ultra-groups in regard to colors and styles.

If I were going to do a project for Christmas, birthdays, everyday enjoyment, or training exercises — I would use Coats & Clark products. But if I were to be putting a project together for a fair, a contest, or a “very special” something — I would use the DMC yarns.

John Wigham has been a professional author and editor for 20 years and is a co-founder of Patterns Patch an online cross stitch club dedicated to counted cross stitch. The website has a small team of writers who are devoted to our cross stitch club and enjoy writing about their hobby.

Back in the seventies a couple of nerds took their computing hobby to the next level by making their pleasure activities their work. Steve Jobs turned his hobby into Apple which gave us the Macintosh computer, iPod and now the iPhone. Bill Gates turned his hobby into Microsoft and became the worlds richest man in the process. Probably the tastiest example of a hobby being turned into a successful multi-million dollar business is the Vermont based ice cream maker, Ben & Jerry.

For many, the hobby they have is more often based on arts and crafts and with the advent of the internet a world wide market has emerged with many customers looking for bespoke, hand made products rather than the mass produced variety. Meanwhile, the development of social networking sites and blogging has allowed more and more of us to share our expertise in areas that we consider our hobby, but which many others find so useful they are prepared to pay for the privilege of learning from you there are many examples out there that you can find for gardening, cooking, gambling tipsters, lifestyle and just plain writing on topics of interest.

When you are thinking about turning your hobby into a commercial activity there are a few things you should be aware of and give some serious thought. Think about the demand for your product or service, do some market research of your own and you probably will already have a good idea of the possible demand for your goods. If you are making cakes and they all disappear in the first 30 seconds of the PTA fund raiser, then maybe that is a sign that people will want some more and will pay for them!

You also need to be aware of the IRS and their interest in your hobby turned business. This does not mean that the taxman cannot be turned to a benefit for you to pursue your hobby though. If you are funding an expensive hobby think about how you will be able to write off the expense of it by claiming it as a business deduction in your returns! A model flying enthusiast built his own model jet, costing some $15,000, not your usual knit one, pearl one hobby! By then building and marketing other model airplanes he created a business that effectively allowed him to write off the expense of his own hobby activities as marketing related when he took his model jet to an event, it was a demonstration not him actually doing it for pleasure as far as the IRS was concerned.

Finally, consider your route to market and how you will actually sell and deliver your products. Again the internet offers a quick and cheap route to customers with ecommerce sites and the ability to operate a merchant account to electronically receive payment being pretty simple and cheap to set up now. You can also directly tap into community websites such as eBay and offer your goods that way while a more traditional approach will be simply contacting local stores and outlets in your area to see if they will stock your items.

Our company http://www.easyinkz.co.uk is an enterprise specializing in developing and manufacturing print consumables like Ink Cartridges compatible for EPSON/HP/CANON series printers: Continual Ink Supply System(CISS); Refillable Ink Cartridge(RIC); Auto Reset Chip(ARC); Chip Reset System(CRC)and so on.

Every crafter knows that no piece of paper, card or any material should be thrown away. My scrap box is reaching the same size as my entire craft stock but you always know you will find that little piece you need to finish off your project and if you are anything like me you may find it hard to throw things away.

For card making ideas a scrap box is essential because you can create more than one card with your left over bits and bobs.

I remember once I had a piece of 12 x 12 piece of paper that I loved so much that I covered a card in the paper and proceeded to add embellishments, peel offs and other crafty bits to until the end result was just what I wanted.

I then sent the card to a relative which was so warmly received I decided to repeat the process only to find I did not have enough of the paper to do it again. This is where my imagination needed to kick in and my scrap box come in handy. Although I did not have enough of this beautiful paper left over to cover the complete card I was able to using my resources, design a new card but still keep the same theme.

If you have a scrap of paper that you love but do not have enough to cover a whole card consider using the paper as just the outline of the card or alternatively keep the card plain and use the paper to cover a tag just to keep the theme intact.

Your scrap box can also be used when you need a small piece of card for matting and layering and for those projects that need a small amount of paper. The paper you have in your scrap box can also come in handy when using your punches to create little embellishments that can be added to your cards or scrap book pages.

If you are like me and feel you have stared at your scrap box so many times you just do not know how to use what is in there consider swapping boxes with a fellow crafter and see what you both can come up with.

Using your scrap box could mean the difference between saving cutting out a stunning new piece of paper and using something you already have. I know this may sound ridiculous but I find because the papers that are available today are so beautiful I simply find it difficult to bring myself to cut them up.

Having a scrap box is something all crafters should have and it should be regarded as a cardinal sin to throw anything away. Keep your eyes open for household bits and bobs that could be popped into your increasingly bulging scrap box and used for an embellishment or accessory to a card or scrapbook page.

Vicki Churchill writes for a site that specializes in Card Making Ideas providing you with excellent tips and ideas for using up items in your Scrap Box and Card Making Ideas including where to find the best bargains