Make Your Own Steampunk Book Bag

I remember seeing and then sharing a photograph of this (what I then thought was a) pile of books held together with a leather strap so that they could be more easily transported. I wondered whether or not this was really a thing that was done as here in the UK I have never heard of it let alone ever seen anyone carrying a pile of books held together with a strap but apparently it used to be quite common elsewhere in the world. In this case the truth is in fact much better as this Make Your Own Steampunk Book Bag blog will show you.

This is the image in question, I genuinely thought this was just a pile of schoolbooks that some enterprising and image conscious person had decided to make easily transportable whilst making it beautiful too.

It turns out that it is in fact a bag, made by Steamfashion and they generously included a how to in their blog. Here we have replicated the instructions for you just in case you fancy having a go at making your very own Steampunk Bookbag.

Those Readers Digest hardbound compilations that you see in second hand bookshops and charity shops, car boots and yard sales are perfect for this project. They look beautiful but have no real value as they were mass produced and are often kept  for nothing more than shelf dressing.

Readers Digest sets have the added bonus of being a uniform size and coming in beautiful jewel colours with gilt embossed titles on the spines. They’re so beautiful to look at.

Select three books that you either particularly like the look of or you want to use because of the titles, remove the attractive flyleaf pages and put aside for later. Then get gluing!  Steamfashion used a lot of thinned down school (PVA) glue and generously coated all the edges of the books’ pages then used a heavy weight to stop them from warping as they dried.
Don’t forget to slide a piece of greaseproof paper between the top book’s cover and the rest of the pages or you’ll not be able to open your bag! Do each book individually and then you can stack them together using a stronger glue.

Next hollow out your books leaving a 5cm border; Make sure you leave the bottom cover of your bottom book and the top cover of your uppermost book intact. Cover the inside cut edges of the books with your school (PVA) glue mix and again press (not forgetting that sheet of greaseproof separating the top cover from the glued edges.
Once dried, line with some stiff cardboard and then use those flyleaf pages you saved to cover the inside of your bookbag and then coat with Modge podge or varnish. Allow to dry thoroughly.
Coat the outside pages in the same way and leave to dry.

For the leather strap Steamfashion used a leather belt that they bought from a thrift store for a few dollars and they recommend in order to get those nice tight corners that you should wet the leather and then clamp the belt in place until it dries.

Wrap the belt around the books, gluing it in place as you go; remember to leave the buckle at the front of the bag so that when you unbuckle it you can open the top cover and get into your new bag.

Punch a hole into the belt (leaving enough free to be able to buckle it closed) and either rivet it together or use strong fishing twine or wire and two buttons to hold the belt tight, forming a handle loop.

I think you will agree that the resulting Steampunk Bookbag is beautiful and very eye catching.

Now all I need is some Victoriana and some goggles and I am perfectly attired.

If you have a go at making one of these, or if you’ve made anything arty from old books please let us know at [email protected] we’d love to hear from you.