Travel Logbook with French Link Bookbinding
A course by Infinitos LugaresArtist and Bookbinder
A course by Infinitos Lugares, Artist and Bookbinder
Create personalized travel notebooks from scratch using collage and French link bookbinding techniques
Do you ever get nostalgic thinking back to old-school atlases, dictionaries, and encyclopedias? Have them join you once again on your adventures by giving them a new lease of life using travel logbooks. In this online course, artist, bookbinder, and founder of the Infinitos Lugares workshop, Laura Bernal, teaches you how to create logbooks with French link stitch bookbinding.
Learn collage techniques to fill a travel logbook sewn with your very own hands. Unleash your creativity and discover the wealth of visual poetry you can create through your logbook.
What will you learn in this online course?
17 lessons & 23 downloads
Travel logs
9 minutes, 37 seconds
Mood board and planning
10 minutes, 49 seconds
Introduction to French bookbinding
4 minutes, 21 seconds
Bookbinding Lessons: Paper Preparation
9 minutes, 17 seconds
Bookbinding Lessons: Sewing 1
16 minutes, 19 seconds
Bookbinding Lessons: The Covers 1
18 minutes, 15 seconds
What's included in this course?
Start the course by learning more about Laura Bernal, how she started Infinitos Lugares, and some of the books and artists that have influenced her.
Time to start preparing your trip! Learn more about logbooks and get more familiar with the materials and tools before designing your mood board.
Next, Laura teaches you how to bind using the French link stitch. Continue making headway with your notebook by folding, perforating, and sewing it. Discover how to create your own archive of books for cutting out, and choose your favorite images to incorporate in your logbook using collage techniques.
Add the finishing touches to your notebookbefore learning how to make cut-outs and windows to create depth, as well as how to add pockets to store memories from all your adventures.
What is this course's project?
Create a travel logbook from scratch, learning to bind with the French link stitch
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Anyone who loves notebooks and paper, as well as anyone who enjoys gathering keepsakes from their travels.
Requirements and materials
No prior knowledge is needed to take this course.
Your teacher describes the materials in detail throughout the course, but some of the most important items are:
- Paper, cardboard, and old books to cut up
- A bone folder and an awl
- Needle, thread, and beeswax
- A brush and glue
Reviews
- 10 days ago
J'ai adoré le cours! Il est clair, facile à suivre, intéressant et inspirant ! J'ai appris beaucoup et ça m'a vraiment donné envie de créer des carnets de voyage pour moi et mes proches. Merci beaucoup !
- 28 days ago
Een heel fijne cursus, waarin alles stap voor stap wordt uitgelegd en alles goed in beeld gebracht.
- 3 months ago
La profesora explica súper bien y es muy fácil de seguir sus instrucciones. Me gusto mucho
- 5 months ago
es un curso hermoso!!lo super recomiendo!
- 5 months ago
un curso sobre encuadernacion francesa, bitacoras y sobre todo, prolijidad en el trabajo manual.
In 2017, she founded Infinitos Lugares, a bookbinding and collage workshop in Bogotá. It is a space to create, as well as a kind of lab in which to experiment and share her love for paper and books. Since then, she has developed notebooks with personalized collages and for brands such as El Deambulante, Historia a Pie, and Posdata.
Content
- U1
Introduction
- About Me
- Influences
- U2
Prepare the trip
- Travel logs
- Tools and materials
- Mood board and planning
- U3
How to make a personalized logbook
- Introduction to French bookbinding
- Bookbinding Lessons: Paper Preparation
- Bookbinding Lessons: Sewing 1
- Bookbinding Lessons: Sewing 2
- Bookbinding Lessons: The Covers 1
- Bookbinding Lessons: The Covers 2
- Bookbinding Lessons: The Covers 3
- Books to use for cutouts
- Working on your travel logbook 1
- Working on your travel logbook 2
- U4
The final touches
- Dies and windows
- Pockets for storing travel souvenirs
- FP
Final project
- Travel Logbook with French Link Bookbinding
What to expect from a Domestika course
Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
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FAQs
You’ll learn to craft personalized journals by blending collage techniques, cutting, material selection, and French bookbinding—from prepping paper to designing covers and creative pockets.
This is an intermediate-level course, perfect for those with basic crafting or collage skills who want to refine techniques and explore new handmade bookbinding methods.
You’ll need papers of various weights, cardboard, glue, a craft knife, bone folder, blunt needle, linen thread, beeswax, and graphic materials like cutouts from dictionaries, atlases, and magazines.
The course walks you through planning, selecting and cutting paper, assembling signatures, punching holes, French sewing, cover design, collage assembly, and making pockets and die-cuts.
You’ll learn step-by-step French bookbinding and mixed techniques, including sewing signatures, gluing the spine, making hinges, and attaching endpapers.
The course teaches how to choose, cut, and glue images and words, align them properly, and plan the visual layout to create a balanced narrative and artistic composition.
Recommended materials include opaline paper, cardstock, watercolor paper, and industrial cardboard—chosen based on use, weight, and whether you’ll work with wet or dry techniques.