"My name is Tais. I am a student, I study hotel management and I am in my third year. I also work when time permits. In my free time I do this kind of handmade things. Why notebooks? I like useful things. I have liked all sorts of notebooks since I was a child, I had to literally be tugged away from counters displaying them. With time that what shops offered ceased to satisfy me both in price and in quality. A year of working a scrapbooking shop motivated me to set new goals. Inspired, I made my first notebook in August", says Tais.

Many use tablets or cell phones to make notes, and notebooks gradually die out. However, digital media are unable to convey all the warmth and sharpness of a thought recorded in them. When using digital media, you cannot paste in a memorable cinema ticket, which reminds you of time spent with your dear one, or draw on the margins during a boring lecture.

Let us turn to notebook making.
It all starts with cutting paper, rounding off the edges and toning. There is a wide range of colours to paint the pages - it depends on client's taste. Usually if there are no specific demands Tais tones paper in beige colour, which brings on the effect of antiquity and pleasant coffee aroma.

After toning every page is dried and ironed on both sides. This process is quite troublesome as there is a chance of burning pages or suffer a burn yourself.

Usually there are 100 sheets of paper (200 pages) in one notebook. It takes from 5 to 10 minutes to process each of them depending on the chosen shade of colour. It is generally the longest, monotonous and most boring process, but it has to be done to proceed.

As a general rule, people do not buy such presents for themselves. Usually they are ordered as a gift for the loved ones. Clients express their colour, decoration and style preferences.

The main part of a notebook is ready, not it can be bound together.

The quality of a notebook very much depends on how well the pages are bound and glued.
"I try to make my notebooks not just a beautiful accessory, but a functional item. The majority of notebooks that I made can be put into a bag without a fear that something will fall off them."

This kind of handmade art does not have a separate name, but handmade notebooks can be attributed to scrapbooking, which is an art of making family photo albums and cards, because many similar elements are used in both.

Scrapbooking, as it exists now, appeared in America in the 17th century. At that time girls used to have a special book to paste newspaper clippings, images, poems and drawings in. Later on, this type of art was developing and has grown to be a huge movement. National Scrapebooking Day is celebrated in the US on the first Saturday of May. Big fairs are organised on this day.

This hobby requires much time, efforts and quite some money from a person.
"My friend is keen on strike ball, which is basically a reconstruction of war with all the costumes, weapons and so on. Once we sat to calculate expenses on minimal set needed for strike ball and scrapbooking. Strike ball's sum of money was smaller", laughs Tais.
Scrapbooking has become popular in CIS countries very recently, therefor most of the materials are imported from abroad.

When pages are bound, flyleaves are glued and the whole thing is glued together, it is time to make a cover.
"I use American cotton most frequently. It is quite rare in our city. American cotton is easy to sew, it is a high-quality tissue. You can even use it in the university!"

When a cover is glued to the pages, it has to be bound for the purpose of durability and appearance.
"I use an old sewing machine, manufactured in 40s-50s, which I inherited from my grandmother. It is extremely heavy and I am scared to lift it every time. I hope that I will acquire a table soon and it will have its own place."

The majority of orders come before holidays. This season is the most important for all handmade artists, because a big number of fairs are organised, in which they can participate.

Apart from notebooks, Tais makes other things in her free time too. For example, this decorative cabinet. And also wreaths, ornaments, dreamcatchers and pen cases.
"It is bad to be stuck on one thing, as you are fed up with it after some time. It is especially bad for a handmade artists", the girl explains.

The main work is completed, the only thing left is to adorn the cover and the inside based on client's preferences. This is exactly the moment why it has all began. Here you just have to put your trust into luck. You can never know beforehand if your work will please the customer.

Various materials and items are used to decorate a notebook. For instance, this one has be in country style with obligatory use of X sign. Tais decided to make it from a book page. Every element is thoroughly thought through, if it will hold firmly and how comfortable it will be to write in such a notebook.

Scrapbooking technique "hot embossing" will be used in this notebook. With help of a special hair drier powder is heated and fused, thus creating a 3D image.

In the process of creating a design a lot of things are considered and how to better combine them so that they look well together. This is how notebook's style appears.

There is always an atmosphere of creative mess at the workplace. "It is impossible to keep an order. But like this you just take everything out and can see at once what is where", laughs Tais.

It takes about one week to create and decorate a notebook, starting from scratch and taking into account drying process. This time includes trips to shops, toning, binding, decorating and binding the cover.
Every notebook has to lie there for a while before it can be used. Then the thing will become more durable and of better quality.

"Usually when I make notebooks my cat is hovering about me. His name is Totoshka. I think he feels the atmosphere of meticulous work in the room and he is interested and pleased. I hope it is like this."

After every feature is checked, flyleaves and pages are decorated, a logo is attached, you can say that the notebook is ready and waiting for its owner. If a client buys it as a present, it is wrapped using craft paper.

"I think that everything made by hands is magical.
It is not a compliment to myself or someone else, I actually think so. Everything made by hands has a soul. Anything created by hands will never be repeated."