Saturday, December 18, 2010

Life Hacks

My boyfriend follows this site called "Life Hacker".
http://lifehacker.com/
What they do, is basically give random tips to life: from cooking, to financing, to electronics. It's a compilation of quick-fixes and do-it yourself. Personally, I haven't explored the site too much, but I like the concept. When I finished making a case for my new electronic book, I thought "hey, this makes me think of the hack concept".
So here is the "How to hack your own electronic book case".


Instead of buying a ready-made case (I think my dad said it cost somewhere close to 50-60$), I made one out of an agenda cover. Not too complicated, cheep and exactly the way I want it.
Unfortunately, my photos are not step by step, but here it is in a nutshell:
Step 1:
Find a hard-cover outdated agenda (outdated simply because it costs less) the size of your e-book and with a pattern or texture you like.
Step 2:
Take out the agenda part, you'll only be needing it's cover. In my case, this was really simple because it was a slip-on cover; if it's not, simply rip out the pages.
Step 3:
Secure your e-book to the outer-side or the cover. If, like in my case, you found a slip-on cover, simply cut out the desired curve to be able to slip in your e-book in place of the agenda. If not, you will have to create corners to secure it. This can be done by sewing on or securely gluing on elastics (diagonally, at the corner of your cover); by finding large photo-corners; or by making the corners out of a nice solid cardboard or fabric. Personally, I think elastic bands would be your best bet.
Step 4:
Secure your e-book to the inner-side of the cover. The way I did it should work in most cases, simply secure an elastic band to the cover and slip your device in.
Step 5:
If you wish, add something on the opposite side of the cover: a photo, notepad, even a mini pocket folder! I glued a piece of cardboard under my notepad, because the book-cover itself was not hard cover and I wanted an extra protection to come over the screen when it is folded.
Step 6:
If you book cover has no way of closing on it's own (some come with clasps or close shut with magnets) then you can easily attach an elastic band to do the job.

Voila, your custom-made, unique and personalized case is now complete!






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