How to Make the World's Easiest Kindle Case

chrishugh.etsy.com

You don't need to spend $60 for a case to protect your $99 Kindle Fire, Kindle Keyboard or Kindle whatever. With stuff you might have around the house, you can make your own, frankly superior, case. It will be superior because, through the magic of Velcro, your Kindle will lie securely in its unique, hand-made case, fully exposed in all its glorious full-frontal nudity. (See above.) This is the only case I have seen that does not cover any part of the front of the Kindle. You can use your Kindle just as it was designed to be used. BTW, this also works for the Nook!
 

1. Lay out your cardboard, eyeball about how tall you want your case to be and cut the cardboard

2. Here it is, cut. Now figure out where you want the fold for the spine. Fold.

3. Here it is with one fold. Now fold it again and make the spine about an inch wide

4. Here's what we've done so far. Fold those folds all the way forward, then all the way back. We want to be able to fold the case all the way back so we can read one-handed. 

5. Now we're going to make the back the same size as the front. Fold it like so.

6. Use a pencil to mark where you're going to cut the back. Then cut.

7. Now lay your cardboard on a piece of contact paper and cut the paper around 1.5 inches bigger than the cardboard all the way around

8. Take the backing off the contact paper and start sticking your cardboard onto it.

9. This is a book and it has to close, so you can't just lay the cardboard flat over the contact paper. Fold the cardboard as you stick the contact paper onto it. (Look at the picture.) The contact paper will be a little wrinkly at the spine once you lay the cardboard flat again. That's okay.
  


10. Try to fold the contact paper in at the corners as shown. We want to have fairly smooth corners, but it's not a big deal.
11. Here's the half-finished case with all the corners folded in
12. Now fold everything down nice and neat
13. Cut another piece of contact paper the same size as your case, then cut about 1/4 inch from each side. This will be the inside of your case. A checker pattern like this makes everything even easier.
14. Paste the inside the same way you pasted the inside, i.e. keep the cardboard folded. The inside of the spine will be wrinkly. Your case is now basically finished.
15. Put Velcro (THE SOFT SIDE) on your Kindle
16. Now cut two strips of Vecro (THE SCRATCHY SIDE) and place them as shown.
17. Remove the plastic strips from the Vecro tape, fold your case back and carefully center your Kindle into its fabulous new case.  Press down lightly and make sure the Velcro sticks onto the case. You're done!
18. Here is your case. It naturally plops open for your table-top reading enjoyment...

19. ...but through the power of gravity, if you place your case upside down, the weight of the Kindle will hold it closed. Ta da!

20. Or you can get a piece of elastic and close the Kindle case with that. (Optional)
21. Your hand-made case functions as a lovely stand in portrait mode

22. And with a little help, it can sort of act as a horizontal stand as well.

23. And best of all, the cover folds all the way back, so you can read your Kindle with ease.

So there it is, the World's Easiest Kindle Case. Thank you for reading. But wait, there's more....

Put something yummy in your Kindle's tummy

Your Kindle will soon be snuggled up with a great handmade case. Now it's time to put something fun INSIDE your Kindle. How about a set of 50+ unique stories? I've got a book coming out; it's called "Diseased Imaginings." Click here to buy it on Amazon.

The Bride of Frankenstein does the talk show circuit and ends up having a rampage on Dancing with the Stars (followed by a bloody rampage on Jimmy Kimmel Live). Cats come to the rescue with well-timed hairballs. A graphic novelist's most famous creation is brought to life--the warrior goddess Blondhilda.

Over forty milk-squirtingly funny short stories and just a couple disturbing, haunting ones as well.

Enjoy parodies of Star Trek, The Da Vinci Code, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Twilight. Absurdist comedy mixed with dry social commentary. There's something to offend everyone, but it's all in good fun.

Chris Hugh's stories have appeared in many publications, including Drabblecast, Boston Literary, Danse Macabre, The Long and the Short of It Romance Reviews, Black Petals, Dark Fire, In Between Altered States, and others.

Chris is a former math teacher and Unix systems administrator and a recovering lawyer. Twitch, the cat on the cover, was in the New York Times bestseller, How to Take Over Teh Wurld: A LOLcat Guide 2 Winning.
 
Was the World's Easiest Kindle Case still too much hassle?
I've taken the same basic design and used cotton, silk, grossgrain ribbon, and archival-quality endpapers to make several premium versions of this Kindle case. They were easy to make, so I'm pricing them real sweet. Most are $15 and that INCLUDES USPS Priority shipping. Here are a few examples. Please visit chrishugh.etsy.com to order. Here's a 20% coupon code: CHRISHUGH20







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10 comments:

  1. Not the easiest case. Mine's simpler: http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/1372532/1/2009%20Kindle?h=edeb98 ;)

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  2. Hehe, thanks for the chuckle. I guess yours really is a bit easier, but maybe it's more a sleeve while mine's a case?

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  3. @David: complete with hair stuck to the tape.

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  4. @Chris: Mere semantics! :D

    @Anonymous: It's duct tape, you're not going to avoid that. :D

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  5. Really amazing! I've been trying to find a DIY kindle case for a while now, and this is by far the best one yet! Much easier than some of the others I've seen! Very clever idea to use velcro! (I also like your bride of frankenstein story!)

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  6. Has anyone used a light with this, the one that slides into the case.
    I was looking around the house for some cardboard and found a gift box with a gold leaf pattern, not for me but I am sure my wife would love it

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  7. Sorry I missed that. the spine is 1 inch wide. I am going to try duct tape

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  8. Hi Rookie49, how did it work out for you? Sorry I took forever to reply. I've really been neglecting my blog. Gonna change that. I've got a new story up too.

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