For all travelers who have a diary, you need a bookmark. Well, you can buy a bookmark but what if you can create your own with a material accessible because of your traveling spirit? Look no further than your very own luggage, the material is just your airline luggage tag, which was given to you free during your last check-in. The history and evolution of luggage tag is worth to read here, but before RFID tags becomes everyday object, you better start to collect these silicon/plastic/adhesive/barcode based tags right now, just like those of you who collect vintage luggage tags before.
These magic tags are resistant to moisture, heat/cold, sunlight, ice, oil and all the wear and tear which can occur during your luggage's journey from home to destination. Dozens of patents were filed around the 90s, not only did the design make sure of the tags' durability but the integration of barcode into tracking systems made accurate delivery a defacto.
So here's how you make a bookmark out of the tags. You will make a thin piece of bookmark to be inserted onto your notebook's spine with a small tab extended out of your closed notebook. First, pick a portion of your tag with the graphics you want, in my case it is where black stripes and arrows are located. Fold it and glue the two halves to make your tab. Next, also finding the portion of the graphics you like then fold and glue to make a longer piece of horizontal stripe, finally gluing it onto the first tab you've just made. That's it!
This is how it looks, preferably you would want to make both sides of the bookmark look good because you will see both sides when you use it. Tip: make sure the thinnest part of your bookmark is in the middle where there is only one layer of material, because this part is going to sit at the spine of your notebook between your notebooks' pages.
Inserting is easy. For Chronodex users who don't need to bind their pages (because it is held with just an elastic band), simply insert the bookmark through the spine so half of the bookmark is sitting on the other side of the spine (gee I'm so clumsy with words). For Traveler's Notebook refill users, the refills are stapled on the spine, so you can tailor your bookmark about 3cm in height, which allows you to insert the bookmark close to the top of the refills, works like a charm. The pressure of a closed notebook on the spine will keep your bookmark safe. For people using refills that have the entire spine stitched or glued, this bookmark is not for you.
I hope you've enjoyed a little bit of history and a lot of fun gluing these tags!