Showing posts with label bookbinding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bookbinding. Show all posts
Oh, the Insanity!
I don't know how and I don't know why, but after almost two months of being an Etsy seller, in the past two weeks I've sold nine books, seven on Etsy, one to Jordan's mom, and one to a classmate. I'm beginning to wonder if someone with a good readership blogged about me or if the new search engine on Etsy is really working in my favor. This morning, I listed a new book before I went to class and it was sold by the time I got back. Crazy!If I could guarantee that such high interest would keep up, I would be tempted to leave this seminary thing behind and become a small business owner. Unfortunately, I would have to raise my prices pretty dramatically in order to make a living from this hobby. For now, I'm happy to make a little bit of money from each sale. It gives me more money to make books and a little ego boost every time I get to tell my friends that I just sold another book.
It is really tempting to just spend my days making books, but I am not going to screw up this semester.
Brown is Beautiful Binding
This one just sold. That's two books in like five days. Also, there is a woman on Etsy who wants a custom scrapbook, who will be giving me the details soon, and Sarah's sister wants one of my journals.
This Is My Book
My ramblings have already begun to fill this book. It contains about 480 pages. That should last about a year.
Made By Me
I didn't taken this picture, but I did make this book. Sarah commissioned me to make it as a wedding gift for her sister. In my opinion, it is the prettiest book I've ever made. The orange opalescent paper coordinates extraordinarily well with the blue polka-dotted paper. It's just beautiful to look at and beautiful to hold. I hope Marci likes it.
I Sold a Book...
to someone other than Jordan's mom.
Woot!
Good bye, Blue Monday.
Check out my Etsy shop. These would make fabulous Valentine's Day gifts!!!
Woot!
Good bye, Blue Monday.
Check out my Etsy shop. These would make fabulous Valentine's Day gifts!!!
My Most Recent Books...
Another post in less than two weeks. Imagine that! So, here are some pictures of the books I made most recently. Enjoy!
This flowered one is teeny, but still big enough to write in, only 3 x 4 inches. I used the scraps from the other books I made while at Jordan's house. My favorite detail is the way I placed the holes for stitching. It's a bit difficult to see in this picture, but I made reverse Vs, in opposite directions on each side.
This one is 4 x 6 inches. As far as I'm concerned, it's the perfect size to carry everywhere you go to be used as a journal, a sketchbook, a dayplanner of your own design. And, like the flowered book above, it's reversible, you can choose which side is the front and which side is the back.
Here we have one that's a little less traditional. It's 4 x 7 inches, which isn't unmanageable or weird looking, but it is a little thinner than a book would normally be. The thread I used is a vibrant blue. If you look closely, you can see that I pasted an extra dot on the front. That's because I made a mistake. Glue is sometimes not my friend.
You might not think about it much, but square books are a lot of fun. I love the proportions of them. The pattern on the front is beautiful and I used a complementary red metallic paper for the back. It wrinkled a little from the glue but, as far as mistakes go, it was a fortuitous one.
Now we have a smallish one, 4 x 5 1/2 inches, covered in blue, white and purple flowers on one side and blue, brown, purple, and green stripes on the other. I originally picked the paper for myself, but now realize it would probably be more appropriate as a gift for a little girl.
I've used the paper covering the book to the right before. I love how there is just one heart in the middle of all those dots. This one is the same size as the red dotted one above, just a few pages thicker. I love the back cover, too, but I didn't want to include to pictures.
And, finally, there's this lovely 5 x 7 job that is covered on the front with an abstract floral print and on the back in creamy paper with darker flecks throughout. The grass green thread may not seem to coordinate in this picture, but it looks great in real life.
I've listed a few of these over at Etsy and should have the rest up in the next few days. I've been getting a lot of hits, but no purchases on books so far. Maybe when Valentine's Day gets a little closer some folks will be poking around for a great gift and will decide one of my books would be perfect. Here's hoping.
If you would like to see some more shots of these books, you can hop over to my flickr page and check out my set called Bound and Determined.
This flowered one is teeny, but still big enough to write in, only 3 x 4 inches. I used the scraps from the other books I made while at Jordan's house. My favorite detail is the way I placed the holes for stitching. It's a bit difficult to see in this picture, but I made reverse Vs, in opposite directions on each side.
This one is 4 x 6 inches. As far as I'm concerned, it's the perfect size to carry everywhere you go to be used as a journal, a sketchbook, a dayplanner of your own design. And, like the flowered book above, it's reversible, you can choose which side is the front and which side is the back.
Here we have one that's a little less traditional. It's 4 x 7 inches, which isn't unmanageable or weird looking, but it is a little thinner than a book would normally be. The thread I used is a vibrant blue. If you look closely, you can see that I pasted an extra dot on the front. That's because I made a mistake. Glue is sometimes not my friend.
You might not think about it much, but square books are a lot of fun. I love the proportions of them. The pattern on the front is beautiful and I used a complementary red metallic paper for the back. It wrinkled a little from the glue but, as far as mistakes go, it was a fortuitous one.
Now we have a smallish one, 4 x 5 1/2 inches, covered in blue, white and purple flowers on one side and blue, brown, purple, and green stripes on the other. I originally picked the paper for myself, but now realize it would probably be more appropriate as a gift for a little girl.
I've used the paper covering the book to the right before. I love how there is just one heart in the middle of all those dots. This one is the same size as the red dotted one above, just a few pages thicker. I love the back cover, too, but I didn't want to include to pictures. 
And, finally, there's this lovely 5 x 7 job that is covered on the front with an abstract floral print and on the back in creamy paper with darker flecks throughout. The grass green thread may not seem to coordinate in this picture, but it looks great in real life.I've listed a few of these over at Etsy and should have the rest up in the next few days. I've been getting a lot of hits, but no purchases on books so far. Maybe when Valentine's Day gets a little closer some folks will be poking around for a great gift and will decide one of my books would be perfect. Here's hoping.
If you would like to see some more shots of these books, you can hop over to my flickr page and check out my set called Bound and Determined.
Merry Merry Merry
Not only is this a Christmas post, it is my first post in a week, it is my 700th post and it is a post about how awesome I am. I recently completed a tutorial about how to make a book because bookbinding is something I'm getting into these days. Well, on the 23rd of December, the Craft Magazine blog linked to my tutorial as part of their post full of ideas for last-minute gifts for boys. Mine was the first one mentioned!!! And, they posted a picture of the journal I recently made for the boy. Yay for Christmas! Yay for 700 posts! Yay for making books! Yay for being linked on a cool blog! Woot!!
My First Book (for Sale)
I listed my first book for sale over at Etsy. If you want to check out my shop, which mostly contains photos, click here.
I'll never be able to list a lot at a time, but I'll be putting up a few more books up after Christmas break and there are always photos to be purchased. I'm also willing to work with people on custom orders if you have something you'd really like.
Another...and Another
The bookbinding bug lives! I can't stop myself. I see beautiful paper and I want...NO, I need, to make it into a book. Since last Friday, I've made two more pretty things and thought y'all might like to see a few pictures.
This one I made especially for me. The paper on the front cover called to me from the shelf as I was in Michael's one day. It probably would have made me happy to use it on the back, as well, but some part of me likes to have variety, so I chose a coordinating sheet, which is not visible in this shot, but it provided the green dot visible in the top right corner. Another bit of the J.Crew shoebox was used for the cover board and some green embroidery floss sacrificed itself for the binding. I made the book over 500 pages. Yes, that is a lot, but I like big fat books. Believe me, it's perfect!
This book is my first commissioned job. Jordan's mom wanted to give one of her students a sketchbook/journal for Christmas, so she bought the supplies and I made the book. Basically, she bought a regular sketchbook and I used the thick board on the back and the pages to make a pretty sketchbook. My habit of binding too tightly came into play, so I built in an elastic strip to keep it closed.
These pictures are my favorites, but don't show much detail, so if you want to see more check out my picture set of homemade books.
These pictures are my favorites, but don't show much detail, so if you want to see more check out my picture set of homemade books.
Both Sides Now
I made another book. This one has a pretty obvious mistake, but I think it's beautiful nonetheless. Originally, I was going to keep this one, but I suddenly realized that if I never gave any of these away I would eventually have to stop making them.
Another One
I made another book today. It took me about three hours from start to finish; not too shabby for an amateur. Here are some photos:
It's just a tad bit larger than a quarter sheet of printer paper (4.25"x5.5") and contains 120 leaves or 240 pages. For the covers, I used pieces of cardboard from a J.Crew shoe box that I found in the recycling bin downstairs and paper that I bought from a designer on Etsy.com.
For the binding, I used blue DMC embroidery floss that I waxed with my nifty waxing contraption purchased in from Talas in NYC. My first book's binding was a little floppy, so I overcompensated a little, making this one too tight. But, honestly, I'd rather have to use some outside means to keep it closed than have it all sloppy.
The same paper that I used for the covers, I used for the signature wrappers. Signature wrappers seemed like such a silly idea until I put them to use, now I realize that they just make the book that much prettier! This picture shows why I love coptic binding. Journals that lie flat on their own are awesome.
If I weren't such a perfectionist, I would try to sell this one. But, I don't think I could charge someone for the rough corners and raggedy edges and too-tight binding... Anyway, I really love doing this. I think my next binding project will be upcycling on my favorite children's books, Katie the Kitten.
It's just a tad bit larger than a quarter sheet of printer paper (4.25"x5.5") and contains 120 leaves or 240 pages. For the covers, I used pieces of cardboard from a J.Crew shoe box that I found in the recycling bin downstairs and paper that I bought from a designer on Etsy.com.
For the binding, I used blue DMC embroidery floss that I waxed with my nifty waxing contraption purchased in from Talas in NYC. My first book's binding was a little floppy, so I overcompensated a little, making this one too tight. But, honestly, I'd rather have to use some outside means to keep it closed than have it all sloppy.
The same paper that I used for the covers, I used for the signature wrappers. Signature wrappers seemed like such a silly idea until I put them to use, now I realize that they just make the book that much prettier! This picture shows why I love coptic binding. Journals that lie flat on their own are awesome.If I weren't such a perfectionist, I would try to sell this one. But, I don't think I could charge someone for the rough corners and raggedy edges and too-tight binding... Anyway, I really love doing this. I think my next binding project will be upcycling on my favorite children's books, Katie the Kitten.
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