wedding set

this wonderful couple contacted a few months ago for their wedding guest book...and then ended up ordering a ton of other things too! i just finished up the whole set over the weekend. here's the final pieces:

the guest book is about 12"x9.5" inches - probably the biggest one i've made! they chose a sturdy belgian binding, giving their guests plenty of room to doodle.

they also purchased a cake cutting utensil set from a local artist in town that does amazing work with polymer clay - and they wanted a box to display the utensils at the wedding.

here's the outside:

and the inside:

they asked me to print recipe cards, which they mailed with their invitations and asked their guests to bring them to the wedding filled out with their favorite recipes. so, i made a box to house their recipe cards and a matching box for their wedding photos:

here's the whole set:

i love how everything turned out! it was such a pleasure to work with them :)

this week...

check back this week for:

....a beautiful wedding set i finished over the weekend!
....a new project on the horizon
....new equipment in the works
....a birthday gift for my dear friend

and, let's face it, there will probably be puppy pics. because they are so darn cute.

guest book

i just finished a custom guest book for a lovely bride getting married in july. she chose hiking as their wedding theme and wanted a guest book to reflect her & her fiance's love of the alaskan outdoors.

i chose an olive green japanese bookcloth for the spine & bound the book with chocolate waxed linen thread. the birch trees were drawn then emphasized with sewing - this cover certainly took some time! i'm so happy with how the finished book looks. happy wedding to jen & her fiance!

phone blog attempt 2

i'm trying out a new photo app & blogging from my phone... let's see if this works!

below are some pics of one of the projects i'm currently working on. i handset some type to print a name plate for a guest book:

ink! thank goodness for my pantone chart...

handset lead type in 16pt century gothic

ta - da!

* it sorta worked. i can't format the posts from my phone, but that's okay. it is a much easier way to get photos uploaded without the hassle of e-mailing, downloading, then uploading...

guest book cover

i'm currently working on a guest book for a client. her wedding has a hiking theme and her colors are brown & a light olive green. last night, i focused on the cover. it's a sketch i did of some trees on cream paper. i'm in the process of hand stitching a couple of the trees so that they pop out a bit more:

i've really missed sewing on paper.

weekend & moving

how was everyone's weekend? mine was good - hubby & i went to a friend's house for a beer tasting. i found out that i don't like pilsners. ugh. and i tried a new recipe: lasagna cupcakes - mini lasagnas made in a cupcake tin & they were SO GOOD. i also made strawberry brown butter bettys for the first time, which were also delicious. i think i'll just start cooking everything in my cupcake pan.

i cleaned up my studio a bit and worked on a box for a client that is housing their custom made cake cutting set for their wedding. it turned out pretty darn nice. it's drying right now but once it's done i'll take some pictures. i'm also making a guest book & a couple of recipe boxes for them. pretty cool!

with the impending move approaching (which is still months & months away), i can't help but think of how much i will miss everything here. waves of sadness hit me as i try to file away detailed memories of mundane things, like the sights i see on my way to work or the changing of the seasons here in alaska. spring is here and the trees are just now getting ready to shift from fuzzy green on their limbs to a burst of green leaves. i'm not even gone yet & am already getting sad!! what's with that?? while i'm excited about the new possibilities that okinawa holds, i'm still allowing myself to be sad.

custom heart cards

i had a customer approach me about some small (4 Bar) cards with a heart design during the fall shows and in january, she contacted me about getting some printed.

i had to resize the design she wanted, transfer the design...

and carve a new linoleum block.

i printed a bunch of cards in red. this was the first time i tried printing a linoleum block and letterpress at the same time. i thought it worked out well!

heres an up close pic of the final card:

i'm so glad it's february...it's my favorite month!

weekend

this past weekend, we actually managed to get a few things accomplished AND be social. usually it's one or the other. we had dinner with friends and both times were able to bring our pups along - which we appreciate a ton. because even when we aren't home for a bit, we still worry about them. plus, they had a couple opportunities to get out & meet new people & pups - always a ton of fun for them.

custom order: i carved up a linoleum block, making a smaller version of one of my heart card designs, and printed it over the weekend. i did a very small run, so i hand inked everything - but it did give me an opportunity to print letterpress & a lino block at the same time, which turned out well. i'll post some pics soon.

sunday night, vito snuck into the dining room and ate a pound of raw bread dough. he's eaten a lot of things over the past two years, so i didn't think much of it. but (thankfully) hubby looked up the consequences of eating raw bread dough and two major ones kept popping up: the dough will still rise in vito's tummy, causing bad pain (or worse) & a major possibility of alcohol poisoning. OMG. so we had him at pet emergency about 15 minutes after he ate the dough and they gave him something to make him throw up all the bad stuff. poor pup was a wreck for the next couple of days - he couldn't get comfortable all night & his tummy was making some awful noises. vito is back to normal now - playful & perky! we had a couple of scary days and are glad to have our sweet mischievous puppy back in action.

weekend & boots!

hello! hope everyone had a nice weekend...i was a busy bee...worked out, went to a meeting, worked at my friend's shop for a few hours, had dinner with friends & met their super cute puppy.

on friday afternoon, i received a phone call from a older gentleman who heard through the grapevine that i rebind books. i met with him later that evening to inspect the book and see if it was something i could fix. the book is an old Bible given to him by a friend that he's used for decades & the covers had fallen off. i took the job :) it was a pleasant surprise to hear that my book binding skills are making it out into the world by word of mouth.

on saturday, while waiting for our table to open up for dinner, hubby & i browsed in a few stores. and i found these:

source

i've been on the search for new dressy boots, since my old ones finally died. i had found some gift money that i had stored away a long time ago (when i was switching my stuff to a new wallet) and decided i had better get the boots! they're comfortable and make me about 3 inches taller which is awesome.

sunday was great - hubby & i relaxed all day together. even though we had a ton of stuff to do, we've been so busy lately that we needed to spend some time together. i wonder sometimes how we are able to add more activities to our already crazy schedules. how was your weekend?

custom wedding order meeting

i had the pleasure of meeting a very nice couple last night. they are getting married this year & wanted some custom pieces by yours truly. the groom to be saw my work in town at a shop that picked up tama press in december...and as it turns out, the shop is owned by his mom! and, he was friends with my brother in elementary school...and i was friends with his sister! such a small world.

the couple were so pleasant to work with - it sure makes a difference to have sweet clients. i'm looking forward to starting on their package. they requested a custom guest book, recipe cards (to send with their wedding invitations), a recipe card box, a photo box, and a larger clamshell box to house their custom made cake cutting utensil set! lots of stuff - it will be made from indigo chiyogami, printed with a bamboo design & chocolate bookcloth. i can't wait to start on it!

shakespeare book rebinding

finally! i finished the enormous project of restoring & rebinding the shakespeare book. here's the story: my neighbor's family friend purchased "the complete works of shakespeare" many years ago at a garage sale. the 900+ page book was printed in 1890 and was a bit of a wreck. he wanted to have it rebound as a christmas gift for his niece, an english teacher. even though i had a single book rebinding under my belt, i decided to go for it - so i did my research and did the best i could to get this ancient book back into a readable state. below is the process from being to end:

as you can see, the covers were literally falling off. when i first examined the book, i was horrified at the fact that the binding consisted of rusty staples & cracked old glue. i thought it would have at least been sewn together.

i started deconstructing the book, carefully scraping off old chunks of glue and taking out staples. i made sure to keep each signature (section of pages) in order. as i made my way through the book, i found this weird flattened thing:

i used a special thin, but strong, japanese paper to repair the fold of the signatures & other sections & tears throughout the book. i hand cut the pieces into 3/4 inch wide pieces...

applied wheat paste to the japanese paper & then placed it on the fold of the broken signatures. i put the repaired sections under weight to dry and trimmed the edges once they were dry.

from there i made a guide for the sewing holes & used an awl to punch the holes through each signature. and WOW there were a lot of signatures!! i also made some end sheet sections, since the original piece didn't have them.

i rigged a makeshift sewing frame from cardboard boxes, packing tape, & a wooden loom piece (my nickname is macgyver) and started sewing the sections together.

more sewing....and the final height of the spine was 4 1/2 inches! i put a thin layer of glue on the spine and let that dry overnight.

after the book was dry, i measured (& double & triple checked the measurements) and proceeded to cut the board & bookcloth for the covers. glued everything down...put on headbands, strengthened the binding a bit more, made a hollow tube for the spine, then cased in the book - the hardest & most nerve wracking part. i glue the end pages into the covers & hope (pray) i don't get glue somewhere it shouldn't be, or place the pages crooked/backwards/upside down and hope that i measured everything correctly so the book will close how it's supposed to. and it did :)

the final piece - i put a little title plate on the front & used some sweet marbled paper that complimented the japanese bookcloth.

as with all new projects, i learned a TON of new stuff and am inspired to try making a few books this way. i also decided i need this sewing frame and book press for future books. hope you enjoyed the post :)

learning curve...

i've been working on a few new projects...an additional recipe card design, a postcard design, and a custom gift card for an alaskan store. all three will hopefully be finished in the next couple of days so i can order some letterpress plates.

the custom gift card request was from a lovely lady who was at the bad girls of the north show. she really liked the kitchen cards & wanted me to create some cards for her shop to be used as gift certificates for the upcoming holidays. i drew a design for her shop with pots, pans, tea pots & some tea accessories. i'm just waiting on her shop logo to get it finished up. she also wanted the cards printed on bright paper (my favorite!) so i place an order for some cheerful colors.

i've found that i've become much more comfortable with offering custom work to customers at shows. i used to be worried..."what if i can't do it? what if they don't like it? what if...." but i've learned a couple of things:

1) get as many details & specifics about the project as possible. a lot of people have told me "do whatever you want"....but i hesitate because i know our tastes aren't the same. so if i can at least get a direction, a color scheme, even dislikes, that helps
2) i've always gotten a project done. even when i'm stressed to the max. and am feeling unsure of my abilities. and am trying something new. i've been able to find a way, find resources, & create some pretty cool things.

once i have the designs for the cards done, i'll show you :)

sneak peek

sorry for the late post! today (like everyday, it seems) has been busy...

i worked on a custom letterpress order for my friend christine - she wanted some thank you notecards printed with a blind (no ink) impression. i tested this by printing one page with no ink at all - the results weren't great. her logo & thank you were difficult to see...so i mixed up some white ink with a tiny touch of silver.

printing with this ink gave the impression more definition without looking like i used any ink. cool, huh?

the notecards are currently drying...once i get them all cut down & ready to mail, i'll show you the final results!

custom photo box

here it is! the custom photo box i've been working on, in all of its finished glory!

here's the story - my client went on an incredible trip to japan and had a ton of pictures that she wanted to store. rather than sticking them in albums, she preferred to store them in a photo box.


she brought back the luxurious red & black cherry blossom paper from japan for me to use for the outer sides of the box & the photo separators.


i used black (with mohair for texture) japanese book cloth to cover & line the lid and the inside of the box.

i had to hand cut the file separator tabs

so who else wants a photo box? anyone? i was really happy with how this project turned out - i love how dramatic the paper is. next projects: rebinding a giant, ancient shakespeare book and prepping for art shows...have a great weekend!

weekend stuff

hello! how was everyone's weekend? i was incredibly busy and productive!! friday evening was spent working at the gun shop and then visiting with friends.

on saturday, i finally got to use a spa gift certificate from bfff (valentine's day gift) for a vichy massage and OMG it was incredible. if you don't know what a vichy massage is (i didn't), it was a full body massage then after that, the therapist uses water (like a portable jacuzzi jet) to massage too. it was SO relaxing. i am considering treating myself to something like that at least a couple times a year. i was in a totally different state of mind after the treatment.

the huge news...when i arrived home, the lady from the post office showed up with a package that needed a signature...and it turned out to be my WEDDING DRESS!!! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! so i ran inside, tore open the packaging, and tried it on immediately. and let me tell you, it is EXQUISITE! chrissy wai-ching made the dress and captured exactly what i wanted. i am so thrilled with the results! oh, and i don't need to get it altered either. if you ever have the need for a custom made gown, i highly recommend chrissy. go here and browse her catalogue. seriously.

sunday, i cleaned the house like crazy and did a million (slightly over exaggerated) loads of laundry. and made a ton of books for the upcoming art show. the puppies were little angels. vito even woke me up early...although unintentionally, since i awoke to that infamous dog getting ready to barf sound.

i also started on another project - a book that i'm making as a thank you for chrissy (hopefully she doesn't read my blog). here's some pics of the project so far:

i cut a bunch of circles from scrap chiyogami

gathered colorful thread

and sewed together the circles in a crazy pattern - i know it's hard to see the stitching but it's in there

i'm going to make another one of these circle sheets and then use them to make covers for the book. i'll post more pics as this project progresses :)

cookbook done!

after many grueling hours of binding, i finished the cookbook restoration of the joy of cooking! after all of the drama and heartache, i was really happy and relieved to be done with this book. the background on this project is here.

here's the final results:

i remade new cover with a similar color paper as the originals, then made the title plate for the front. the wording is hand inked and backed with navy cardstock.

the inner cover was lined with a dark blue (the photo is a little light) and i included a reference guide that was in the original copy of the cookbook. the inner edge of each set of pages was covered in Japanese paper to add some strength and color to the book block.

the book opens fairly flat (for a 900+ page book!) i added different colored buttons onto the spine for some decoration and little pops of color. in addition, it strengthened the binding a bit, as some of the buttons were wrapped as i bound the book.

so what do you think? when i delivered the book, i finally met the client i've been working with - she's so patient! she really liked the book (*sigh of relief*) and i hope her friend does too (since that's who it's for). now i've gotta get started on my next project - cleaning/organizing the studio!

cookbook project drama

over the past week, i've been working on the cookbook project. and i made a ton of progress. i was all excited.

i decorated the spine:

i bound the covers together:

i started binding the inside of the book:

then saw a huge, massive, awful error. pretty much all hardback books have covers that are 1/8" larger than the book pages inside. this allowance protects the pages and makes it look nice. well, my book did not have that 1/8" on the outer edge. FAIL. it didn't occur to me that i needed to check this measurement because i was reusing the covers of the original book. i just assumed they would fit. but since i decided on a new & different binding, they don't fit. and that miscalculation makes it look bad.

bfff & i talked about some solutions - trimming the pages of the book (too risky), adding additional bookboard to the covers somehow (would look like a bandaid), or...remaking the covers. dammit. i went with the last option. because if i didn't, i wouldn't be happy with the project as a whole. and it would bug the hell out of me.

remaking the covers isn't as bad as it sounds. i will have to completely rebind the book though. mostly, i'm disappointed that i can't use the original covers. i liked the juxtaposition of the old worn covers with the new binding & spine. *sigh*

cookbook project update

after a ton more work/frustration/cursing....i made it to a much happier place in the cookbook repair project. i finished clearing the spine of yellowed, dried glue to the best of my ability and began disassembling the sections of paper. OMG. so, the last page of one section and the first page of the next was GLUED TOGETHER at the spine. just to make my life extremely difficult. well, it might have had to do with making the book more sturdy too, but still. so i took an exacto knife and carefully cut through 21 sections of obnoxious glue. awesome. it actually turned out okay and i can breathe a bit easier now that the deconstruction is finished.

because of all the glue removal and the use of the book itself, i had to do some reinforcing of the sections of paper. each section is folded in half & in order to bind the book, i sew through the fold. here's a pic of the reinforcement:


i wanted to do something a little fun and interesting, so i used scraps of Japanese paper. it wraps just around the spine of the section without covering any of the information. so as the owner uses the book, she'll have fun little pops of color. pretty & functional!

i saved the original covers of the book and updated them just a little - will show a pic or two soon, but they are drying under weight right now. time to continue planning the binding!

cookbook project

a while back, a customer approached me about re-binding an old beloved cookbook for her friend. i warned her that i had zero experience in this type of thing, but she reassured me that she's seen my books and has faith in my abilities. how nice!

i got the (old, stained, falling apart) cookbook and after surveying the scene, realized that it wasn't in as bad of shape as i originally envisioned. the pages weren't falling out, but the spine was a totally wreck. i decided to get a couple of titles on restoring/preserving books to see if there were any tips or big NO-NOs that i should avoid.

i've been working on deconstructing the book and am coming across many challenges. i carefully detached the covers, which i am going to preserve and re-bind, and the process left me with an uncomfortable & old feeling. i really didn't like "destroying" this book, even though it was a crumbly mess. it had character & was obviously well loved.

my next big task is breaking down the spine - so i've removed parts of the spine and am currently battling dried glue. a 9" x 2" section. which doesn't sound like much. except when i'm trying to carefully remove yellowed pieces of yuckiness and they only come off in 1mm bits. 18 square inches suddenly becomes an eternity.

i debated on taking a picture of the book in process...but decided against it. mostly because i should have taken a "before" pic already & completely forgot (which i do quite regularly with other makeover projects) and also because to book is looking rather vulnerable right now. all naked without its covers. i don't want to make it feel bad. to give you an idea of how it looked (aah, the joys of the internet), here's a similar picture:

just imagine this, but without anything covering the spine. (picture credit)

so wish me luck on this project, because i am gonna need it. after the glue removal, i'll be taking apart the sewing. eek!

custom DVD holder

here are the long anticipated pictures of the custom DVD holder! this was such a fun and challenging project for me. and so different from anything i've done in the past. i worked with a palette of greens and added some fun patterns to mix things up. i also included some buttons since the person receiving this LOVES buttons.

DVD holder cover - with fun button closures!

inside of the holder - the pockets were cut & hand sewn. i added some paper "buttons" in the corners to spruce things up a bit

here's the side of the DVD holder - full with 13 DVDs & booklets

the cover of the box - to match the holder. i couldn't decide on one button!

the side of the box - it's a little hard to see, but i used 3 different closures that come from one central hole in the bottom of the box

the inside of the box - SO much fun. i fell in love with this paper & couldn't wait to use it.

the box set covers

the box set - inside

i am so pleased with the final results! handstitching the inside pockets was a little crazy on my part, but i just don't trust my abilities with a sewing machine. what do you think?