Anniversaries, the traditional way

Earlier this month my husband and I celebrated our two-year wedding anniversary. We exchanged gifts made of cotton. Last year, we exchanged gifts made from paper. 

We've decided that we're going to follow the year-by-year categories of traditional wedding gifts. Since I'm a bookmaker, I was especially excited about year one's paper gifts and that's probably why we started off with the tradition. I think the themes make the gift giving so much fun. The materials give us a place to start with the gift-giving brainstorming, and then we get to come up with a contemporary idea to fit within the traditional boundaries.

Last year, Tony surprised me with a little handbound book made by Ruth Bleakley. The book features hand-drawn jellyfish illustrations, which was especially fitting because jellyfish are some of my favorite creatures and they often appear in my own artwork. (Ruth is a book artist and illustrator living in Cape Cod. To see more of her work, visit her etsy shop or her blog.)

I know I've mentioned before that my husband loves maps. (He couldn't resist getting one of the East Nashville maps at Porter Flea a few weeks ago.) So for his paper gift last year, I got him a silkscreened world map from These Are Things. We also own their map of Europe, so between all of these we have quite the map theme developing in our home decor. 

This year, the theme was cotton. Tony picked out a bird pillow for me, which is now adding a lively splash of color in our new living room. The pillow was made by Janae Easton of Platypusfile, who I met back in May at the Athens Indie Craftstravaganzaa. Each of her bird pillows is made from vibrant fabrics and a vintage button, and each one is named after an opera singer. My bird's name is Josella Ligi. 

I got my husband two cotton t-shirts from Out of Print. I settled on the To Kill a Mockingbird and The Catcher in the Rye shirts, because I liked their designs best, they are some of our favorite classic novels, and because we read them together in high school back when we first started dating. The shirts from Out of Print are based on book cover designs, and with each shirt sale they donate a book to a community in need. 

Next year our theme will be leather. I've already got my eye on these lovely handmade leather bags...

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BEST book swap

One of the things I was most excited about upon joining the Bookbinding Etsy Street Team was participating in book swaps. A few months before I set up my Etsy shop, I stumbled upon the BEST blog and saw photos of the books submitted for a previous swap. I couldn't wait for the next one to roll around so I could be a part of it.

Each book swap participant is assigned a member to send a book to, and then each one will receive a book from a different member. I was thrilled when my book arrived in the mail. Along with a handwritten note describing the materials and process used to make it, my package contained this burlap-covered sketchbook from Katya of minusplusminus.

The book is sewn on raised double cords with sewn endbands. The wooden covers are covered in burlap which has been embellished with embroidery. The text block is handmade paper which she made from a variety of recycled materials, such as flax fiber, beaten jeans and newspaper. I was especially delighted about the leather and metal clasp that keeps the book shut. What a clever idea!



Since receiving and admiring my new book, I took a closer look at Katya's work online and I am a huge fan. She is originally from Ukraine and is now in grad school in Indiana. (Since I'm from the Illinois, I always excited to hear about people living in the Midwest.) I love the tactile quality of so much of her work and the unexpected pops of color, like the rosy pages in my new book. I'm especially attracted to her "Dirt Book" and her "Long Secret Book." She uses a few binding styles that I've never tried before, which I now feel inspired to learn. Please be sure to check out more of her work.

minusplusminus

Website: katyareka.com
Etsy Shop: minusplusminus.etsy.com
Blog: minusplusminus.com
BEST Interview: click here

And while the burlap book was making its way to my mailbox from Indiana, I shipped this orange album off to Canada. The recipient of the book was Rhonda of myhandboundbooks. It's a Japanese stab bound book, covered with patterned paper and bookcloth and bound with matching ribbon. The album is the perfect size for 4x6 pictures with room left on the pages for captions. I've really been enjoying this bright, cheerful paper lately. It reminds me a little bit of sliced tropical fruit, which seems like the perfect summertime treat.

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linenlaid&felt interview on the BEST blog

On Friday, I was the featured bookbinder on the BEST (Bookbinding Etsy Street Team) Blog. My interview (which you can read right here) touches on my formal artistic training, my study abroad experiences in Italy, some of my current work, and a little bit about my husband and our dog. I've included one of the questions from the interview below, along with some bonus photos of my handbound wedding invitations and my wedding guestbook.

Is there a book you've made that is especially important to you?

My favorite books that I've made are my wedding guestbook and my wedding invitations, which were actually little three-page handbound booklets, that I made for my July 2009 wedding.

The wedding was hosted in a 1930s Art Deco movie theater in Charleston, SC, where large murals adorn the walls. Those murals inspired my illustrations for the invitations. The first page served as the invitation to my wedding. The second page invited guests to the rehearsal dinner. The bottom portion of the third page could be detached along the perforation and was used as the reply postcard. The designs were printed on a pearlescent paper with a linen texture. I taught Tony how to stitch the Japanese stab binding, and together we made 200 of these little books.

I made my guestbook during a letterpress class that I took my last semester of college. I used a pressure printing technique to transfer a subtle lace pattern to each of the pages in different shades of blue and green. A more distinct lace pattern was used to decorate the first and last pages, on which I also printed our names and the colophon with handset type. I printed a lace pattern onto strips of darker green paper and then cut them out to make the decorative scalloped-edge guards.

If you're interested, you can see more photos from our wedding, including a photo slideshow, here.

Special thanks to fellow BEST member Hilke for putting together the interview on the BEST Blog. Read my entire interview here.

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Bookbinding Etsy Street Team

1. KarleighJae :: Leather lambskin journal
2. MyHandboundBooks :: Teal suede leather diary
3. anticovalore :: Mini book earrings with green leather
4. greenchairpress :: Walking: original artist book

I recently joined the Bookbinding Etsy Street Team, also known as BEST. The team is a community of Etsy sellers who make handbound books, and I'm excited to join these talented book artists. I'm especially looking forward to their upcoming collaborative book project and the next book swap in May.

You can view the team's blog right here (or by clicking the "Etsy Bookbinders" link on the left side of my blog). The blog is definitely worth checking out; it includes interviews with featured sellers, bookmaking tutorials, books from the book swaps, and more. BEST is also on facebook, and to find books made by BEST members you can search "bookbindingteam" on Etsy.

I've been browsing through all the Etsy shops of BEST members, and I wanted to share a few of my favorite books here. There is such a fantastic variety of styles and materials, and it's inspiring to see what others are making. And the four images below all show books made from found objects: game boards, cigar boxes, paint samples, and beer boxes all repurposed into book covers. Very cool!

5. BooksByStephen :: Upcycled Sorry game journal
6. odelae :: Vintage cigar box journals
7. Re:Paper :: Custom beer box books
8. itsalljustmenagerie :: Paint swatch mini journals

9. windyweatherbindery :: Book with yellow green diamonds
10. GHBooks :: Blank book with purple shimmering paisleys
11. buechertiger :: Green, gold, and black leather journal
12. PrairiePeasant :: Moonlight Snow accordion book

13. MaryJaneHenley :: Mesquite wood and rattlesnake book
14. WeeBindery :: Orange leather journal with jade button
15. parksideharmony :: Italian paper guest book
16. PurplebeanBindery :: Striped buttonhole blank journal

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