Most of the books I make these days are for the retail market. I get around a third of the retail selling price for these, which usually mean s that the only people really making money at them are the shops themselves. Unfortunately this is usually the case for artists and crafts people the world over. Ideally I would sell only to private customers and would work to a specific brief so that the book and their ideas come together to fit the purpose in which it was intended. Bespoke Books!Occasionally I get the opportunity to make Albums and guest books, as well as Honeymoon Journal and memory books. But unfortunately not in any great volume to pay the bills and keep the wolf from the door. In particular I want to make books and journal for writers and artists and intend to launch a series of one off books (called OOAK). Each book would be unique and hopefully the decoration and title will spark off something in someone who would just ‘know’ that the book was meant for them.
Books are not hard to make, once you know what you are doing, but they do take time to make and the majority of the costing is made up of the labour. Although with ever rising paper costs this may become a thing of the past. I use quality, laid, 100gsm paper in my journals and only today find that the price has increased by a whopping 25%!
Remember THIS POST where I made an assortment of decorated papers? Well the papers are about to get used. Working with the theme of The Elements I decided to make a journal as a prototype to see how it would work and whether it would be cost effective. Like it or not and although I love what my job, I do have bills to pay at the studio and I can’t ‘give’ stuff away.
Because I was working with the elements in general I found the Earthy Tones of browns and Greens perfect for the covers….
The binding was to be a Coptic Binding. The reason for this is I wanted specific sections and it has the advantage of lying flat when opened. I used the Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit logos designed the other day I printed these on each section covers, the colours corresponding to the Elements. Green for Earth, Yellow for Air, Red for Fire, Blue for Water and Purple for Spirit.
I used a wonderful rainbow hemp thread bought from the Hemp Shop in Glastonbury. Coptic binding is gorgeous as it also exposes the spine and so the thread becomes an integral part of the whole. What a shame to hide the stitching pattern behind book cloth!
I have still to decide how far to decorate the stitching and covers (if at all) and I need to leave the book for a little while in the gestation period. Over the next few days it will become clear whether the book is complete in itself or needs something else adding.
If you would like to make one of these books there are plenty of sources on the internet without me going into detail her (try You Tube) I will add that with this book it’s perhaps better be shown how to make it in real life than trying to follow something in a book. The concept is easy…. But be warned it’s VERY fiddly, so if you have little or no patience, it’s probably better to make a concertina or buy a book from say W H Smiths! Lol. Good Luck
This journal would be perfect for anyone working with the elements, be it Witch or Writer, Pagan or Poet, Story Teller or Spell Caster. A blank book can be anything you want it to be.... the only limitation, is your imagination.
No comments:
Post a Comment