India and Africa

Two more books completed over the weekend.  A continuation of the Rainbows theme... and something quite the opposite.

A Rainbow of Handmade Indian papers.  The paper for the pages is 100% cotton-rag handmade paper. Ten sheets are coloured - each one different - and each wraps round a sheet of plain white.  You can see all the deckled edges, from making each page in a mould. You can also see the texture of the mould on the paper's surface (see third photo). 

I used another Indian paper for the covers - this has been printed with gorgeous, bright butterflies. And glitter - there is So Much lovely glitter!  

For the lining of each cover, I found some hand-made mulberry paper and I used bright orange hemp cord for the Coptic binding.  

I love this one! 

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And, for a total change, I made a book with black and cream papers.  The cover paper has African animals, in cream, on a black and charcoal African-style geometric background.  

I chose black dupioni silk for a quarter-binding on the traditional-style "case" hard cover binding. Inside, I added end-papers of black, embossed, snake-skin design paper, which is a mixture of matte and glossy black - very effective.  

The pages are smooth, crisp cream text paper.  

It turned out pretty well. 

* * *

I'm very pleased with these... Now I'm off to make more! 

Thanks for reading! 

Christmas Present Orders

I'm getting orders now, for Christmas Gifts.  It always makes me smile - someone likes my work and even wants to share it with somebody they love! 

This package is off to Buxton, in Derbyshire. The very lovely customer ordered three things - they will have some happy friends, come Christmas Day (or I hope so, anyway!). 

This is what's inside....

A Leather Journal, with green linen longstitch binding, handmade porcelain button and hand-twisted cord fastenings, lovely cream text paper pages and yellow lokta paper lining.

I hope this will be enjoyed, as it was one of my favourites! 

One of these 6"x4" notebooks.  Kraft card covers, wrapped with "luggage labels" paper, nice cream paper pages and a kraft paper envelope to present it in. 

and... a Pair of 6"x4" notebooks, with covers of double-sided, stiff scrapbook paper. Each has lovely "Three Candlesticks" paper pages, bound with red linen thread and a ribbon tie. 

I do hope these are well-received - both by the buyer, and the people they are given to!  

Just a Little Bit Famous...

I got a Blog Feature!  I am very lucky to have a feature post on the Supporting Artists blog. 

Happy Lizzie :-)

 

I'm a member of the Supporting Artists Team on Etsy.  It's an invitation-only team and they choose a limited number of sellers, from shops selling a wide variety of things.  I was flattered to be invited to join and also very pleased to be asked to submit an article about my shop & workspace for the blog. 

 

In fact, I had forgotten all about it.  The post had to be submitted a couple of months ago, along with some photos, but I have been so busy since, that it had completely slipped my mind.  So it was a lovely surprise to see the link to my post, on the Supporting Artists Facebook page this morning! 

 

I am very lucky.  It's a great team, who are very active - I haven't been particularly active myself recently, but now I really want to put a bit more work in on the team's behalf - after all, it's the least I can do really!

 

If you want to see a photo of my messy studio and read all kinds of waffle about Lizzie Made, then why not go and see?  And while you are there, you might like to look around - it's a really good blog, with lots of very interesting posts, on a variety of topics.  There's also a directory of sellers, listed by the type of items they make/sell - and some of the other sellers' stuff is wonderful.  Well worth a visit! 

A Bit of a Thing for Red...

I've been busy bookbinding recently, even if I haven't blogged much.  The situation with my mum's health, has meant I have had to close my order book for the complex, bigger books and albums, that I was making up until the summer.  In an effort to keep the business running, at least in some measure, I'm fitting in as many smaller books as I can. 

 

I posted yesterday, about a batch of card-covered notebooks - many with rainbows of coloured pages.  These have been such fun to make! 

 

However, I've also made a number of other books in the last couple of weeks - and looking back, it seems that I currently have a bit of a "thing" for Red!

A ribbon-bound Japanese style stab-stitch notebook, size approx 6 x 4 ins.  Covers are in a deep red-purple marbled paper, which I "collected" recently, when exploring paper sources on the internet. 

The first book has a brother! 

This one is bound in black linen thread and has a deep maroon suede strip to wrap the bound edge, beneath the covers. 

Both have 60 pages of white paper and a hinged front cover. 
 

I love the gold marbling on this paper, but the shades of red, purple and magenta in the marbled paper are just beautiful too!

 

* * * 

 

A floral Japanese stab-stitch book, with a hinged front cover.  I found this paper when out for the day, in Cambridge.  It was so pretty and I immediately knew I wanted to use it for a book like this. 

 

The bound edge has a deep red-mauve suede embellishment on each cover.   It has 40 pages of paper, which is a medium-weight cream paper, with a lovely texture. It would be a nice guest book, I think. 

 

Not quite a "red" book, but certainly on the redder side of purple!

 

* * *

 

A pamphlet-style or "chapbook" journal, in a deep red leather. 

 

This is such gorgeous soft leather, that I left it completely alone - no lining, no adornment, other than the lovely Celtic Knot, which I used as a fastener, along with a charcoal suede strip. 

 

It's bound in a single section, with black linen cord and filled with some gorgeous cream laid paper that I bought for making text blocks. This comes in great sheets (A1 size) and I folded and hand-tore the pages of the book, to give a nice torn edge detail.

 

It feels great to handle and the cover is kind of soft and floppy - which just adds to its charm really.  I love this one and want to keep it - occupational hazard I suppose!

 

* * *

 

 

 

An addition to my "set" of five hand-embellished wool felt journals. 

 

This has a warm red felt cover, lined with so-soft deep grey suede. 

 

It's embellished with applique in red suede, black & moss green silk, plus two pieces of Liberty Tana Lawn, in the "Strawberry Thief" design. 

It has embroidery in gold and silk threads, plus three semi-precious stones and a heart-shaped nacre button. 

 

I made a knotted suede button and twisted linen cord, for the fastening (seen in the final photo).  It has 40 pages of lovely hand made paper, with the fab naturally deckled edges, plus "inclusions" of red rose-like flower petals and green leaf pieces.  I bound it in a Longstitch, using black linen. 

 

* * *

 

 

And still on the Table, is this little mini-journal.

 

It's made with the same red leather as the chapbook journal above.  But it is small - barely 3" high! 

 

The paper is also the same cream, laid paper, as the chapbook.  It translated beautifully, to this mini-book form.  I decided to make the book up with a longstitch binding, with six sections of pages - each with four pages, making 24 in total (that's 48 sides of paper). 

 

I like the shape of the wrap-over piece, which is why I haven't cut it off, but left it as a wrap cover.  However, I'm not sure what sort of fastening to give it.  It does need something... could be a button, or a single tie - leather strip, linen cord, or ribbon? I'm mulling over a few ideas and will try some options out.  It's such a sweet little book - I hope to finish it tonight!

 

* * *

So, there's a bit of a peek at my current "red trend".  Along with the Rainbow books, it's been pretty bright and cheerful at my binding table recently!

 

(Just in case you're interested, most of these books are for sale in my "LizzieMade" shops, at Etsy.com and Folksy.com ;-)   

 

 



 

Small is Beautiful - especially when there are Peacocks!

My latest book.  A little photo album, with gorgeous covers embellished with peacocks and silk... 

...and pretty wrapped edges,

Silk edging on the covers, with a fringe; Japanese style stab-stitch binding in golden yellow linen,  

Deep blue linings on the covers,

Fifteen pages of smooth, pale blue card, pre-creased at the edges, so they don't crumple when you turn the page. 

I love it! It came out just as I hoped it would and I'm so pleased.  Off to work on the next book now - a small guest book with a Coptic binding.  Toodle-pip!

This Week's Creations...

A Guest Book for my Shop. 

It's covered in "Bird and Nest" paper, by Cavallini and has a decorative edge of deep turquoise shot silk. 

I frayed the edge, to show the lovely golden brown threads, that contrast so well with the brown ink  of the bird design.   It has a binding of mouse-brown waxed linen thread.

There are 20 pages of white writing paper inside, with a decorative wrap round the paper at the bound edge, which matches the mouse-brown cover linings.   

* * *

A Coptic-stitch Photo Album, for Ric and Rachel, as a gift for Ric's sister.

It's covered in another Cavallini paper, with a collage design.  This is such a popular paper - I have made about a dozen books with this paper on the covers!

It has 30 pages of card, with a wrapped "spacer" round each pair of pages, to allow for photos to be stuck inside without the book bulging out of shape.  As it would be so thick, we decided on a Coptic stitch binding, which allows the book to open fully all the way through (the "hinge" is effectively right on the fold, which is sewn in a sort of chain stitch all the way down).

The cover linings are in strawberry-red art paper and I cut the edge of each spacer, with a fancy edging punch.   As it was a birthday gift for the customer's sister, I used gold tissue to gift-wrap the book and enclosed a little message card, telling her who it was from and a bit about the book's construction.  

* * *

And this is what was on my binding table yesterday.  It's a Wedding Guest book, for Maria.  It has a 10-Needle Coptic binding in two colours.  There are 20 pages of stiff Fabriano artists paper and decorative wraps, to allow space for a few photos to be added, along with the writing. 

It's going to be a small wedding, in South Africa.  I think the bride and groom want to stick Polaroids into the album and get each couple to write next to their picture. 

This binding was finished last night and the book is under weights, being pressed.  I will make a custom label, for the first inside page, then it will be on its way, on Monday morning, ready for a departure to S.A. next week! 

I'll post a couple more photos of this, when it's all finished!