5 January 2008
Happy Holidays to Me!
Posted by Lady Artisan under: General Bookbinding; General Rambling .
So, after all the rough spots of living life in November and early December (personal stuff like car wrecks [no injuries but the vehicle was totaled], illness, and general lack of funds), we finally hit an upswing and ended up having a really nice holiday. Meaning we could actually buy gifts for the kids (sticking with electronics mostly so we didn’t have to worry about lead/mercury/undefined chemical poisoning on the “well-tested-and-it’s-all-safe-now” toys being currently marketed. And we got gifts for each other. Actually, I mostly got gift cards–the generic kind, which I like best since there are places online I like to get things from.
And because this is a bookbinding blog, this is definitely book related. Actually, I pretty much spent all my holiday money on bookbinding stuff. I started online looking for Davey board–checked all the usual suspects (Hollanders, Talas, etc.) and ended up at University Products because I figured, after shipping costs were added, their book board was a little cheaper than the other two. Plus I didn’t have to buy the full-size (which I dreaded having to cut down) because they were selling it in packs, 13″ x 19″ size.
Now why, you may ask, would a bookbinder not already have a supply of book board? It’s because my focus has always been using polymer clay for the covers. Don’t need Davey board for that. Any decorative papers I bought were either stored so I could just periodically ooh and aah over them or used for the text blocks (some actually work very well for that purpose).
But I’ve been thinking of expanding my repertoire a bit– trying some paper covers, and possibly leather (or quarter-, half-, and three-quarter). Plus I have an idea for some sculptural covers using paper with cords under the paper for the relief design. Just another idea to play with, of course. So I ordered some binders board.
Next stop was Creative Papers Online where I did my usual routine of filling up my virtual cart with absolutely every paper I could possibly want (usually totalling around $300 bucks) and then slowly whittling things down to a price range I can actually afford (oh, under $100). After saving a couple of carts in their handy-dandy “Saved Basket List” (I usually have three to five of these saved from various virtual shopping frenzies), I ended up going with some specifically Valentine-ish paper (you know, pink and red hearts), some turquoise (cheap and absolutely luscious with almost all beige covers), and one of my favorite buys on their site, the Super Value Assortment (10 full-sized sheets of their paper, all different) for $10 (cheaper if you have a wholesale account with them). The owner, who’s an absolute sweetheart and usually answers the phone, is always more than glad to help me figure out what I need (like in this case where I ordered five of the assortments, happily promised to make sure I didn’t get dupes in my assortment and that the papers would mostly be a good weight for book covers). Yep, if you like gorgeous, droolworthy papers, excellent service, and great prices you gotta check them out.
Final stop was John Neal. Normally, I would be looking at some of their tools, calligraphy stuff, etc., but this time it was the books. They do have a really good selection of books which even Amazon doesn’t have in stock (meaning you can buy them through Amazon from their second-hand or marketplace dealers but then you’re paying separate shipping for each item). I got ABC of Leather Bookbinding by Edward Lhotka and Bookbinding Materials and Techniques 1700-1920 by Margaret Lock. I’ve already read through the second one, which was fascinating and gave me quite a few ideas to play around with. I’ve been reading through Lhotka’s book, parts of which I think will make more sense when I actually start trying some of the instructions.
Other books I looked at included a completely droolworthy book on medieval bookbinding
which costs around $200 ($160 at Barnes and Nobles if you have a membership with them, which costs around $20–so still the cheapest price I found). Yes, I considered it for a bit before giving up the idea because it was just too expensive right now. When we sell our house, though…
Another one I looked at was a book on Victorian bindings which was inexpensive ($10-ish) and looked quite interesting. There were several more, but I didn’t get them this time so it doesn’t really matter.
My final holiday gift was a 15-inch, heavy duty paper trimmer so I can cut all that Davey board I’m getting. Got it at OfficeMax since the pricing on the ones I were looking at were all about the same whether I ordered them online or got them at the store. I checked several different places and came up with the same price for a moderate quality one.
What did you get for Christmas?
