I just sort of threw this together over the course of the last few hours:



I'm pretty pleased with the results!

I figure I should ask the talents of yourselves this question.  I am making my boyfriend a Lover's Book for our 4 year anniversary, however I want to construct the book myself.  The only books I've ever made have been Japenese Stab Binding now I really want to make a book like this:


does anyone know what kind of book that is and a link to a tutorial? 
or, couldyou tell me the materials i need and i'll makeshift it?
What do you use for hard covers?  Chip board?

I'm quite the novice when it comes to binding books. I have had the urge to make, draw in, and write books since I was very young. My life long dream is to make an exquisite hand bound book filled with beautiful art and hauntingly, achingly glorious words.....as of yet, my dream has been unfulfilled.

However, I do dabble in making my own little notebooks. I thought since I'm new here, I should share one of my attempts:


This is the design for the back of my notebook. The phrase in the heart is "Ben Wu loves you." Why? Well, I'm Ben Wu and I love everyone..even you, most of the time. ;)

( Two more views of this notebook )

My persuasion lecturer wanted us to decorate a file and persuade people to buy it. I used a normal file and paste a huge ass picture (of a tree), but looking around, everyone seemed to be buying files and decorate just like that and my friends were like, "Janis I thought you will do something creative!!" Of course, I do not want to disappoint people, so I made a file from scratch.....




Entirely recycled except for sheet protector for the papers and teal to combine two different magazine covers together.

Sprout got hit by a car :(

"He was a champion of a cat" -Future Man

Tags: future man, sprout

I'm a bad blogger. I'll admit to that. But I Love this community and I get so much motivation from it that I wanted to share what I was able to create last week. Hopefully I can keep this up.



( a couple more pictures )( a couple more pictures )
I don't want to be too terribly obnoxious here, so I won't post all the pics, but you can see the rest, if you're interested, over at my flickr account. They are, of course, also for sale in my BRAND NEW etsy shop.

I would Love any comments/constructive criticism. I'm always looking at new ways to perfect my art. Thanks and ... well, thanks.

Tags: handmadebooks

I haven't been around much. Since I got back from the permaculture course I've been hoping around from farm to farm. First Diane's farm to do some work, then River farm for a concert, then feral farm to hang out with Bri and then Finney farm for a potluck that she brought me to.

I come back and I feel like my room has been used as everyone's trash can/forage area. I am totally broke and people have not been paying their rent to me on time and eating all my food.

It seems clear to me that if I begin to let things get chaotic (like leaving my room really messy and not setting boundaries) things can get really chaotic very fast. People bring a lot of chaos into this space. There is a lot of transition going on. People moving in, people moving out, people from out of town, people going on trips (physically and mentally). Kind of tough to ground in this space, but rather than freaking out maybe I'll just clean up all the chaos and try to do it better next time.

Elek is sitting on my bed playing guitar. What a treat.

Tags: bri, feral farm, finney farm, permaculture, river farm, the farm

im drinking gourmet hot chocolate even though my apartment is crazy hot and i now own sixty episodes of captain planet. go me.

My internship. Which. Is. Fabulous.
Seriously, I feel so lucky to be able to be working where I work, with the people whom I work with. The Conference in Miami was awesome on so many levels (not just shaking Obama's hand, the whole thing) and I really do think that public service/politics/law is the right focus for me. Working 40 hour weeks definitely has its drawbacks, though, and I am pretty tired by Thurs/Fri. But all in all, I am thrilled with it.

Inherit the Wind. Which. Was. Wonderful.
I don't know how I thought that a summer without the Bathhouse would be ok. Becuase having done my first Alumni show, I know that this summer would not have been the same without Inherit the Wind. It was really hard feeling so unconnected to the show for the first few days after Miami, but that is what you get for trying to do too much at once and being gone for all of tech. But it turned out brilliantly, and I felt a lot more connected by the time we closed. 

The rest of the summer. Which. Is. Going. Fast.
And I am both happy and sad about that! I mean, I have a lot to look forward to: time with Eric, friends, family...trip to CA to visit Beth, Becca, and Rals...Ashland...sunshine...Seattle...etc. BUT at the same time I am so excited for Tufts!

Being in love in the sunshine makes everything beautiful :)

Current Location: work! OIR Seattle
Current Mood: cold
Current Music: nada

Hi all,

This is my first handmade book! However, it was a collaborative project with fornice who is a little more experienced! ;)



( take a closer look )