Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Coptic Books
















At the end of summer, I had a big rush in my Etsy shop for weekly planners. At the end of that rush, I started preparing for the holiday season. I spent many hours making books to order and making lots of my best sellers, all the while working at two jobs, hibernating, and trying to will the snowy Asheville winter to end...

Eventually I had to take a long break. It ended up being a break from blogging, etsy-ing, and even a break from making books for a while. When I started back up, the idea of making books to order, or formulaically binding four or five of the same book, just didn't seem too appealing. I decided to take a more tactile, process based, and, most importantly, more relaxed and enjoyable approach to
making things.

What was the result? Coptic bound books! I've kept my distance from this type of book for a while, because I seem to see them everywhere in Asheville. But once I started making them, I loved the process of "braiding" the spines, and I love that I can showcase the colorful waxed threads that typically take a backseat to other decorative elements in my books.

Just in time for spring (and I can't even believe that it's really here for good)!