Second Custom Order Finished!

This was the second custom order I had for Christmas. I finished it just in time to get to the customer by Christmas, and everyone was happy with it, myself included.

First Custom Order Finished!

I finished the first custom order yesterday! It's so nice to be working with gold again! I have gotten a little tired of just doing the blind embossing. It looks nice to, but you can do a lot more with gold. I also like how it looks when you combine the blind and the gold together.

I've actually had several custom orders since last I posted, but I didn't have time to write about them, I was busy making them, and packaging up the ready-made books. I set a personal record of sales yesterday!

This is a book I re-covered a few years ago, "Masterpieces of American Literature". Don't look too closely at it, though. If you did, you would notice I spelled a word wrong, and I wouldn't want you to see that. (This was one of the first titles I printed, and was not yet used to reading the type, upside down and backwards. That was the only time I ever did it.)

This is a copy of Tennyson's poems that I re-covered. I did a much more simple design on the cover, but I actually like it better then the other book!

A closer view.

I didn't put the title on the spine on this one, I used a unique stamp, instead.

A front cover view of "Masterpieces of American Literature". The square pattern is made up of two tools; the 'line' segment, and the 'dots' in between them.



This book I didn't do much gold work on, and it looks rather simple, but it actually represents quite a bit more work then any other book I've made.

This is the only book I made that is actually sewn on raised cords. It is a stronger binding, than most, but still has it's down sides. It is worth more with the raised cords, because it takes many, many more hours. The reason I don't make many books this way is that the leather on the spine itself wears off very quickly, because of the way it is glued and sewn to the text block. I prefer sewing on sunken cords (you can't see them on the spine).

The books I sell in my store aren't sewn either way. I use a different technique, that allows them to be sew just using thread.

I'll post more picture of the other custom orders as soon as I finish them!

How True

"You can never do a kindness too soon, because you never know how soon it will be too late."
~Emerson

How often we discover this to be true. . .

Christmas Custom Orders in Progress

Christmas is supposed to be the busiest time of year for pretty much anyone in the "sales" business. It is so for me as well , as long as we are all agreed that "busy" is a very relative term. I have 2 custom orders right now, and 2 more of my ready-made journals that I need to personalize and ship out.

I think I've made over 50% of this year's sales in this past month!

The first custom order is a very small lined book that I am covering in a full leather style with a black lambskin. The unique part of this will be the gold embossing, instead of the usual blind. I have been intending to add gold as an option for a while now, but I don't have any gold, and wasn't willing to invest that much money before I had made quite a few sales. Now I just need to figure out where I can buy gold, and get it shipped to me in time for me to finish the book and have it shipped before Christmas.



The other is a large book, 7" by 9". I will be binding it also in a full leather style, in a two-tone brown lambskin, and olive-green marbled endpapers. I am also doing this with a pre-sewn text block, since they want a lined book. The real custom"ness" of this book will be the embossing on the front cover. I am embossing a border, a double-straight-line frame, if you can picture that! I will also be doing the usual raised cord effect on the spine, and hand sewn headbands, as well.

I will post more pictures when I have finished them.

I've been thinking recently how amazing it is that I have made any sales at all online. Think about it: of all the people in the world, I need someone who wants to spend money; of all the things to spend money on, they have to decide on a book; of all the books to buy, they have to decide on a journal; of all the journals, on a hand bound one; of all the hand bound ones, one of the ones I've bound. And then of course, you have to consider visibility. I can't find myself when I google 'leather handbound journals' (only if I use 'hannahshandwork' as my keyword) and I know what I'm looking for!

When I think about that, I am thankful I have made as many sales as I have!

Setting the Stage

Before plunging headlong into whatever it is I am going to write about, I thought a word or two of introduction might be in order.

I have begun this blog partly for my own amusement, but also to keep in touch with family and friends, and just so that I can say I have one.

I chose the name La Vita E Bella, partly named after the touching (and well worth watching) movie, but mostly because I believe the Lord has made every part of this life, even the seemingly insignificant details I'll probably be writing about, beautiful in some way; we need only have the eyes to see it.

I will probably write on a variety of subjects, primarily what ever happens to be going on in my life, but maybe my perspective on books, or historical events. Or perhaps sharing a favorite quote, a useless piece of information, or all of the above, at the same time.

That being said, I think I can close this introduction.