field books

The Mushroom Collector

I made this book recently and am very happy with how it turned out. I like the icy blue bookcloth. It's called The Mushroom Collector. It's available here, on etsy. 

:: vintage book illustration of mushrooms ::

:: cover ::

 :: vintage nature photograph of a beaver on a library card holder ::

 :: 100% cotton paper ::

 :: top of the book, light orange headband ::



It's Time for Crafty Balboa!


Yes, it's time to buy handmade for the holidays and the best place to do that is at Crafty Balboa!

:: I'll be there, for all you book and letterpress needs ::

::there will be books! ::

So if you're looking for the perfect gift for the guys or the ladies, please come visit! I'll have a selection of letterpress prints, cards and one-of-a-kind books. Thank you and see you there!

Lynx and Stars

I made this custom book for a very talented lady, who requested a journal with lynxes, graph paper, stars, and red. I decided to try something a little different and made the book with a soft curved spine. It turned out to be one of my favorite books I've made in a really long time.

:: vintage book illustration of a lynx ::

 :: the milky way, and letterpresses name plate ::

 :: typewriter stars ::


 :: curved spine ::

:: lynx ::

Books

One of my new year's resolutions to myself is to consistently, steadily, make books all year round. To not wait for an order or a craft fair, to just make them and put them out there. So here is what is available right now, these are all handmade and one of a kind with a unique mix of papers.









New Books

Some of the things I've been working on.

:: one of a kind notebooks ::


I finished binding a set notebooks which are going to New York. They are a new kind of book I've started making. I decided to add inset vintage encyclopedias to their covers because they are really neat... and to make front and back more easily identifiable.

:: bees! ::

Also working on some new leather pocket notebooks.

:: this one is on etsy ::
:: letterpress printed page and vintage book page with drawing ::

Field Books

I made a small series of one of a kind, letterpress printed "field books" this month. I've wanted to do this for a long time, ever since I bought an old copper printing block of graph paper.

This allowed me to print my own graph paper in whatever color I choose.

I made softcover and hardcover versions. The softcover has a pocket in the back for storing notes, feathers, postcards, and whatever else you might find while out in the field.

Many pages also have random ornaments like the one below, also letterpress printed.


If you're interested in purchasing one, I have a couple of the hardcovers left. They are 60.00 a piece. Contact me and I can send you images. I'll be making two, one softcover and hardcover, with pink graph paper soon too.

Field Books






I've had field books on the brain. I guess it all started a year ago when I bought a yellow spiral bound surveyor's field book for note taking in Asheville. They tend to made with a higher quality rag paper than most other sketchbooks and are fairly waterproof. Their bright colors, lined papers, and rounded corners also make them attractive. I'm starting to incorporate elements of their style in my own books. Simplicity, utility, and quality!

:: hand bound hardcover with vintage paper cover and label by huldra press ::

:: rounded corner pocket books with handpainted covers by huldra press ::

The 47 Cent Chinatown Book





Brutal economy. That's what this book is. The thriftiest depiction of a book I have yet to see and that gives it a special place in my collection of books. The cover is speckled brown kraft paper cover with impressed red printing. Inside the book, the pages are doubled, perhaps because the paper is so thin. The yellowish sheets have the delicate feeling and color of a much more valuable paper like kozo. I wish I knew more about the green squares printed inside, but I don't. It probably has something to do with chinese characters. However, my ignorance does add to its charm as an object for me. The part of this book that makes it especially interesting though is the way it is sewn. Not by hand, but straight across the cover with a sewing machine. Of course!

As I was looking around for information notebooks, I found a delightful blog by Jennifer Hsu called The Museum of Notebooks, entirely dedicated to collecting of notebooks. Jennifer has some beautiful examples like this one, one of my favorites...

Notebooks are beautiful objects and a big inspiration for my work. Small, subtle and often ingenious in their design, they're made to be used and carried and are even more interesting after they have been. I've been thinking about them a lot lately.

I have the next two weeks off from class and I hope to produce some of my own during that time. So stay tuned.



The Engineer's Handbook


Yesterday was my birthday, and my boyfriend and I went to the used book store. What can I say, we're nerds. But I found this book, the Bureau of Public Works Engineer's Handbook 1913, for three dollars.

The numbers, the aged lined paper, the errors and corrections, are all things I find so exciting about books as objects we use. This book was meant to be a pocket reference for an engineer. All this information, all this labor to make a book! And now I have it and like it because it is tall and narrow, has neat diagrams and "erratums." How odd.

I have been really into these little erratum notes, and used one in a journal I made recently.

Some day, I dream of finding a warehouse full of yellowed graph paper. Do you have such a warehouse?