We wish you a Merry Christmas!
Book Inspired DIY Christmas Decorations
Etsy - MaisyandAlice
We have been so so busy over the last few weeks it has felt like Christmas spirit has passed us by - but I can assure you we are feeling it now! Just a couple of big orders to finish and a few Christmas gifts waiting to be picked up by some of our lucky customers and we will be ready for our well deserved Christmas break!
So I thought I'd wish you all a great holiday with a few book inspired Christmas decorations to have a go making at home - a home made Christmas is one of the things I love best!
Gorgeous Garlands
This gorgeous garland caught my attention. It's a little different from the brightly coloured paper chains I used to make as a child but it is beautiful and the text definitely brings a much cosier quality to this string of hearts.
kaylaaimee.com
Literary Christmas trees
A wonderfully simple but effective idea! You can find a number of amazing examples of Christmas book art but these I reckon are definitely ones most folk could have a successful go at. They'd make quirky gifts or lovely centrepiece for your Christmas table!
You can find the tutorial to make these dinky book trees here.
Advent Stars
In my search for handmade Christmas decorations it is difficult to avoid the abundance of traditional Scandinavian ornaments. I thought I'd have a go at making a Swedish advent star using this tutorial. Usually made of straw, this version works brilliantly with pages from a discarded novel.
A little bit fiddly at first but surprisingly easy to make and understatedly pretty! It is perhaps a little to tasteful too sit alongside my neon pink tinsel but I am a huge fan of mix and match and at Christmas anything goes!
I do hope everyone has a wonderful time over the festive period - eat, drink and be merry!
We look forward to seeing you in the new year!
A Bookbinders Favourite Tool
John - our Master Bookbinder
Our Unique Bone Folders
With a range of bookbinding tools now on offer to purchase from our online shop I thought it'd be timely to give you a little insight into our favourite one!
A bone folder is, unsurprisingly, traditionally made of bone, although these days you can find them produced in a few other materials. including brass and teflon.
It's purpose is primarily for paper folding, card making and origami but it has other uses. We use it for covering boxes and poking the cloth into all the nooks and crannies. It is also perfect for adding a little extra glue to a job, rubbing down paper to make sure it sticks and on the odd occasion I have seen it used for stirring coffee in our workshop!
You can see our small range of bone folders now in our online shop - all of ours started off life just like one of those. One of the reasons we are all so attached to our own particular folder is that they adapt and change as you use them. The way you rub every single spine when lining often creates a dip in one side. Sometimes we sharpen the end a little to get into a small space and unfortunately sometimes they break and so we shorten them and reshape them to continue their life. And needless to say we are in a complete panic when we misplace our folder!!
Mia - a beautiful array of shapes and sizes!
David - a name tag so no-one pinches it!
Kerry - relatively new clean ones!
Mine - one of these is teflon - non stick!
Gillian & Robin - Robin's sadly broke today!
Erin - a particularly pointed one for box making!
Check out our ever expanding online shop to see our current range of tools and materials. We don't sell anything that we don't use on a daily basis here in our workshop so it is all to true production bookbinding standard - and why not pick yourself up your own bone folder? It really is a bookbinders favourite tool!
We're Getting Ready for Christmas!
Have You Started Your Christmas Shopping Yet?!
Vouchers can be used against any products or services at our bindery.
We could repair or rebind a favourite book, make a brand new journal to your size and specifications or of course you could join us for one of our inspiring classes!
They can also be redeemed when purchasing tools or materials from our workshop or online shop.
Some examples of little notebooks - coming soon to our online shop! Over the next few weeks we will be expanding our online shop to offer a number of quirky products alongside all the tools and materials you could possibly need to have a go yourself!
Our vouchers come in several denominations or you can buy one of our Class Vouchers which can be redeemed for any class from Introduction to Bookbinding, to Book Repair and Box Making so your lucky recipient is free to chose when they'd like to attend from any available class dates. You can learn more about our classes here
You can also book classes through our website using a gift voucher.
Our Gift Vouchers could be the perfect present for the book lover in your life!
Need some more ideas for excellent presents - here are a few we love!
"The End" Bookend by Goodwin & Goodwin
Art Print by BookishlyUK
Library Stamp T-Shirt by The Literary Gift Company
If this sounds like your perfect Christmas gift why not share this post and drop a few hints!
"LOW LANDS" Exhibition @ Glasgow Print Studio
LOW LANDS
@ Glasgow Print Studio
This wonderful exhibition showcases the work of eight artists who produce their work at the Glasgow Print Studio and have recieved funding from The Bet Low Trust, a registerd Scottish Charity awarding grants to students and practising artists in Scotland.
We enjoyed a wee glass of wine and seeing the work at the opening of the exhibition last Thursday night, as Downie Allison Downie was proud to be one of the show's sponsers.
As part of the event each artist will receive one of each of the eight prints in a huge presentation box made by us here in our workshop. A boxed set will also be kept in the Glasgow Print Studio archives.
Glasgow Print Studio
The Glasgow Print Studio is an open access print workshop run by an experienced staff and is a truly inspiring place just to visit never mind working in the space.
The operate on a membership basis with the members having access to their impressive range of equipment and expertise. However, if you are new to printmaking you can try one of their many weekend or evening classes - we would quite like to take part in one of those ourselves!
Regular exhibitions are held in their impressive gallery space where you can admire, or even purchase, some of the amazing prints on show.
More information about the exhibitions, classes and workshops at the Glasgow Print Studio can be found on their website - www.glasgowprintstudios.co.uk
You can see the "LOW LANDS" exhibition, and our lovely boxes at the Glasgow Print Studio until 30th October.
Workshops at The Glasgow School of Art
Workshops at The Glasgow School of Art Portfolio Preparation Course
Bookbinding Workshops at GSA
Last week we were invited to run a couple of bookbinding workshops at the Glasgow School of Art Portfolio Preparation Course.
Robin and I spent the day in the inspiring spaces of the old McLellan Galleries teaching two groups of future artists and designers a little about bookbinding.
Portfolio Preparation Classes are a great way to build up a cohesive body of work for prospective art school applicants to take to interviews.
At GSA they run Summer classes as well as an evening course with a brilliant and varied output to encourage their students to work independently to develop their own creative processes. Similar courses can also be found in a number of other colleges.
Although not used to teaching quite so many people at once(!) the classes went really well and everyone went home with a couple of very interesting sketchbooks!
