Be Happy!

Be Happy!
Rainbow smiles to carry everywhere

Monday 12 December 2011

Well this is all rather exciting!

 Let me see...

Still working on the 'Mega-Book' commission as I had to wait for board to arrive. The sheer scale of this still scares me, although I haven't admitted that in such bald terms to the client! It is fun to have so much space to play with though...maybe I will up-scale in future...maybe...unlikely!

However, this morning I opened my e-mail to TWO orders from etsy! Unprecedented! I am now officicially all sold out of rainbow 'Be Happy' books... so I will just have to go and make some more, hooray! (I love making these wee books, they make me smile the whole time because they are so bright and cheery. Honestly, who could be grumpy when they are sewing a rainbow together?!) Orders are now both packaged ready for their trip to the post office in the morning (One of them is going to the States! Wow! And yes, these things still require dancing around the living room. WAY too exciting not to!)


I also finished off the double custom order for two A8 Rainbow 'Be Happy' books this evening. I was contacted by a lovely lady who said that she would like one of my books...but she was a strict vegetarian so could she have the cover made of something else? Now as you know I love challenges so I said yes and suggested paper covers, made of layers to make them nice and strong. Sounds great doesn't it?

I forgot that glue (or paste) and I have an agreement of only minor skirmishes, no full on usage...hmm... (I stitch wherever possible when it comes to books) We had a minor falling out and accidentally created a lovely collage piece but then we sat down and talked things over... Eventually I had two really cute wee covers.

The request was that the books were quite different so I made one with all rainbow pages and one with plain pages with rainbow ones interspersed. One cover was soft handmade purple paper (with a stunning white handmade paper lining that was loaded with silver flecks of mica to pick up the silver thread binding) and the other was a bright blue handmade with a shiny finish (turquoise handmade paper lining with gold stars on it that I brought back from Nepal). You get the idea, they are the same yet very individual.


I was really worried half way through this project (when the glue was winning the debate) but I love the way they have both turned out. Similar yet completely different. I will be making more of this size of rainbow book very soon! Although I will need to check how long the glue will agree to keep the peace... :)


Does anyone else have a love/hate relationship with something that most people consider completely essential? Just me? Why does that not surprise me?! ;)

4 comments:

  1. Those are beautiful! I love how you interspersed the rainbow pages with the white, so pretty :)

    As for love/hate relationship with essentials... hmm how about the fact that I seem to spill anything liquid... and I mean anything lol.

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  2. Gorgeous! The rainbow books make me smile. I've made a few "rainbow" type notebooks too and they are fun. I sent one to a friend in USA (some time back) and also made one with a fab cover of orange paper with butterflies all over. The latest has a kraft cardstock cover and rainbow inside. Still deciding whether/what to put on the cover...
    I like your description of "layers" but not sure what you mean. Glue and paper are a challenge - do you remember about layering paper/card so the grains all run the same way? That is important; if the grains of your papers cross, then the covers will warp and no amount of flattening will fix it!
    I use glue, but I don't like to make stuff wet. I stick (aaargh bad pun) to pva, with the minimum of water added, to make it spread enough. The problem then is that you have to work very fast, as pva dries in about .5 of a second! Have to get everything cut, creased and ready before you add the glue! Whatever sort of glue you use, I find it's always necessary to dry covers under boards, waxed / non-stick paper and heavy weights of some kind. It helps to keep it flat and stop it curving up (though see previous comment about paper grain!).

    I do love your little books. They're quite individual, colourful and funky. I'm sure your shop is going to do very well!

    Good luck with the Mega Book. What kind of book style is it?

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