Flatbacks and Paper Cases

I am still in Bookbinding and I am LOVING IT. Some people think it sounds lame, but that is only because they don't know how freakin fun it is. At least to me. And every single other person who has ever taken the class. Here are my latest projects:

Flatback Binding

This book has cloth on the spine and paper for the rest of the cover. This is the most common kind of book, and is also my favorite one to make so far. I will probably make a lot more with this style of binding. 

It has handmade paper stuck on endbands. 

Paper Case Binding

This book was the most expensive to make so far. The cover paper was almost $10 for one sheet that is about 24"x? something. It's called St. Armand paper and it's handmade, which is why it's so expensive. Plus the seashell pendants for the front, the leather, the beads, the special thread for the sewn on endband shown in the last picture, plus all the text paper on the inside. It also took the most time to make this book compared to all the other ones. 

The leather wraps from the back cover around the shells in kind of like an 8 pattern to keep the book shut. 

This is a sewn on endband. I'm not happy with the color of it but I bought the thread without having the paper in front of me so I didn't realize how badly it didn't match. Hand sewn endbands are not nearly as common as stuck on endbands and they add value to the book. 

All my books are completely handmade, other than the closures (leather, seashells, beads) used on the paper case book. I am in love with making books and will probably keep making them for a long time. I have started a shop on Etsy and will start selling books when I have made more. I am too attached to the ones I've made so far since they're the first ones I've made. I have a feeling it's going to be really hard for me to let go of books I make, but all artists have to come to terms with letting go of their creations at one point or another. 

China Doesn't Deserve All the Credit

Made in China. That's what's printed, etched, stickered, etc. onto almost EVERYTHING.

While I was peeling off the Made in China sticker off the inside of my Converse I realized something. China isn't as smart as everyone thinks. While everything may be made in China, it doesn't all originate there. Countries all over the world send their ideas and products to China to be manufactured. China has tons of people, which means cheap labor. That means thousands of Chinese people see millions of products and ideas from countries all over the world. They are exposed to ideas from the entire planet. China isn't the smartest or most advanced. They simply have the most resources. They see everyone's great ideas and products, manufacture them, and in turn they know how everything works. Sometimes they use that knowledge to expand on already created products or it leads to new products, but that doesn't make them smarter than all the other countries in the world. It just appears that way. Who woulda thought? Maybe China won't take over the world after all.