Saturday, April 30, 2011

At Home with Handmade Books, 28 Extraordinary Bookbinding Projects by Erin Zamrzla

At Home With Handmade Books by Erin Zamnrzla
Release Date:  04-12-11

This is a really neat book written by a very talented and creative author.  Her originality has resulted in many creative and different ideas for making several types of books.  This book contains many different original styles of books to make.  The reader can also take these ideas the author has created and come up with some of their own imaginative projects to make.  The possibilities are limitless.
The author binds the books together using the Japanese Book Binding Method.  She does mention that the books are crafted using ‘western’ materials.  In my opinion, and from experience, she probably stated this fact because my first thought was thinking I may not be able to make these types of books being they are of a different culture.  She puts our minds at ease right away making sure we know we are able to obtain the materials used for the projects.  As a matter of fact, in the back of the book, there is a whole section of resources to be able to go online and order the materials needed to make each project.
As you are making these projects, there is always a photo of the finished product to refer back to while making them.  The instructions are very clear and concise, easy and simple to follow every step of the way. 
There are many different styles and ways of making these handmade bindings, mainly using a poke and stab method to make the holes to sew the bindings together.  Needle and thread are used to sew the bindings together by hand.  
For myself, while reading this book, it has put all kinds of really neat ideas into my own head.  Right now I am imagining all the books I can make with these bindings now that I know how to stitch these book bindings together.  Given all the different ideas of what types of projects to make, I am anxious for an event to come along in which I can make from the inspirations this book has instilled in me.  I am thinking of gifts to make for someone using these techniques.  With this inspiration and the ideas inside the book, it makes me want to get starting making these patterns right away.
This book is a book you will want to keep in your library and use over and over again for the patterns, and also use it as a reference tool, or even as a book to just to pick up and browse through.
Information about the author of this book is included.  The author, Erin ZamrZla, has loved making things from paper for as long as she can remember.  She took a class in bookbinding, and thus began her wonderful adventures.  She lives in California and has a website, www.erinzam.com, where you can see more of her work.
This book was provided to me for free by Shambhala in exchange for a written review.

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