Our Materials

 

 

Don't just judge the book by it's cover. Paper is important too. 

It's essential to us that our paper be strong, non-glossy, and of course a lovely parchment color. The paper we use is acid-free and archival. It's 89 gsm, 60# text. It is thicker than printer paper, but thinner and stronger than kraft construction paper. What that means for you is the pages in your book will have a semi-smooth texture that takes all dry media.

Taking care of the environment should always be a priority. We make efforts to keep our footprint as small as possible. Our paper scraps are recycled into other craft projects. The energy used to manufacture the paper we use in every one of our books is offset with renewable wind power. 

 

Our paper supplier is FSC, ECF, and PCF certified. That means;

 

FSC - Forest Stewardship Council. For the responsible management of the world's forests.
ECF - Elemental Chlorine Free. A pollution prevention technology for environmentaly friendly paper.
PCF - Processed Chlorine Free. Implementing advanced technologies free of chlorine chemistry.

 

 

Our Book Binding Process

We post work-in-progres images to our Facebook. Link  

 

Pages are cut, folded, and sewn to tapes or cords. Strong linen or hemp thread is used.  Heavy bookboard is measured and cut to size. Accessories and closures are braided, carved, pyrographed, stained, etc

 We make our own four-sided cord from yarn or hemp. Click here for a tutorial on how to use this medieval tool.
 

These were painted in a vellum style.

 

Canvas

Natural cotton canvas stretches over our hard-bound books, but that's just the beginning.

 Paint

The paint we use is a professional-quality heavy body acrylic. It has a high pigment load that produces rich, permanent color. It is flexible when dry, andremains free of cracks and chips over time. After the canvas is cut, stretched, primed and painted it is stretched and fitted to the book. 

When the book has pressed and settled the accessories are fitted to it and the book is photographed and uploaded for sale! 

In this picture thick cords were used and the tension created by them had to be eased across the book from the center spine.

 

 

Pen & Ink

Ink designs are drawn in waterproof India ink. Super black India inks are specially formulated for superior light-fastedness and for making clean images. 

The line art is done with a calligraphy nib and a pot of ink, and then shaded with semi-transparent tones, also India Ink. 

<----- See this book completed

 

 

 

The Studio