Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

Monday, August 8, 2011

Monday Spotlight On: Marie of WeeBindery

As this post goes up, I'm on vacation with my husband and his family at Lake Michigan and there is one thing I do almost constantly, every year when I'm there. I read.  So it seemed only fitting that, while I'm off reading a book, you should be reading about someone who makes them.

Marie (nicknamed Wee, so we know where that comes from), has been an artist for over forty years, but before she really got there, she went the traditional route or marriage, a family and a job in the business world.  When they relocated to North Carolina from Massachusettes for her husband's job, Marie was able to pursue her lifelong dream of being a full-time artist.  WeeBindery is the result.

Handmade Leather Journal


Tell us three things about yourself we don't already know.
I love to read, can't stop creating, and love to go to museums.

What’s your medium and how did you get into it? 
I am a book artist. I design and create journals and notebooks. It all started when I came across a Japanese bookbinding workshop in a catalogue. That was it! I haven't looked back.

Bookbinding is not a common art.  What's your favorite thing youve made? 
I always say my three sons but seriously, a colorful coptic stitch book using 8 needles at the same time. It was a great challenge.

From where do you take inspiration? 
Books and museums.

Name one piece of art you wish you'd created and why? 
Great questions - hmmm - I would have to say Michaelangelo's painting of the Sistine Chapel or Giotto's paintings in the church of St. Francis in Assisi, Italy.

Eco-Friendly Handmade Sketchbook


I have a feeling I'll already know the answer to this, but what are you doing when you're not crafting? Reading.

If you had to give up your medium and pursue another, what would it be and why? 
Well, I also paint with watercolors but haven't found the time to do it because of my bookbinding business. If I placed aside the books, I would paint.

Tell us about a time you were making something that came out better than expected and how it happened. A small one inch book with all different colored papers. I call it my rainbow book.


Who is one person living or dead, famous or not, who you wish owned one of your creations and why? Probably Abigail Adams, the wife of our second President John Adams. Abigail was an avid writer and a very intelligent and strong woman ahead of her time.

How would you explain how to do what you do to an eight year old? 
You take paper, needle and thread and sew.

Petite Handmade Leather Book

What's your favorite part of the process? 
The sewing.

One random thing you think people should know. 
I absolutely love what I do.

Where can people find you?
On Etsy: www.weebindery.etsy.com
On Twitter:    www.twitter.com/weebindery


My last random question. What did you want to be when you were ten?
An art teacher.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Stuff I Love: Repurposed Books

I love books and read often.  But some books are just too boring to keep or aren't the stories you hoped they'd be or are simply too old too and falling apart to be of much use.  These Etsy sellers have taken book that weren't good for much else and made them into art.

This book purse from Bibliobags could hold your keys, cell, wallet and perhaps even a small paperback!
A folded sculpture from RecycledReads is a great reminder to be crafty and wonderful inspiration as to what to do with an old book.
Bringing new meaning to the term 'bookmobile' this one from  TheShophouse is just too cool to hang over a babies crib.  Put it in your workspace and watch it drift lazily in the light.
Can't decide if you want to read the massive tome, "War and Peace"?  Have a drink instead.  Then, hide it in this book safe from SecretSafeBooks.
And there is even more awesome stuff.  I'm going to have to do a two-parter and continue this another week.  One could probably decorate an entire house in things made from old books....and if I had the money, I just might.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Less Talk Tuesday: Bookshelves

From davidgarciastudio.blogspot.com
From apartmenttherapy.com
From architonic.com
From blog.hgtv.com


Note: I know it's "Less Talk" but I wanted to inform my lovely readers that I'm moving things around a bit.  Less Talk More Rock Wednesday's are now Less Talk Tuesdays.  Treasuries will now be on Thursday an on Friday I will try to write something of worth, feature a tutorial, etc.  Saturday's will still be the intended time to put up the Illustration Friday sketches. Thanks for reading, even as this blog gets through it's growing pains!