August 17, 2011

At Home with Handmade Books by Erin Zamrzla [book review]


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At Home with Handmade Books
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At Home with Handmade Books:
28 Extraordinary Bookbinding Projects Made from Ordinary and Repurposed Materials
(Make Good: Crafts + Life)



I picked up this book because of the author. I liked the book but I'd thought I'd get more out of it. I've admired Erin Zamrzla's work (a couple of photos at the bottom of the post) for a while now and thought I'd see more binding methods in the book, but those featured here are mostly limited to variations of the Japanese four-hold binding and other stab bindings (this is indicated in the book blurb but I didn't see past the name - my bad).

The pluses:
+ the book is beautifully photographed;
+ the projects are easy and great for beginners and even kids;
+ the author is very creative in coming up with ideas for books that can be made with things found in most homes, or if you see it the other way, ideas for making interesting and pretty things out of ordinary everyday objects.

Among the projects:
+ a book with a sock for cover;
+ a place card which simply involves folding a sheet of paper into an accordion;
+ a travel photo album;
+ a souvenir book made of coin envelopes and bound with map paper.

Many of these projects are very simple to make and can be completed in less than half an hour (some even in 5-10 minutes really) - a great way to make yourself or someone a quick and pretty gift, or have a fun afternoon crafting with kids.

Here are photos of a few of the projects.


At Home with Handmade Books by Erin Zamrzla
At Home with Handmade Books by Erin Zamrzla
At Home with Handmade Books by Erin Zamrzla
At Home with Handmade Books by Erin Zamrzla

You can see a preview of At Home with Handmade Books at Amazon and get PDFs of 2 projects at the Make Good Crafts and Life website. In these two videos, Zamrzla introduces the book and shows you how to make a project from it: a tag notebook made using the Japanese four-hole binding.



Erin Zamrzla Makes a Tag Notebook: Part 1


Erin Zamrzla Makes a Tag Notebook: Part 2


Buy from Amazon
Buy from Book Depository (free shipping worldwide)



At Home with Handmade Books: 28 Extraordinary Bookbinding Projects Made from Ordinary and Repurposed Materials (Make Good: Crafts + Life)
Publisher: Roost Books
ISBN: 978-1590308226


Most of the recent sales in Zamrzla's Etsy shop Erinzam are books made using Japanese binding, but if you scroll further back in the section of products sold,you'll see some other really fun books using other binding techniques.

A link to the Erizam blog.


These are some of Zamrzla's Etsy sales that I'd admired before I saw her book.


720 KB Hand Bound Blank Journal / Sketchbook
by Erin Zamrzla
Collaged Micro Cassette Tape Blank Book
by Erin Zamrzla


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