A Passion for Handmade Books

Blank, Ruled, Graph or Dotted...do you have a page style that you prefer? What is it about that style that you are drawn to? Do you change up what page styles you prefer based on what you’re writing?

Turning old antique books into sculptures is what artist Guy Laramee does. The Montreal based artist uses sandblasting to turn books into carved valleys and mountains.

Jenni Bick has paired with Paper-Oh and we couldn't be happier! Their products are sleek, modern, textured and the perfect combination of form and function. Paper-Oh notebooks emphasize the tactile elements of bookmaking in surprising and simple ways.

Being organized doesn't have to be boring. It is possible to have fun scheduling all the busy things you have going on in your life, sometimes all we need is a little inspiration. Here are some examples of how people stayed on track while still being creative.

Brian Dettmer is an artist who carves and cuts books into gorgeous and interesting sculptures. His focus is on the texture, the text and the images within books. He uses various techniques to create a layered design that combines text & illustrations contained within the book.

We're used to embossing with text so we have an appreciation for letters. This talented artist, Scarlett McCalman started using typewriters as a drawing tool in 2010. In this series she incorporated some of her own writing into these drawings.

We love projects that involve reusing, repurposing and recycling. This one shows how to make a notebook and/or journal, out of a paper bag, which made it one that we definitely had to share.

We love journals and notebooks, which means we have a soft spot for writing utensils, especially pencils. So you can imagine our delight when we came across the pencil filled Instagram feed of 24-year-old art school graduate, Caroline Weaver.

For the Parsons School of Design/Moleskine project, 51 seniors from Parsons’ BFA in Illustration program were challenged to design a cover for a Moleskine cahier journal and bellyband using the prompt #WanderingMind. 

Siuyuett (Teresa Tsang) sees book-binding as a way to untangle the knots in her mind where memories and emotions intertwine. Soothing and warming the cloth case is to the hands as the process to the soul.

This handmade book has seashells for the front and back cover and is filled with handbound pages featuring the young artists photography. It's a beautiful combination of nature and book art.