Customer Reviews

The Art & Craft of Handmade Books

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I just received this the other day and all I can say is WOW!!!
I also own Cover to Cover, but I like this one just as much or better. The samples are just to die for and are very inspiring, and this book has different types of stitches and other books .
If you own Cover to Cover, you need this one too!

This is a must-have for anyone who loves bookbindinding and/or is a fan of Shereen LaPlantz' terrific work. There are some excellent structures and lots of great information. It's too bad that such a terrific book had to be marred by poor editing, but it is still very much worth owning. It is extremely relevant to this review to note that corrections to the book are available at http://www.laplantz.com. The book and website taken together deserve FIVE stars.

This book is a must have for anyone who enjoys creating handmade books. It has excellent instructions for creating books with multiple folds and intricate bindings. The diagrams are helpful in the construction of the projects. Also, the gallery pictures of books are a great inspiration. This book was worth the wait after Shereen's Cover to Cover.

Great for starting into book making. The majority of the projects in the book are more about folding paper to make structures but the structures in themselves make books like the accordion fold books, star books, tag books, tunnels, signatures within accordions, etc. For me this was perfect. The book starts with a glossary so you can get the vocabulary down and then starts in with techniques for sewing and scoring. The majority of projects use the accordion fold book as the basis but there are lots of varieties and terrific photos of completed projects to inspire. The instructions go step by step and also have 3-d line drawings showing you where to fold and such. The book builds from very simple booklets to more complex ones where you use the Coptic stitch to create more traditional books. I love the variety and it was just at my level to build confidence along the way as I learned the vocabulary and techniques

I bought this book to get a feel for the basic small bookmaking process. It is very straightforward, with directions that seem easy to follow, and many diagrams & photographs to help guide you to a finished product. It has some beginner, intermediate, and advanced projects, so essentially there is something for anybody who wants to learn about the craft of handmade books. I wouldn't recommend this for a young crafter -- it's definitely written for a person with at least a small knowledge of paper craft who is looking to expand, and the directions would be too difficult, I think, for anyone younger than high school age.

I love this book; gorgeous examples and nicely laid out. The late-author's website (maintained by her husband) has a PDF of errata that owners might want to download:

"A complete set of corrections and bonus material, all written by Shereen LaPlantz, can be downloaded at no charge as a pdf (3.5 MB) that you can then print on your color printer." Available for download at: [...]

This is such a great book on creating/making your own handmade books and journals. The book is full of amazing photographs to give ideas and inspiration, the instructions are comprehensive, and the added diagrams guide you through the process of page folding and binding stitches.

All in all, this book is fantastic!