custom bookbinding - handcrafted - blank book - journal - wedding - bound email - guest book - scrapbook - photo album - diary - anniversary - clamshell box - book of shadows - fan fiction - rebinding

 

 

fineblankbooks.com

Tedra Ashley-Wannemuehler, bookbinder



website banner 3 fineblankbooks

 

More information on the books pictured above can be found in the following galleries (clockwise from left):

Impala and motel sign (daytime) - gallery - intricate

Album with crab - gallery - intricate

Impala with motel (nighttime) - gallery - pop culture

Chevy Cheyenne - gallery - baby

3/4 binding sunflower with copper accent  - gallery - engagement

 

your idea + my craftsmanship = a one-of-a-kind heirloom

  gallery - custom collector rebinding  

 This book about life and fishing needed a cover that evoked the peace found out on the water. The textured waves of the water were carved into the underlying binder's board, covered with leather, and then accented with clear polish to bring out the glossy "water" appearance. Each different-colored element was individually cut and covered with leather, then permanently attached to the cover in slightly recessed areas, cut to fit the pieces before the leather was applied to the overall cover. A blind stamped fly fishing fly gives a bit of additional interest to the back cover. Waves on the spine dividing the title and author's name follow the rippling water theme.


rebind canoe large 


custom rebinding of The Brennen Siding Trilogy

     

- original paperback was disasembled and sewn on an oversewing machine with 100% cotton thread

- cover is predominantly dark blue goatskin leather over carved binder's board, matte board, and tag board

- texture of waves in water carved into underlying cover board before the leather was applied

- canoe interior made of layers of hand-cut tag board, layerd to achieve the texture of the wooden ribs, covered with hand-pared tan goatskin leather

- canoe exterior carved from binder's board and covered with read goatskin leather

- horizon and shoreline cut from multiple pieces of layered tag board and covered with hand-pared goatskin leather in green and purple

- spanish marbled endpapers

- satin ribbon page marker

- lettering on spine added using moveable metal type, hot foil stamping, and silver stamping foil

- waves on spine added using a custom metal die, hot foil stamping, and silver stamping foil

- fishing fly on back cover added using a custom metal die, hot foil stamping, and blind stamping technique

- approximately $375

 

___________________________________________________________________

rebind canoe whole cover sm

 

rebind canoe spine

 

rebinding canoe endpaper

 

rebinding canoe detail sm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have done several volumes of Dungeons & Dragons books, combining several published handbooks, guides, and manuals into one volume. Oversewing the original printed pages results in a very strong and durable book. I've made these with custom-printed endpapers featuring maps of the D&D world, or artists' renderings of my customers' D&D characters, or it can have a traditional marbled endpaper. Some have custom printed ittle pages with favorite quotes. The lettering on the spine is customized to the volumes included in the binding as well as the edition number and sometimes the name of the book's recipient. The D&D community is passionate and I like being able to create long-lasting, multiple-book volumes that will provide their owners with years of service.

 

 

 

 

 

rebinding d and d large

 


custom rebinding of combined Dungeons & Dragons volumes*

     

 - several volumes of Dungeons & Dragons manuals disassembled, collated, and sewn together on an oversewing machine with 100% cotton thread, then bound into a single volume

- British marbled endpapers

- satin ribbon page marker

- black pigskin leather cover (see note below)

- raised D&D logo on front cover hand-cut from tag board and applied to cover before the leather was added

- slightly inset recessed edge to "frame" front and back covers

- raised cords on spine

- lines around cords added using brass rule, hot foil stamping, and red stamping foil

- lettering on spine added using moveable metal type, hot foil stamping, and gold stamping foil

- approximately $250

(price for binding only - my customers purchase and mail me the mass-produced hardcovers at the start of the project)

 

* the black pigskin leather used on this cover is no longer produced or available, however, a slightly softer look can be achieved with raised designs like the D&D logo and currently-available leathers

 

_______________________________________________________________

 

rebinding d and d spine sm

 

rebinding d and d open sm

 

 

 

 

 

This is a custom rebinding of actor and author Felicia Day's memoir "You're Never Weird on the Internet (almost)".  You can see the cover it was originally published with to the right.  The original cover was removed and the pages were oversewn.  Custom endpapers were added with a computer circuit board pattern.  I built a custom cover with a stylized raised circuit board design on the front covered with hand-pared orange goatskin leather which was pared paper-thin by hand to allow it to take the shape of the very fine raised designs that I created on the cover board underneath.  Orange is Felicia's favorite color.  Copper foil lettering and some linear decorations in copper were added (to tie together the front cover, spine, and back cover).  A custom clamshell box was also built for this book, covered in rust linen book cloth (sides) and rust pigskin leather (front, spine, and back).  More copper lettering and linear decorations were added to the box cover with hot foil stamping as well as three inset orange goatskin dots in a circuit pattern.  Happily, Felicia loved the gift.

 

 felicia day you're never weird on the internet custom orange goatskin leather cover

 

custom rebinding of You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day with custom clamshell box

     

 - rebound published book with pages around 6" wide by 9" tall

- cover is orange goatskin leather, hand-pared paper thin to reveal the raised design on the cover underneath, and rust-brown pigskin leather (spine and back)

- raised stylized computer circuit board design on front

- copper foil lettering on cover added using moveable metal type, hot foil stamping, and satin copper stamping foil

- linear copper foil decorations added using brass rule, hot foil stamping, and satin copper stamping foil

- custom clamshell box covered in rust pigskin leather and rust linen book cloth

- box accented with lettering and more linear decoration in copper as well as three inset orange goatskin leather dots to recall the circuit pattern

- approximately $460 for book and $290 for box (partially do to complex stamping)

 

 

felicia day you're never weird on the internet custom leather clamshell box

 

 

 

_______________________________________________________________

 

felicia day you're never weird on the internet original cover

 

felicia day you're never weird on the internet orange goatskin cover front

 

felicia day you're never weird on the internet orange goatskin cover with leather clamshell box

 

felicia day you're never weird on the internet orange goatskin cover with leather clamshell box spine

 

felicia day you're never weird on the internet orange goatskin cover with leather clamshell box open

 

I enjoyed the story behind this project.  This is a self-published novel by a local author.  She had a number of paperback copies of her book perfect-bound (see the original cover with my customer's wonderful artwork that she created to the right; she's a professional illustrator), but wanted one special copy for herself.  When her grandmother sold her own car, she distributed the money amongst the grandchildren, instructing them to use it to buy something for themselves that they would usually not spend the money on.  Heidi chose to have me do a custom binding for her.  Her somewhat sci-fi story deals with the discovery of a feathered dinosaur, previously thought to be extinct.  The story also includes a disc-like tablet with a mysterious "sun and water" symbol on it.

My customer wanted a "vintage scientific field journal" look so I did the cover as a traditional 3/4 binding with red goatskin spine and corners.  This book also has very traditional raised cords on the spine and marbled endpapers. The fossil is raised on the front cover with the feathered head detail inset over a resin taxidermy eye.  I melted a length of copper tubing and forged it into a disc.  I engraved the rough symbol from her story on the disc and gave the recessed areas a dark patina before permanently attaching the disc to the cover.

 

 redfeather custom binding in goatskin and pigskin with dinosaur fossil feathers and eye

 

custom rebinding of Redfeather

     

 - rebound published book with pages around 6" wide by 9" tall

- cover is rust pigskin leather and red goatskin leather from a one-off dyed goatskin in a 3/4 binding layout

- raised dinosaur fossil on front with inset feathered head detail over a glass bird-style taxidermy eye

- hand-forged and engraved copper ingot "tablet" on front cover accented with black patina and sealed with renaissance wax

- raised cords on spine

- title and feather on spine using moveable metal type, a custom metal die, hot foil stmaping, and blind stamping technique

- blind stamped author's name on back cover using moveable metal type, hot foil stamping, and blind stamping technique

- traditional marbled enpapers in brown and red; a very close match to the cover colors

- approximately $490

(at least $90 of this cost is the cost of creating the copper disc)

 

red feather rebinding in rust pigskin and red goatskin with feathered dinosaur fossil glass eye and copper tablet

 

 

 

 

 

_______________________________________________________________


 

 redfeather heidi richter original cover

 

redfeather goatskin leather rebinding spine raised cords

 

redfeather goatskin leather rebinding feathered dinosaur eye

 

redfeather goatskin leather rebinding copper tablet disc with symbol

 

redfeather goatskin leather rebinding marbled endpapers

 

This is a rebinding of Family Don't End with Blood.  It is a book with a variety of essays written by actors on and fans of the show Supernatural about the positive ways in which the show has impacted them.  Fans of this show call themselves the "Supernatural family" and so I tried to reimagine a family tree for the cover design...doing it in the shape of a shooting target instead of a tree with leaves.  Fans of this show know there is a lot of shooting!  To do this, real bullet casings from Winchester ammunition in three different calber sizes were embedded in the cover.  Each person who wrote an essay for the book got their own bullet (like a leaf on a family tree).  At the very center are the actors who star in the show, followed by the names of other actors who contributed to the book, with the names of the fan contributors in the outer rings.  A custom clamshell box was made to hold and protect the book.  It took a very long time to set all of those names up, letter-by-letter, and stamp them on the cover.  I also destroyed a bunch of metal type on this book because the pressure required for the blind stamping of the small type bent it, rendering it useless.  I could not make this cover again if I wanted to.

 

custom binding of family don't end with blood supernatural 

 

custom rebinding Family Don't End with Blood

(edited by Lynn Zubernis)

     

 - rebound published book with pages around 6" wide by 9" tall

- paperback glue binding was removed and pages were oversewn using 100% cotton thread

- brown and red swirl marbled endpapers

- cover is predominantly dark brown goatskin leather over carved binder's board

- target image on cover created with hand-cut matte board covered with hand-pared tan goatskin leather

- center of target created with hand-cut matte board covered with hand-pared red goatskin leather

- crosshairs on cover added using brass rule, hot foil stamping, and dark brown stamping pigment

- lettering on cover added using moveable metal type, hot foil stamping, and blind stamping technique

- lettering on spine added using moveable metal type, hot foil stamping, and silver stamping foil

- decoration on spine added using a custom metal die, hot foil stamping, and silver stamping foil

- real Winchester bullet casings in three different calibers permanently attached to/embedding in target on the cover

- custom clamshell box covered in dark brown and red book cloth and lined with acid-free Arches cover paper

- all archival adhesives

- approximately $875 for the book

(some of this cost is due to the incredible amount of time it took to stamp all of the names on the cover and the fact that I destroyed the metal type in the process)

- approximately $225 for the box

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_______________________________________________________________

 custom binding of family don't end with blood supernatural

 

custom binding of family don't end with blood supernatural

 

custom binding of family don't end with blood supernatural

 

custom binding of family don't end with blood supernatural

 

custom binding of family don't end with blood supernatural

 

custom binding of family don't end with blood supernatural

 Ayn Rand devotees are, well, very devoted.  My customer wanted a very nice leather rebinding of the centennial edition of The Fountainhead.  He wanted the cover design to be based on the printed dust jacket that came with the published book (see original dust jacket to the right).  I took that dust jacket and turned the design into several different raised and recessed elements.  Additonal lettering was added with silver and pewter foil (stamped on the leather using hot foil stamping).  I like the way the design wraps from the front cover to the back cover.  The gray goatskin leather of the cover was complimented with beautiful marbled stone-pattern endpapers.  A custom clamshell box was made for this book; providing excellent protection for the book.The box was covered with charcoal linen book cloth with the book's title and author stamped on the spine of the box in silver foil.

custom gray leather rebinding of the fountainhead ayn rand

 

custom rebinding of ayn rand's The Fountainhead

centennial edition

with custom clamshell box

     

- rebound published book with pages around 6" wide by 9" tall

- marbled endpapers

- cover is gray goatskin leather over carved binder's board

- angled raised elements on spine

- raised spine elements outlined with pewter foil

- foil lettering on front cover added using moveable metal type, hot foil stamping, and pewter stamping foil

- lettering on spine and back cover added using moveable metal type, hot foil stamping, and silver stamping foil

- custom clamshell box

- box covered in charcoal linen book cloth with lettering and decoration added in silver and pewter foils

- approximately $460 (book)

- approximately $180 (box)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

___________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

 

custom gray leather rebinding or ayn rand the fountainhead original cover art

 

 

custom gray leather rebinding or ayn rand the fountainhead front cover

 

 

custom gray leather rebinding or ayn rand the fountainhead flat

 

 

custom gray leather rebinding or ayn rand the fountainhead spine

 

 

custom gray leather rebinding or ayn rand the fountainhead marbled endpapers

 

 

custom gray leather rebinding or ayn rand the fountainhead custom clamshell box flat

 

custom gray leather rebinding or ayn rand the fountainhead custom clamshell box flat open

 Made for the same customer who commissioned the Fountainhead rebinding above, the cover of this 50th anniversary edition of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged also had to follow the art on the original dust jacket (a tunnel through a mountain with a disc of light from an oncoming train).  I turned the cover art into a raised design that wraps from the front cover to the back cover with classic raised cords on the spine.  A rather long quote appears on the back cover stamped in silver foil.  Set up letter-by-letter, the long quote adds to the cost of this project.  I liked the graphic look of the original dust jacket and thought it translated well into a raised cover design.

custom gray leather collector atlas shrugged rebinding ayn rand

 

custom rebinding of ayn rand's Atlas Shrugged 50th anniversary edition

     

 - rebound published book with pages around 6" wide by 9" tall

- cover is gray goatskin leather over carved binder's board

- raised cords on spine

- raised cords outlined with pewter foil

- foil lettering on back cover added using moveable metal type, hot foil stamping, and silver stamping foil

- blind stamped decorations on spine added using a custom metal die, hot foil stamping, and blind stamping technique

- approximately $480

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_______________________________________________________________

custom gray leather rebinding of ayn rand atlas shrugged original cover art


 

custom gray leather rebinding of ayn rand atlas shrugged front cover 1

 

 

custom gray leather rebinding of ayn rand atlas shrugged front cover 2

 

 

custom gray leather rebinding of ayn rand atlas shrugged spine

 


e-mail contact: tedra@fineblankbooks.com

copyright 2023 fineblankbooks.com