“When I want to read a good book, I write one.” —Benjamin Disraeli
There are tons of options out there for making your own books, but a lot of “self-publishing” sites require a huge investment because they work on the theory that you want to sell your books to lots of people. But, alas, we little people are satisfied, sometimes, with just making a book or two — for ourselves, for our family, for presents, for a portfolio.
Here are a collection of a few of my favorite places where you can construct your very own book (from McDonald’s publishing to A list restaurant, so to speak) and none of these places force you to purchase more than a single copy of your book.
Espresso Book Machine
I posted about the Espresso Book Machine from On Demand Books a few weeks ago. I’m pretty obsessed with the fact that you can be standing in front of a machine, bookless, and ten minutes later have your self-written opus in your excited hands.
Lulu
I have no personal experience with lulu.com but I re-visit the page again and again, dreaming of the books I can create, sell (if you want you can set a price and sell your books online with no inventory costs), or give away. At Lulu, a paperback book with 100 pages can cost you less than $7, and you can order a new one anytime you want. A color comic book might cost you $15. You can also print cookbooks, textbooks, brochures, and there are even special software packages for children who want to create a book.
Lulu even has a Vintage Publishing service. This is more expensive ($150+ for the creation of the book, but regular prices apply to book purchases), but Lulu will scan in old books like scrapbooks, family heirlooms, or out-of-print books and turn them in to new, not-falling-apart books for your family to enjoy. They’ll also give you a high-quality pdf version.
Blurb
Blurb.com seems to be an artsier version of Lulu. Prices are a little steeper (for example, a 40 page 8×10 book is $20), but all include four color printing. There is also special, downloadable software if you need help building your book. You can flip through some already created books here. Book by Its Cover also did a very honest review of her blurb-created book, which I suggest you read before you take the plunge.
Good Stock
Good Stock is the cream of the book publication crop and is especially for those who want to make some kind of epic memory book probably for a momentous occasion like a birth, an anniversary, a wedding, etc. Yes, these books are expensive (maybe something like, say, $500), but I think they are amazing, beautiful, and incredibly professional, especially good for someone who knows he cannot quite create a fully-polished product on his own.
Kim at Good Stock has her own blog, and is one of the people who personally takes your shoebox full of pictures and memories and turns it into a visual story (with detailed input from you, of course). If you can’t afford your own book, you can look at some of the books already created here.
Book covers, in all their beauty, are often both an inspiration and an actual material for crafters. I zoomed around Etsy and the internet today to bring you some of my favorites in book crafts.
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man book cover Wallet ($35, ReboundDesigns on Etsy - lots of great wallets and some pricey but cute book purses)
Bobbsey Twins Book Purse ($45, ExLibrisPurses on Etsy — a new user, but I just love the orange insides!)
Donna Parker Goes to Hollywood Journal or Sketchbook made to your specifications (PenguinLovePress on Etsy, $20 — lots of vintage book covers ready to be made to your specs)
Assorted spiral bound book cover journals, $13 each
Make sure to visit my other Book Week posts here!
I recently discovered the new “got milk?” web-site while surfing NotCot.org. I love the white paper cut-out look, very milky. There are also lots of fun moving parts and colorful characters. An excellent example of corporate web-design (for those of us with fast enough connections to keep up with it).
My favorite part of the site? DIY projects for the crafty milk-drinker-recyclers among us. The downloadable pdf instructions are availible for both milk cartons and milk jugs. I know, it’s all a little kindergarten, but the youthful part of me can’t help but get excited.
“Do it your mole” was a contest to create your own “cut and assemble” paper figurine from a pre-made mole figurine (available for pdf download). The translation on the page is a bit rocky, but the project looks like it was fun!
I’m *supposed* to take a blogging-break on weekends, but I fell a little in love with this and couldn’t help but share (so glad I stumbled upon Design Mom’s blog for this goody!).
It’s the ASL alphabet made out of matchbooks from JK Keller (who, by the way, has a wonderful web-page and is apparently friends with the voice from inside the Postcard Machine at Renegade!).
There is a little place in my heart for all crafty, cool, and incredible things I wish I had thought of, but there is also another special place in my heart for ASL (I took a few years worth of sign language classes at Galladuet, the university for the Deaf in Washington DC.)
Anyway, this would look really awesome in a frame. On my wall.
As you well know, I’ve done a week of posts about the awesome 2008 Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn, a fest of handmade, do-it-yourself, Etsy-ian fantastic-ness.
There is only one thing to do after spending an entire week rounding something up, and that’s re-rounding it up. Yes, that’s right, re-rounding it up. So click on the images below to be taken away to various web-sites to see various wonders.
Or, just scroll through my entire collection of Renegade Craft Fair posts on Stickers & Donuts. Enjoy!
CLICK ON IMAGES!
(no worries, they’ll open in a new window)
WARNING::WARNING::TONS OF POSTS COMING UP::WATCH YOUR WALLET
When I arrived at the Renegade Craft Fair, I started collecting business cards with two purposes in mind:
But, alas, with over 200 vendors, some of them sharing a table with a friend, there suddenly became way too many business cards to even carry in my pockets (see pictures above)! But, as it goes with pretty things, I couldn’t help myself and even forced my partner-in-crime to take some, too, if the back and the front were both pretty (I didn’t want to seem like I was hogging all the business cards, even if I was).
When I arrived home, though, the poor scanner couldn’t handle such a load of cards, and thus I laid-out a few (okay, a bunch) of my favorites on a bulletin board (click on the picture for a larger view).
One big business card theme was the use of Moo.com’s MiniCards, which are about 1/3 the size of a regular business card, and each card can contain a different image. Some crafters choose to place random images of their crafts on the back (front?) of their cards and others choose to alternate between a few images or logos.
Since this was a big gathering of DIYers, there were also lots of hand-stamped, hand-cut, hand-pasted cards. Others were printed more traditionally. One of my favorite business cards included My Imaginary Boyfriend, which had a black and white photo of a high school boyfriend on the front, and thus looked like one of those pocket yearbook photos you share with friends (near bottom of left of bulletin board photo). Another favorite was from Timber!. Their card was square, but still convenient for a pocket, and the back looked like tree bark (bottom right hand corner of bulletin board photo).
But my favorite business card, hands down, was from Iskra Print Collective. Although I usually don’t like business cards in the shape of large pamphlets or postcards (ie things I can’t fit in my pocket or wallet!), I was so pleased to see that these pretty business cards could fit on my face! There were many glasses types to choose from, but I picked these (it was between these and the aviators!). You can checkout Iskra’s print shop online.
One of my favorite things yesterday at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn was the Postcard Machine.
A woman sits inside this crafty little “postcard vending machine” with a microphone and speaks in very terse, robotic voice as you interact with it to get your postcard. (more…)
Today I went to The Fourth Annual Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn, NY at McCarren Park Pool (yes, the pool is an actual empty community pool where concerts, free movie screenings, and a craft fair full of renegades all take place — if you are as curious as I was about what an abandoned pool looks, see below).
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This craft fair is one of the premier DIY and crafter fairs and occurs four times a year (twice in Chicago, and once in San Fransisco and Brooklyn). So many people want to fill the 200 available tent spaces that the selected crafters have to be pretty wonderful to have a spot. This year, Etsy had a big overall presence at the fair and its own table with magical freebies such as a “passport” to the fair, stickers, buttons, and temporary tattoos.
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While I’m still recovering from the heat, I’m mostly still recovering from the awesome-ness of seeing so many creative people in one room (er, pool). After a full day of oohing, ahhing, note-taking, business card collecting, and wishing “I had thought of that” I am returning to you with not just one post on the Renegade Craft Fair but a fabulous week of posts. I just couldn’t help myself.
Enjoy! (All Renegade Fair 08 posts will be collected here!)
A post on SwissMiss yesterday had me gallivanting around Fred & Friend’s which led me to discover these Arty Party paper plates which I think are awesome not just for children and art history majors, but some very exciting themed parties (how cool would it be to have a Picasso-themed party and gunk up some of these plates?!). ($7.45 for a 12 pack on amazon.com)
“These 8 1/2” x 10” dinner plates are realistically molded from thick, coated paperstock… so bring on your barbecue brush strokes, your pudding pointillism, or your pasta imposto - they can handle it!” (Fred & Friend’s).
Just found this “Make Your Own Slime Creep Toy” at The Blog of Rowan Tedge (a pretty cool Australian illustrator). You can make your very own crazy toy by printing out this sheet & cutting & taping away!
Welcome to my first YouTube video from the new Stickers & Donuts YouTube Channel. Our first video (by Maria) is a bottle cap jewelry & magnet do-it-yourself tutorial. This how to should provide some basic instructions, tips, and tricks on how to start creating fun crafts out of bottle caps!
Here are two photos from the depths of my own Bottle Cap Craft Lab: (more…)
Journals made from real book covers. Love how crafty-cool these are ($13, bookjournals.com)!
I am so in love with these manipulated images from the Wurst Gallery. (Visit these “vintage vandals” at the Wurst web-site.)
“Each artist was asked to find a framed piece of artwork at their local thrift store and manipulate it into a piece of their own. select an artist below to see the results” (thewurstgallery.com)
There are a lot of graduations & birthdays in May, and I generally expect to give friends & family something artsy and personalized (same problem at Christmas) along with their gift. So, how do I make my presents LOOK personalized without having to hand drawn 15 cartoons or make a dozen scrapbooks? I get crafty about my crafts.
Linoleum prints are easy (but don’t seem easy), are really fun, and can be completed while watching Netflix movies. Although you need a “linoleum” block, these blocks are not actually made of kitchen-tile linoleum (as some imagine), and are not actually that expensive. Supplies can be purchased at stores like AC Moore, or online at places like Blick. A simple starter set (that’s what I have) is less than $25 and can be easily supplemented with linoleum blocks that cost from $1-$10 online, depending on the size.
How do you create a cool linoleum print? Well, this is how I do it:
