Miniature book production slowed down a little bit for the holiday season: working in a shop is always a bit exhausting at Christmas! I also got a little distracted by a new sculpting material (what a surprise), but more about that later. I’m pleased to report that having listed a handful of necklaces on Etsy in November, and having done zero self-promotion other than my posts here, I’ve sold a good few. Some online and some just through enquiries from people who saw me wearing mine at work!
As always, I’m constantly researching the next possible upgrade or improvement to technique. Since November I’ve started adding hand-sewn headbands to all but the tiniest books. I think it makes them extra interesting, even if it’s incredibly fiddly and takes a while to sew.
I’ve also bought some nice hammered white 100gsm paper, and similar in cream, to make the pages of the books. Up until now I was using drawing paper left over from my art school days which was perfectly serviceable but I do like to know exactly what I’m using in case people ask. It also means I can print onto the pages before binding. So far I’ve only used this to add a logo to the last page of the miniature books (I was signing and dating them before) but it has the potential to allow me to print text on every page, and create an actual miniature book. I’ll probably give this a go with short poems in the new year.
Next I think I’ll try adding multiple books to a necklace: making a kind of miniature library accessory. That’ll be more of an aesthetic challenge than a technical one.
At some point I want to try embossing gold leaf onto the miniature books. I’ve lettered book spines at book binding courses in the past, but there we used hulking great machines to hold and heat the letters so adapting the process to a small scale without blowing my budget on a miniature stove will be a good challenge.
