valiha | Bookbinding commissions

Hello all, I’m trying to raise money for my LIS master’s thesis defense, and I’m opening commissions.

I spent most of this year in chemotherapy, and while we have universal healthcare, My pay was cut since I was on medical leave, and I couldn't work at my second job. As a result, I had to use my savings to pay for additional meds and bills.

I offer handmade items: handbound sketchbooks and printed planners, and genuine & faux leather traveler’s notebooks.
The techniques I use are Coptic stitch, vellum and case binding. I also plan to add calligraphy and watercolor commissions soon; page updates will follow.

I usually use 4 sheets of paper per signature, which amounts to 16 usable pages, x 7 signatures, for a total of 112 pages. The page count is negotiable. For sketchbooks I use Fabriano Schizzi ivory sketch paper, 90g/m2, good for dry media. For planners (only in A5 size) I use Fabriano CopyTinta ivory, 80g/m2. Other types of paper (watercolor, marker paper) can be arranged.

These are the sizes I offer:

Size    Width x Height (mm)    Width x Height (in)
A5       148 x 210 mm                 5.8 x 8.3 in
A6       105 x 148 mm                 4.1 x 5.8 in

Prices for A5 sketchbooks start at $20 + shipping estimated at $10 (PM me if you’d like me to give you an accurate shipping quote) and will vary depending on the size, cover, the paper used, and the design of the cover and/or planner. For an even more affordable option, I can recycle unused paper from store bought lined, square or blank notebooks.

The options and price breakdown is as follows (example pictures will be added):

Covers:
- book board, 2-3 mm
- acrylic-coated bookcloth, solid colors (red, green, blue, black)
- papercut design (e.g. Harley Quinn as shown here)
- decorative paper (iridescent, rice paper, textured…)
- textile
- photo inlay (printed on photo paper +$5; watercolor illustration: TBA)
- emboss design

Book block:
- Fabriano Schizzi ivory sketch paper, 90g/m2 (sketchbooks, A5 and A6)
- Fabriano CopyTinta ivory (but other colors can be discussed), 80g/m2 (for printed planners; A5 size only)
- plain recycled notebook paper: lined, square, blank

Binding
- Coptic binding
- case binding +$5
- leather velum binding (no hard covers, text block sewn directly to the leather): real leather +$10, faux leather +$5

A5 Coptic bound sketchbook / planner
- $25 for a planner designed and printed by me (design done according to the client’s needs)
- $20 for 112 pages of Fabriano Schizzi
- $15 for 112 plain pages of Fabriano CopyTinta
- $10 for plain recycled notebook paper

A6 Coptic bound sketchbook
- $15 for 112 pages of Fabriano Schizzi
- $10 for 112 plain pages of Fabriano CopyTinta

Additional options
- label holders
- elastic closure
- magnetic closure
- book corners
- inside pockets
- metal charms

We can negotiate the size of the traveler’s notebooks, but for reference, these are the most common sizes:

Size          Width x Height (mm)    Width x Height (in)
Regular     125 x 220 mm                4.9 x 8.7 in
Passport    100 x 135 mm               3.9 x 5.3 in

Prices for Passport size start at $15, and for Regular size at $20 + shipping as above. If you wish, we can also negotiate designing and printing some inserts for you, with or without covers, as well as other details such as pockets etc.
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