Edible Books

A few weeks ago I made small edible booklets from marzipan and fondant. When the fondant was still soft my logo could easily be pressed in the cover. These miniature books, as sweet as honey, were a great success at the networking event where everyone had to take something eatable to represent his or her company. Besides that it was fun making these books and receiving a lot of eatable gifts from other entrepreneurs, it also brought me into a new world; the world of edible books. 

Books are made from paper, ink and cardboard, so my first search was targeted at these 'ingredients'.

•  Edible paper, also known as ouwel/wafer is made from potato starch, vegetable oil and water. The manufacturer can add flavours, colours and the thickness can be adjusted. It is also possible to print with edible ink
• Books are often sewn with thread, a quick search yielded several edible ropes. For example dried Japanese Japanese bottle gourd or ropes from the fibers of nettles.

This is only a very short enumeration of the possibilities. Each project requires its own ingredients.

In my search I found several interesting examples;

1. The Land Rover survival guide. The basic idea of this book is that the owner can survive in the Arabian Dessert. It describes which animals and plants one can eat, but not only the content helps one to survive, also the book itself. The packaging is reflective, so it can be used for signaling, the metal spiral of the binding can be used for cooking and last but not least ... people can eat the book. The nutritional value is close to that of a cheeseburger. This book was first printed in limited edition, but soon it became a hit and now there are 70,000 books in circulation ... how many have been eaten ... no one knows :)
   
   
   
2. Design and inoovations agency Korefe made a cookbook that can actually be read and eaten. The book is made out of fresh pasta and can be opened an read. Afterwards you can fill it with ingredients and put it in the oven.
   
   
   
3. The Dutch cook, Pierre Wind, made an edible book from ouwel/wafer, marzipan and licorice laces called Doekoe voor boekids.
   
   
   

Do you have a special example of edible books or ingredients, don't hesitate to let us know in a comment.
Looking for a special book? Prien is always in for an adventure. Please contact me, so we can discuss the possibilities.

Prien's Diary

Looking for a structured live, an empty head, and just happy thoughts. A diary might help!

An old fashioned diary, for all your (secret) thoughts, ideas, dreams, jokes, sorrows and unforgettable memories. Sometimes when you write, your subconsciousness just runs off, and your hand keeps writing the most beautiful unexpected ideas.

A diary is not only for writing, you can also draw and sketch in it. Sometimes an image can say more than a thousand words, or your words need some visual back-up.

In these days of computers, mobile phones, tablets and all kind of other digital stuff, it is sometimes nice to use pen and paper. Just slow down, and pay real attention to what your are doing.
You can use your diary in so many ways:
- be a diva
- write down all your twisted ideas
- create your own perfect dream world
- see it as your best friend ever
- hide your deepest sorrow
- build your private castle in the air
- use it as a treasury for the small things in life
- speak with your senses; feel/smell/see/hear with words

How do you use your diary and what does it mean for you?
Please let me know ...
Have fun writing!

ps. Prien has a diary in the shop at the moment. This one is faded green, with dots. If you are not a
      fan of green, or dots and you are looking for your perfect diary, please contact me for the
      possibilities.

Holiday gifts

Looking for a perfect gift for the holidays? Perhaps these Volkswagen retro notebooks are exactly what you are looking for.

For every wish there is a notebook; lined, blank pages, thicker pages to sketch on, A4, A5, square, rectangular and not to forget the minis.

Handbound, firm and handy notebooks. Planning a nice long summer trip, use one of these handy booklets to write down your hotspots. Or do you have a lot of good intentions for next year, don't hesitate to write them down in one of the Volkswagen cahiers. If your not such a person for words, some of these notebooks are ideal for sketching. With pages of 115 gr/m2 you can use a marker or fineliner without making a mess.

Check out www.prien.nl for the details and the models.

Photos like fairy tales

wow ... that was the first thing that came in mind seeing these pictures. I wish I could do that ... those colors, the composition, the atmosphere of the picture ...

Oleg Oprisco is the maker of these fine art photos. He doesn't take snapshots, every photo is the result of hard work. First Oprisco sketches the image, than he starts looking for the props at flea markets and when everything is ready, the photo shoot takes a day or two. The photos might look fairylike, but they are the result of hard work.

I could tell a lot more about this Ukrainian photographer, but an image says more than a thousands word ... so just look and enjoy! I hope the situation in Ukraine doesn't have too much impact on this artist! Hopefully he will make a lot more of these beautiful fine arts photos. By the way the photos are for sale at his site.

Irma Boom about the future of books

Last week book designer Irma Boom won the Johannes Vermeer Prijs, the Dutch state prize for the arts. In an interview with De Volkskrant Boom says that she sees the prize as an appreciation for the graphic arts industry in The Netherlands. This industry can use some encouragement, because fewer and fewer books are printed and bound.

Luckily Irma Boom believes that the book has a future, even in this digital century. She thinks that a book is more necessary than ever, to bring slowness and deepening in people's lives. A book slows, it makes you choose another rhythm. Boom sees a book as 'frozen information', with a fixed order, so that the reader can reflect and derive meaning from the design choices of the compiler. In contrast, internet is chaotic, without focus and temporary.

Boom says it is not only the order that gives a book extra value, but also the touch of the pages and the book edges. Her Chanel book is all white with blind printing, so you can see the content at floodlight, or you can feel it with your fingertips. The book edge of the Sheila Hicks book is frayed and feels like cotton.

The juryrapport about why they granted Irma Boom this big prize:
'In the world of the internet and virtual communication, Irma Boom's greatest achievement is that she has made the book a physical experience once more. She continues to impress with her ambition to push the boundaries with each and every book, her unbridled desire to reach beyond the original wishes of her clients, and her ability — maintained for decades — to deliver work of the highest artistic quality. For all these reasons, the jury has chosen her as the deserving winner of the Johannes Vermeer Award 2014.'

Just like Irma Boom, I believe that books have the future. I love to read and of course I own a e-reader and a tablet with hundreds of e-books ... but reading a real book remains the best! It is not only reading which is special, writing is as special as well. Making plans in your notebook, write down your most brilliant thoughts or dreams in your diary ... the hand bound book certainly has a future :)

The beauty of Rust

Sometimes little wonders just happen. Do nothing .. be a bit lazy ... and ... tadaa ... the magic is there.

Last summer my father in law gave me a lot of iron heavy weights to press booklets and other stuff. The only thing I had to do was paint them, because they were really rusty. The cardboard I used as underground was put aside and forgotten ... until I found it again and was stunned by the colors the rust had left.

The grain of paper

After years of bookbinding, often I am still confused by the grain of paper. Today I was at war with my paper again while making business cards. I have this beautiful flyleaf paper, white with a linen finishing, very cool paper, but much to thin for business cards. So I decided to glue this paper on both sides of a sheet of 250 grams A4. To prevent this new formed thick sheet from warping, the grains had to match ... so thinking, folding, doubting and to be sure ... reading ... So this is a refreshment for me ... maybe it is convenient for you as well ...

The grain of the paper is important for

• The final fold of your booklet. You want the page to curl from side to side, so you can easily turn the pages and the book opens flat.
• Prevention of warping. You don't want your booklet to end up with warped covers.
• Creating crisp, even folds and prevent cracking.

It is always easy to work with handmade paper. The pulp is allowed to settle randomly, so the fibers are multi-directional. Unfortunately you often don't have the luxury to work with this kind of paper, so you have to determine the grain of the mass-produced paper. In the mechanical process, the water flows across the surface in one direction, so the fibers get their grain.

Ideally the grain of the paper and the boards of the side-covers always run parallel with the spine of the book. Keith Smith has a very simple example to clarify the direction of grain; a sushi mat. The direction of the wooden sticks represents the direction of the grain in paper or book board. Just as the mat rolls easily in one direction, so does paper. As a true sushi lover I certainly will remember this one :)

Unfortunately you need some more info to determine the grain direction. Grain runs parallel with the direction of the paper in which there is less resistance to folding. If you can't determine the resistance by folding you can dampen a little piece of paper. It will curl immediately, the axis of the curl is parallel with the grain. The curl shows the direction the paper should be folded.

To prevent warping it is important that the grain of the flyleaf and the book board are identical. Book board is easy to test. Just bend a full sheet, the board will flex more easily in the direction that is parallel with the grain. Since it is very difficult to determine the grain for small parts of cardboard, make sure you put lines on the big sheet, so you can always see the grain at the small parts later on.

Besides paper and cardboard, book cloth also has a grain. This grain is typically parallel to the selvage or outer edge of the cloth. This is often very confusing, because when you buy book cloth it is typically rolled cross-grain. So be careful with that one!

One basic rule you can always remember is that the grain usually runs parallel to the long side of the sheet ... although not always ... so remain wary :) 

More tricks & tips are always welcome, so please don't hesitate to make a comment!

Watch Case

As a bookbinder your basic materials are cardboard, bookbinders linen and glue ... perfect ingredients for other projects, such as a watch case.

Commissioned by Fitzory & Everest, Prien remodeled an antique English briefcase into a luxurious watch case. The leather suitcase forms the perfect basis for the suede framework and cushions. Since the suitcase was pretty lopsided every side had to be measured and glued separately. A challeging job, done in several days last summer.

It is nice to have such different assignments. Figuring out the best way to fulfill the project, thinking, drawing and discussing the possibilities with your client, that's what makes my job the best of the world!

Paper Sculptures

'I have chosen paper as a medium because it captures that mixture of delicacy and durability that for me characterizes the natural world.'

With this quote Rogan Brown even inspires me more. Paper art is something I love! You can create such beauty with simple plain white paper. Who needs gold and silver and other expensive and rare commodities. Of course paper also has a footprint. A lot of trees and chemicals are necessary to create our simple plain white paper. So think before you use it and recycle!

Rogan Brown creates interesting beautiful kind of micro organisms and plant life with cut out paper. Topographical charts - such as the Norwegian fjords -  are also a big inspiration. The immense complexity and intricacy of natural forms is what fascinates Brown most. He sees the 'story of the understanding of the subject and the making of the artwork' as a prominent part of the artwork in total. 

Prien Personalized Family History

At the Utrechtse Fabriek, an outside market in the Griftpark in Utrecht, I met someone who wrote down his family history and was looking for a method to print and bind his story. We had a nice conversation about your own history and its imagery. The changes in the world per generation are enormous. When you were born at the beginning of the 20th century you were the lucky one to witness the change from a barely industrialized world to the computerized world of today. Can you imagine your house without a fridge, a vacuum cleaner ... or computer ...

My client described the impact of those world changing inventions for his family, intertwined with personal events. Interesting to read, and supported with pictures that give a good image of the era.
The text had been written in Word, without taking the bind method into account. In InDesign I edited this text and images to printable sections.

The sections were sewn and bound in a multi-section case binding, so the booklet is strong and durable. This binding method has the advantage of lying flat when opened. The sewn signatures were bound in a hard covered board-bases case. The simple linen structured endpapers attach the book block to the case.

The client designed the cover and I just printed it and laminated the paper with a mat soft finishing. This extra layer protects the cover from stains and minor damage.

Working in close cooperation with your client is one of the things I like most in my work, especially when you receive a very nice message afterwards! My client was really happy with the result, and is already working on his next booklet. I am looking forward to a new cooperation!

Looking for a special way to save your text or photo's, don't hesitate to contact me!