Bad Ass Bookshelves: Creative Ways to Display Your Books (Part 2)

Today is the continuation of yesterday's post on killer bookshelves. Short or tall, curved or geometric, wood or polyurethane, a bookshelf can be a way to express your creativity and even your philosophies.

Lighter than Air
Ok, so this bookshelf is actually part of a gallery exhibit. The concept is taking what we traditionally think of when we think of a bookshelf (heavy, bulky and immovable), and turning the concept on its end, turning the bookshelf into a delicate, airy chain. Though not technically available for public purchase, I feel like some quality time with metal snips and some heavy gauge hangers could yield something similar.

Bad Ass Bookshelves: Creative ways to display your books (Part 1)

Sure, a book is a beautiful piece of art to bibliophiles like you or me. But what is a Rembrandt or a Picasso without a gorgeous frame around it? Okay, they're still masterpieces, but you never see plain pieces of canvas hanging in museums. Likewise, a cool or interesting bookshelf is a great way to showcase your books and express your artistic side. For the next couple of posts we are going to look at some killer bookshelves.

Books as Art: Extrordinary Paper Crafting (Part 1)

 

 Today we are presenting the first installment of some awesome crafts and sculpture made from books. I wish  could papercraft like this.

Awesome Sea-themed scene

More photos after the jump

Our First Craft! Coasters for Bibliophiles

Okay, so this first craft is pretty self serving: I needed some coasters. However I didn't just want any old silly coasters, I wanted cool ones. So I got the idea to decoupage these nifty ones out of some old books!

PICTURE COMING VERY VERY SOON

Instructions and more pictures after the jump

I've got the Books, Now what about the Tools?

So you've gone through all those old books, carefully weeded through the ones you want to keep and the ones you want to craft. Next step is to get your tools ready. I have compiled a list of all the different tools you will need to get started with most basic crafts.

Books for Crafting and Where to get Them

So you've got your X-acto blades and craft glue ready to start some awesome crafts? Oh wait, no books? That's ok, this post will give you some insight on the best sources for books you intend on using just for crafting purposes.

What Types of Books are Ideal for Crafting?

The most difficult part of book-crafting is deciding what types of books should be salvaged and which books should be turned into crafts. You don't want to cut into a first edition Faulkner, and you don't want to get halfway into a craft before realizing that you have a book with the wrong sort of structure for the craft you are attempting. In this post you will learn what the best types of books are for crafting in general as well as specific types of crafts.

Onward with the Crafting!

Part of the joy of having a physical book is that the book has many lives. Its first life begins the first time it is picked up off of the shelf at a bookstore, where it is opened and read for the first time. It may later have other lives as it passes from hand to hand, garage sale to used bookstore. Each time a book is read it gains more character, from the notes in the margins to the coffee stain in the corner.

Eventually a book, especially a well loved and well read tome, will reach a point where it is no longer in a useful or readable condition. The content may be out of date, or the book itself may be worn and battered beyond the point of practical reading. In this case we are able to let books go out with an artistic bang, by up-cycling them into something beautiful. For the next several days we will be focusing on ways to give old and abused books a new form.

Wow, Real Book Art still Exists! Introducing the St. John's Bible

For the first time in over 500 years, a new version of the Bible has come out written completely by hand. Utilizing the skills of a team of scribes, St. John's University commissioned the work in 1998, and the book was completed in early May of this year.

 The book is to be bound in seven volumes, has 1,150 pages and the calligraphy was done using 130 year old ink applied with goose, turkey, and swan feathers.

Who says the old ways are dead?

source

Where has the Beauty of Bookbinding Gone? Exploring Gauffered Edges

In a previous post I talked about finding some beautifully bound books in University of the Pacific's library that had some beautiful designs stamped onto the edges of their pages.

A little bit of digging provided some insight into the rarely seen practice. The technique is called gauffered edges, and was popular in the 16th and 17th centuries before falling out of fashion.

More pictures and history of gauffered edges after the jump.

The Library as a Museum: Part Two

Another installment of our library as art series focuses today on the library as an artistic muse.

This view of the stacks at University of the Pacific's library can be the first trip down the rabbit hole for some

More photos after the jump

Back to Basics: How to open a book for the first time

I get it. We the people of the technology age, we know how to download a novel, sync it, link it, upload and download it all over again. So how could anyone possibly screw up something as simple as opening a book?

You'd be surprised.

If a book is well bound, the binding will be tight and rigid at first. Without properly limbering the book up a bit first, you risk damaging the structure of the binding and ultimately, the book itself.

Welcome to the Nook!

Bibliophile: noun
a lover of books especially for qualities of format; also : a book collector.

Welcome to the Bookkeeper's Nook, where you will learn how to take those dusty old books you picked up at flea markets, used bookstores or your neighbor's estate sale and either refurbish them to thier former state of glory, or up-cycle them into a whole new work of art.


With the advent of new technology such as the Kindle or Nook, books have begun to fall by the mainstream wayside. If you miss the feel of a nice hardbound in your hands, or the smell of a first edition classic, stick around and find some new and exciting ways to transform your old damaged books into the works of art they were meant to be.