Buku Hantaran: Green & Pink with Blings!

 This order came from a long time follower, she even wanted to join the book classes I conducted but due to circumstances she could not.

 And now finally, she's getting engaged! And naturally, she wants a folder of her own.

The first part of the request was blings! Lots and lots of blings. With light green and pink.

I have come to realise as much as I have the colours requested to start me off, I don't really know how the whole look will come together until I selected the base, and everything that goes along with it. In this case, I decided to go with the pink with white sakura print base, it had purple sakura too but that got hidden by the green and pink roses going on there. And the white sakura works well for the green heart gems I added on top.

 

Added more pink gems in heart and round shapes, and a darker shade of pink rhinestones. I used a large dark pink gem for the centerpiece as a highlight to all the pinks that is going around. The platform echoed the print that is happening on the inside of the folder.

Since I was already going with the sakura print outside, I decided to follow along for the inside, except it has a white base with pink sakura and green leaves. Just to add emphasis on the blings I put some on the inside covers too.

The folder came out pretty girly, and the client was very happy, and she's looking forward to her function that will happen beginning of the year so she can get the folder back for her to keep.

Buku Hantaran: Pink, Purple & Gold

These are my current favourite! I like how neat and tidy it looks. I love how considerate the client was for giving me ample time (she informed me two months prior to the event) and how nice she was when I called her up so I'm clear as to what she wanted. How easy I thought it'll be to get the colours and style...

Everything checked apart from that last line. I hunted everywhere! In the end, I had to go another route to recreate the fancy swirls that she wanted. It was pretty unconventional because I was using a material which I have not tried before and I wasn't sure how it would react with the glue but it was worth a try.

And it came out gorgeous! Because of the layering I was able to achieve that rich subtle look in and out of the folder. The roses scattered around the raised name plate ties in with the watermark rose their name was printed on in gold.

The fastening I used was much tidier and it need not be incorporated into the design, like how I'd normally would use ribbons and bows as fastening and have to figure how it would look to the overall design, so with the fastening I used on this one, you'd hardly notice it.

When the client came to pick them up and saw them, she loved them! I'm glad the folders have reached her expectations. It's always nice to chat a bit on how the wedding preparation is going, and she was a bit nervous as it was only a few days to go from when she picked up the folders. I told her everything will be well, just be positive and relax and enjoy the big day...

More pictures of the folders can be seen here.

Sneak Peak.....

Totally loving this one! Love love love! That is... until the next piece I'll construct, hehe... More pictures and story on next post when I'm free...

Buku Hantaran: Pink & White

I happen to have a spare if anyone is interested for that special engagement. It's A5 in size, 16cm by 22cm. Perfect for anniversaries (a friend had one and she wrote out the lyrics to 'their song' and placed it in the folder to give to her husband for one of their wedding anniversary, he was floored!) or that special photo...

It got pink tassels in the corners just because... More details and pictures can be found here.

Update (3rd December 2011) The folder is finally going to make it's debut tomorrow, a buyer came over to have a look and immediately fell in love and went home with it to be used for the first function of 'bersuruh' and few weeks later for the engagement function.

An Angel Came To Visit

Isn't she a cutie! This is Aisyah, four months old (I hope I spelt her name right) Her dad and I have been friends for the past fifteen years or so. He came by the house one day on his way to his parents and she was with him, the mummy was busy at home so he took Aisyah out so she could do house chores in peace. We all fell in love with her, Win, mom and I. Best well behaved baby ever. Well, in the short time she was around.

Coincidentally, I made a book for another angel, my dear cousin Angeline. My friend Alison asked for a book for Angeline's birthday. I remembered last year, Angeline's sister Adeline asked for the same thing as well because Angeline loves to write. I made three books, all pink themed and Adeline fell in love with one of them and kept it for herself. For this book I just had to add wings, I couldn't help myself. It's too good a coinkidink not to. Angel wings for Angeline. I wonder what she thought of it...

Little Pink Themed Books

This is what the client is going to get

And these are what's inside when she opens them up!

Three little journals, with three different bindings. The pink and silver was an experimental binding, the thread loops in one direction and then goes back creating a criss cross pattern through the silver beads. Also my first soft spine binding, was worried how it was going to turn out, kept on reminding myself just have fun with it, you never know how it's going to turn out, and it came out great! Silver ribbon to finish off the look. An A6 with about 200 pages if I'm not mistaken.

The one with the roses is a coptic binding. The roses in the center can pop off to make writing easier in the book. The covers are slightly cushioned, the butterflies and pink ribbons ties the whole thing together. It's about 15cm by 15cm with 120 pages.

The mock leather cushioned wrap with pink leather tie I think it's a long stitch, I like doing this one, and it came out beautifully. I had this knocking around in my head, I just wasn't sure how to bind the whole thing. Saw Rhona's pink leather journals and those were gorgeous, I could've subconsciously picked it up from there.

The wrap came out from the jungles of the content of the studio so it's a one and only piece. If I could, I'd love to make more of these. The holes for the binding I pierced as I was binding so it's looking uneven. How do you guys know how to space out the holes and prior to binding the sections? That part I couldn't figure out. I tried measuring but I end up spacing the holes too far apart. Trial and error I guess...

The leather cord was a lucky thing I had, I just simply wove it through the binding threads and it stayed there relatively well. I forgot the size to this one... it's slightly taller then the pink and silver book.

So overall apart from the coptic, the experimental books went well. Feeling very happy. Can't wait to see the client's face tomorrow!

Add on: The books were for her sister, but when she saw the leather wrap one she immediately stalked claim of it. It is a very pretty book, very elegant I might add :-p Anyway, you can see more detailed images of the books here, the insides and out.