In Praise of My Kwikprint

I was asked just last week what services I offer that are unique. What a great question! It got me thinking about my journals - they are unique in and of themselves but do not qualify as a service. Then I thought about my years of experience as a bookbinder and the terrific equipment I have amassed. One piece that is unique for a small bindery is this Kwikprint machine.


This hand machine enables me to personalize my journals with names, wedding dates, or just fun images I find by searching eBay for lead type.


Basically you place the letters or dingbats (see below) in the type holder you see above. Then you place the item to be stamped on the platform and wait while the heating element heats up the type.


Here are examples of "dingbats" as they are called. They, and the type, are cast from lead. It is a fairly soft metal so I keep the heat on the lower side so as not to melt the pieces. Brass is more duable but hard to find and more expensive.

When the machine is heated up I place a piece of silver or gold foil onto the journal I am personalizing. I then pull the big lever and Voila - personalized items!


These are some examples - a guest book with the name of the family and a book Christmas ornament with a star dingbat on the cover.

More Wallpaper Projects

So I have all this great wallpaper leftover from the Country Living project. I made some wallpaper covered accordion photo albums. A friend suggested framing some of the pieces. What a great idea! I have loads of vintage frames and a mat cutter. So I went to work. Here are the first three results:


An awesome vintage 1940's pattern. It was too brittle to use in the accordion photo albums and I had very little left over.


This is a great Rhodadendron paper in one of my favorite vintage frames.


Lastly is my favorite French paper - I may have to keep this one!

The Print Issue is Out!

Here it is the long awaited for April 2009 Country Living Magazine! Here is the cover and underneath it page 117 - the spread with my large accordion photo albums.




This is the title of the article "Garden Variety" on page 116 and my albums on page 117. The credit is in the resource guide at the back of the issue. I am so excited and thankful to the editors I worked with on this project.

Country Living Magazine Online!

The Country Living Magazine spread "Decorating with Floral Prints" is now on their website. Picture 2 is of the large format accordion photo albums I made for the shoot.  Time to see if the article has hit the newsstands!

Here are some example of smaller format (i.e. for 4X6 pictures) albums I made with the leftover wallpaper from this fun project

: