Project for Kona Brewing up for Rosey Award

Early this year, Sally Murdoch came to us with a project for Kona Brewing. As their PR firm, she was planning secret tastings along the west coast for their new beer, Koko Brown (coconut flavored!). She had us make handmade coconut paper folios as part of their press kit. The tastings were a hit -- we went and  the beer was delicious. Now the entire project is up for a 2011 Rosey Award! Read more about it and visit the site to "like" the project. The press kit: Beer by Kona Brewing, folder by HSS with letterpress by Studio Olivine, concept by Sally Murdoch Media Relations.

kona_brewing_press_kit_folder

Dogs or Cats?

I was just visiting the website of our friends and fellow Portlanders Egg Press. While their website is beautiful and their work outstanding, my favorite thing I noticed today is they have a blog category devoted to chickens. We here at HSS are also big animal lovers -- one of our client intake questions is, "Dogs or cats?" So I thought I'd share two of our favorite animals here: Molly's dog Callie and Michelle's cat (with many rotating names). Like us, they both enjoy dressing up now and then.

Callisto the dog in a tiara The Cat in a fancy necklace

Wedding Album with Photo Prints

Photographs Shine in a Handmade Wedding Album

We often make blank books here at Hinged Strung Stitched, and leave it up to the client to add their own content. However, we also offer photo mounting services for our handmade albums. Mounted photos give the book a satisfying heft, and look simply beautiful. This album and slipcase for photographer and new friend Christina Richards are the latest to leave the studio:

photo_album_and_slipcase

A photo of the couple is mounted into a recessed window on the slipcase:

slipcase_with_inset_photo

The hues of the bookcloths work nicely with the tones in Christina's photos:

custom_wedding_photo_album

wedding_photos_mounted_in_album

photos_in_wedding_album_with_slipcase

All photos in the album are copyright Christina Richards.

As always, feel free to contact us with any questions or comments.

Bookbinding Class

Learning to make books at HSS

Yesterday we had the pleasure of teaching bookbinding to a wonderful group from Wieden+Kennedy (graciously hosted by Yahoo). We made a sewn text block that attached to the decorative cover via ribbons sewn onto the spine. Here are some of the steps we went through to make the books:

Class members prepare materials. bookbinding_class_portland

Paper is folded into signatures (six signatures of four sheets each.)

folding_signatures

Holes are poked with an awl into each signature where the thread will be sewn through.

signatures_with_holes

Class members sew signatures with waxed linen thread.

sewing_signatures

A lovely example of the finished text block:

finished_text_block

A decorative cover is scored and sliced to create the slots for the ribbons to go through:

scoring_cover_ ribbons_through_cover

Ribbons are then pulled through the book spine, and tied into knots or bows to hold the book together.

tying_text_block

The class, with Michelle and assistant Kortni show off their finished books!

class_finished_books

Have ideas for bookbinding classes you'd like us to teach? Let us know on our Facebook page or send us a message on Twitter.