Hand made books

Once again, another topic which I have no idea about! Hand making a book scares me slightly, but it's something I know I'd probably like to do in the future. Book making has it's advantages and disadvantages. If you decide to make a book you have complete control over what it looks like, so you can make it specific to your needs. This also means that it's easier to personalise and make it memorable - something which is vital when making an impression on clients/employers etc. Making your own book is also a very individual process, in the sense that no-one else is going to have the same book as you, another factor in making it stand out from the pile of portfolios. However, making a book can take a lot of time, and is a very delicate process. If you lost it it's not something you can just re-make quickly. The cost also varies, depending on how many pages you need, what materials you use, content etc, so it could be quite expensive depending on what you want and how good the quality is.

Blurb

Blurb is the online book making company that everyone has heard of. 

When you click on the 'make a book' link on the homepage it brings you to this page, giving you a selection of three book templates to choose from. I clicked on the most popular, which gives you custom photographs and text layouts, and also appears to be the best option for making a portfolio. You have to download a book making app called BookSmart. There are seven book sizes, two of which are specific to text.  From this you can also turn your book into an eBook for smart devices. You can upload photographs and word documents into the BookSmart app, customise the layout, text and colour. Finally you can chose from three cover options for your book. This seems like a relatively simple process, and there seems like a lot of options so you can make your book as individual as possible. I'm not sure about cost, as this would depend on how many pages and the size, however it says that prices for portfolio books start at £7.95 for a 20 page small square book (7x7 inches), and as sizes get bigger the price changes so you're getting the most out of your money. 7x7 for me, doesn't seem big enough, as I was looking more at having an 8x10 kind of size, so this would be more expensive, but the pricing doesn't seem too crazy. I don't know anyone who has ever made a book with Blurb but it would be interesting to see what theirs looks like in person, and how much they paid for it.

Bookbinding

You could also chose to make a book not using internet templates. I looked up local bookbinders to the Ipswich area. 

I found The Book Surgeon who is based in Kesgrave, whose prices range from £25 to £140 depending on the sort of thing you want. From the website, they seem to pride themselves on using traditional equipment and work methods.  Hard backs can be covered in leather, cloth or synthetic material, they stick and glue all pages, strengthen the spines, and all lettering is done in foil. Already this appeals to me more than using Blurb. 

In my search I also found Chris Bluck, who lives literally right round the corner from where I live at home (it's a small world, as my Mumma would say). His services also seem to centre around the traditional process of book binding. There is no where on his website that states cost though, which is a little annoying, but as I said, it depends on what you want. It would be really great if I could get a book bound at home, as it would minimise any additional travel costs. 

The examples on both of the above websites look wonderful. They look like proper books, and they're unique. I would love a leather bound book with my name written on the cover. However, I'm not sure how these sort of processes work when using photographs, and whether I would just have to stick prints in (although I'm not sure if this would bother me that much). On The Book Surgeon's website it says they make wedding books, magazines and comics so I'm assuming the same process would be used to make a portfolio type book. That's something I would have to enquire about when/if it comes to it.