Have you heard? April 1st is the Edible Book Festival (and that’s no joke)! Edible books are made by bookbinders and literature lovers across the globe every late March/ early April to celebrate literature and creativity. Ideally all creations are ‘bookish’ through the integration of text, literary inspiration or, quite simply, the form. Results are wide-ranging, sometimes the results look like books, and sometimes they take the form of clever visual puns on book titles. Click on over to the Bookbinding Etsy Street Team blog for more information, and check out the team’s Flickr page of entries, including my “booklava” on the left there. Feeling inspired? Get out there and make something, and share it with us on Flickr by posting it to the team or submitting a link here as a comment.

UPDATE!! Whoohoo!! My booklava was awarded as one of the “Best Overall” creations submitted to the Bookbinding Etsy Street Team Edible Book Festival! Check out all of the lovely and clever winners here, and congratulations to all!

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There’s more to Hotlanta than the club scene and sports teams. For instance, did you know it is also home to the internationally renowned Robert C. Williams Paper Museum at Georgia Tech? The Paper Museum offers an informative permanent exhibition From Hand to Machine: The Evolution of Papermaking and a rotating display from it’s collection of books, watermarks, papers, tools, machines, and manuscripts. There’s also a special exhibition space where you can soon check out Jiha Moon/ Nate Moore: Recent Works (April 2nd thru May 22nd), a workshop space for classes, and a nice little shop to buy book and papermaking supplies. After a visit to the museum you’re sure to be brimming with inspiration and ideas- lucky for you Atlanta also has a wealth of shops to get you stocked up on supplies.

From The Paper Museum head north about 1 mile to Sam Flax. This warehouse of a store offers a good selection of decorative papers and ribbons, and has recently expanded their bookbinding supplies to include waxed German linen thread in a variety of colors. It’s also a fully stocked art supply store and (in my opinion) really shines in the wide selection of boards it carries. You can get Davey board (full sheet, or custom cut), acid free mat boards, gatorboard, and a number of other interesting kinds of acetates, plastics and fiber boards to experiment with. If you leave Sam Flax wanting more, head another 5 miles or so north to Buckhead and check out Binders Art Supplies for more great paper, boards and art supplies. And if you’re a Paper Source devotee, good news! Atlanta now has a Paper Source location in the adorable (and very shoppable) neighborhood of Virginia Highlands.

Even if you can’t make it to the ATL don’t fret! You can still throw some love to the local paper scene by shopping the superb Washi Accents online store. Run by Elaine and Hiromi Jo out of their home since the closing of their wonderful (and much missed) shop in Buckhead, Washi Accents offers a beautiful selection of washi papers, unusual book cloths, kohaze clasps and other Japanese bookbinding goodies. Washi Accents also specializes in Ikebana, sumi-eshodo supplies, and (I can vouch from personal experience) excellent customer service!

I’m sure I’m missing something here (I haven’t even started talking about the wonderful local printmaking and Indie craft scene), if you have an Atlanta favorite leave a comment and let me know!

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Just a quick post to brag about my fabulous students from the Atlanta Printmaker Studio’s Bookbinding class! Check out that wonderful group shot to the left there, featuring only one (from each student) of the more than 5 books each they made in class. As you can see, each student did a fantastic job of blending the taught structure with their own personal style. For more pictures, including two special projects, check out my Flickr page. Also, keep your eyes pointed at the class list for the APS, we’re trying to get enough students together for an advanced class focused on sewn bindings and cover variations/ embellishments. . . I’ll let you know here when the class listing goes up!

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Times are strange. I lost my 3+ year job last week due to staff layoffs just after returning from a wonderful (and work related) trip to London. I’m anxious, hopeful, confused and perhaps still a bit jet lagged. Why not take advantage of my weakened state/ come cheer me up/ help me put a bit of dosh in my pockets by coming out this Thursday night to Kraftwork? What is Kraftwork you say? Why, it’s only the best monthly indie craft market in Atlanta, held at the Young Blood Gallery in Midtown. Entry for shoppers is free, and in addition to the lovely wares of your local captains of crafty industry and industrious crafters there is often food and drink to be had for a mere “donation.” It’s like every art opening you sneaked into in college for cheap wine, only now you’ll both like and be able to afford the art! There’s some serious talent lined up for this week, just check out the roster- a veritable who’s who of local indie crafters, with special guest Chicago artist Dolan Geiman. Come on, you know you want to! Oh, and that job lay off and trip to London? Stay tuned. . .

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