Snazzie Designz

Design, And Everything Design Related

Category : Handmade Coptic Bound Books

This is a handmade Coptic bound notebook with a map of Lindisfarne Holy Island burned into the cover.

Handmade Lindisfarne Holy Island Coptic Bound Notebook by Snazzie Designz

There are representations of St. Cutbert’s boat in the harbour, a Viking ship from the West, and English and Spanish ships from the Spanish Armada to show the long history of the island. When the tide is low a causeway is exposed so that people can walk out to the island.

The Celtic frame is inspired by one of the designs in the Lindisfarne Gospels ilustrated by St.Cuthbert’s monks on the island circa years 715AD-720AD. The monks who illuminated this book seemed eager to make the border take up a lot of space on the page which I’m guessing was to minimise the amount of detail work in the centre that they would need to do. I needed the opposite and wanted to maximise the space on the cover, so I designed a re-imagined version of the knotwork with the knotwork inside the corners rather than outside to optimise the space on the cover for the map.

Handmade Lindisfarne Holy Island Coptic Bound Journal by Snazzie Designz

 


 

More Coptic Bound Books…

This is a handmade Coptic bound notebook with a map of the Faroe Islands burned into the cover. I wanted to give this a more vibrant look as if the map had been made in the 1600s, but looked brand new.

Handmade Faroe Islands Coptic Bound Notebook by Snazzie Designz

The cover image is actually a compilation of three separate maps; Faroe map by Lucas Debes (1673), Carta marina et descriptio septentrionalium terrarium by Olaus Magnus (1539), and a more modern map of the islands found on wiki commons for a more accurate outline of the islands themselves.

In other words this is a modern map done in an ancient style, with sea creatures from the Faroe Isands area of the Mercantor map included, and long s place names.

The burning process on the curved sea creature outlines was a slow process because the wood burning tip is going with the grain and then across the grain and then with the grain again and it takes a subtle pressure control on the tip to not bunr deeper as it goes with the grain than across it making uneven lines.

Handmade Faroe Islands Coptic Bound Notebook by Snazzie Designz

Handmade Faroe Islands Coptic Bound Notebook by Snazzie Designz

 


 

More Coptic Bound Books…

This is a handmade Coptic bound notebook with pyrographed covers inspired by Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints.

Samurai Girl Coptic Bound Book by snazzie designz

Front Cover: Samurai Girl

The front cover shows a female samurai (onna-bugeisha) inspired by a Japanese woodblock print that has been assigned the title “Falconer Ukiyo-e – Utagawa Kunisada”. However when I looked up “Falconer by Kunisada a different image came up so I’m not sure if those details are accurate or not.

Samurai Girl Coptic Bound Book by snazzie designz

Samurai Girl Coptic Bound Book by snazzie designz

This is what the cover looked like with just the burn lines before the colour was added.

Samurai Girl Coptic Bound Book by snazzie designz

Inside the front cover.

Samurai Girl Coptic Bound Book by snazzie designz

Back Cover: The Great Wave

The back cover is inspired by probably the best known and most famous Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print, the awe-inspiring “Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Hokusai.

The Great Wave Coptic Bound Book by snazzie designz

Coptic Bound A5 Journal Inspired by “The Wind and the Willows”

Coptic Bound Wind in the Willows A5 Journal

Coptic Bound Wind in the Willows A5 Journal

Handmade, and hand sewn and bound A5 Journal with pyrographed (wood burned) covers inspired by the book “The Wind in the Willows” by Kenneth Graham.

Coptic Bound Wind in the Willows A5 Journal Coptic Bound Wind in the Willows A5 Journal

The back cover wood burning is based on a map drawn by Kenneth Graham and the front cover is based on the sublime artwork of Inga Moore who exquisitely illustrated “the Wind in the Willows”.

Coptic Bound Wind in the Willows A5 Journal

Coptic Bound Wind in the Willows A5 Journal

This is a pair of hand made hand bound (sewn) Isle of Skye inspired A5 journals with wooden covers and pyrographed(wood burned) artwork on the covers.

Coptic Bound Isle of Skye Loch Fada A5 Journal

Coptic Bound Isle of Skye Loch Fada A5 Journal

This is what the cover looked like with the pyrography (wood burning) complete before the colour was added.

Coptic Bound Isle of Skye Loch Fada A5 Journal

The first journal is inspired by a photo of Loch Fada on the Isle of Skye taken by the wonderful photographer Lawrence Cornell

If you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing his photos before I urge you to visit his gallerywhich is a treasure trove of breath-taking scenery and other gems.

The second journal is decorated with an olde map of the “Isle of Skie” as described in the “The Western Islands Of Scotland” 2nd Edition from 1716 an excerpt of which has been photographed by Lawrence Cornell.

Coptic Bound Isle of Skye Map A5 Journal

Coptic Bound Isle of Skye Map A5 Journal

The title and placenames using the Old English archaic long “s” “ſ” which looks like a letter “f” with no cross bar. I had to study carefully a very complex list of rules as to where and when the “long s” ſ should and should not be used. I should say “rules” loosely because even amongst printing houses of the 1700s and 1800s they all seem to have had their own rules to follow, which were only just shy of including things such as “except on a Tuesday if it’s been raining”.

Coptic Bound Isle of Skye Map A5 Journal

This fascinating article on the long s is a wonderful and informative read: http://babelstone.blogspot.com/2006/06/rules-for-long-s.html

This is a one off hand made Coptic bound book inspired by the wonderful haiku collection of Harry Wells (Aldwarke).

The front cover is bamboo with 5 different veneers, and pyrographed outlines. The back cover has the Kanji for “Haiku” 俳句 pyrographed onto a marquetry cover. I’m not sure what the central veneer is but it is pearlescent and glimmers in the light. On the inside pages there is a collection of Aldwarke’s haiku and short poems that I illustrated. I’ve done up an animation simulating the book opening so that you can see the pages illustrated.

Handmade Coptic Bound Haiku Book by Snazzie Designz

INTERACTIVE – CLICK TO TURN THE PAGES

Handmade Coptic Bound Haiku Book by Snazzie Designz

Handmade Coptic Bound Haiku Book by snazzie Designz

Handmade Coptic Bound Haiku Book by Snazzie Designz

You can flip through the book here if you like, or to read this beautiful collection of haiku story in full and more of Harry’s wonderful writings please check out his blog “Aldwarke’s Anthology” here.

Handmade Coptic Bound Haiku Book by Snazzie Designz

For a full list of all of the WellSnazzie Collaborations please click here.

To see more of Harry’s remarkable craft work check out his gallery on deviantart here.