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Special Request?

They're my specialty! 

I am the designer and maker of everything you see on NoBooksWereHarmed.co.uk

logo of no books were harmed folded into a book

A lot of what I create, is personlised, and you can choose what you'd like right here on nobookswereharmed.co.uk - Names, dates, symbols, company logos, memorial pieces - even a lot of the images you see herein, have begun life as customer commissions - I think that's part of the reason that my range and style is so diverse, it doesn't all come from my strange little head, sometimes it comes from my the head's of my clients! 
If you can say it with flowers, they'll remember it with a book. 

I can accommodate most requests, the stranger the better (!), and with prices ranging from £15 - over £150 per piece, there really is something for everyone.  Yeah, but, obviously if you've commissioned a design, it'll cost way more than that? Well, not usually!  As in, hardly ever, as in, virtually never!  

The prices you see on my website all include:
• The designing of your order
• Any trial folds required (my time & books...here's where I make use of damaged reclaimed books)
• The folding of the final piece - anything from a couple of hours to a couple of days, occasionally even longer
• The book itself
• Postage to any UK address
All in.  No hidden extras.  

Go back to browsing designs HERE
order YOUR name HERE
Or keep reading for more info on bespoke designs
•••

I work with an ever rolling stock of 4000+ reclaimed preowned & vintage books.  My books come to me through many different means and channels.  By the pallet, through house clearances, book shop closures, by donation, in collections and in singles. The work on each one begins long before I have a design in mind, or even think of folding a page - I quarantine and clean each book before it joins the flock, at which point I count each one's pages by hand, note any weaknesses or peculiarities in the binding or print, strengthen the spine if it's weak but savable, label it and 'file' it in the most appropriate bookcase (there's 15+ plus a few cupboards haha).  I get to know my individual stock pretty intimately as a result, and can usually put my hand straight on the book I have in my head, as each order comes in. 

Predominantly, I choose the most physically appropriate book for each sculpture, whilst ensuring it's not an inappropriate title (I'm not going to fold the word Love in to a book called Hate...well, unless you ask me to haha).  You're more than welcome to tell me you'd prefer a green book, or a thriller, or don't use a red book, and I will do my best to oblige, depending on what books I currently have on hand (not usually a problem). 
If you have a more specific request, and would like a particular author or title, you are more than welcome to send the book to me, to fold.

Please drop me a line at info@nobookswereharmed.co.uk to discuss what name or design you're thinking of, and which book you'd like to provide me with. Not all books are suitable for all folds, so I need to guide you as to my physical needs (we can discuss books too haha), to help you personalise your decision.

I work with teeny books of as few as 50 pages, right up to 3000 or so.  Mostly I use between 5-800.  As I design everything from scratch, there's no definitive minimum or maximum page size, so as you can see, it's not as simple as just sending me a book, we need to make sure we're on the same page (hardy har), with the book AND design.  I can't always say for sure that an unseen book will be suitable for what you'd like, but I can usually tell if it's not going to be.
Be aware, though, doing it this way round is a bit like buying tyres and then finding the wheels to fit them - far better to start with the wheels and choose the features of the tyres to fit them - the book you so love just may not be a great fit for the design you'd so love.  If your book is the priority, perhaps if it's a specific book with sentimental connections, we can usually have a natter and I'll come up with a design you probably hadn't even considered, to ensure we can make the very most out of your treasured possession.  Or if it's the design that is really, really important to you, then often it's worth allowing me to use one of my own books, to fully bring your vision to life, without compromising it in to a not totally suitable book. 

Anyhoo.  Prices?  If you'd like to send me your own book for anything you currently see on nobookswereharmed.co.uk, the price you pay is exactly the same as what you see.  I should charge more, as I almost always do a trial fold in one of my own books that's very similar to yours, to make sure I don't make a mistake on yours.  But I don't, so there we go!   Don't see the design or image you're after, and would like to commission it?  Well, on most occasions you can still be roughly guided by the prices you see here - about the only time you'll pay more, more, is when I'm creating a completely bespoke, one off, never to be reused, commission - for example, your own company logo, baby names & dates, memorial pieces - times that I can't or wouldn't ever use the same design notes again.

So that's it!  

• Do I do commissions?  Abso-bloody-lutely! •
• Can I create your idea in a book?  Usually! •
• Do provide the book? I do indeedy! •
• Can you request a specific book?  Ask away! I can't promise to have the exact book, due to the nature of working with preloved books, but there's not many boxes I can't tick •
• Can you send me your book to use? If you like! •
• Is there a discount if you provide the book? Nope, but I don't charge you for the extra time, either •

To discuss your own requests, please drop me a line with the word/style/design you have in mind, and the book you'd ideally like me to use, and we'll go from there :-)  info@nobookswereharmed.co.uk

~ Jo

Just a few commissions are shown below....

hand folded - never cut - designer made - book art

  commissioned logo of a podiatrist, folded book  US Navy book fold Purity - logo of local beauty technician

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