Would you like to add to this list?
I do my best to cover all Frequently asked questions throughout my website and order process, but here's the main ones that pop to mind. Anything you've ever wondered not answered here? PLEASE drop me an message. There should be a floaty message icon somewhere on your screen, where you can usually catch me live, or, if not, you can email info@nobookswereharmed.co.uk
Hokies. Imma try and keep this brief and to the point.
What are these things I see?
These are book whose pages I have hand folded to form the words & images
Are they real books?
Absolutely. I work solely with reclaimed, preowned & vintage books (which you can see here).
So you carve the designs in to them?
No. Nope. Hard, complete, nopity nope. I ONLY fold their pages, by hand. I have never, ever, ever cut a book in any way, shape or form. The clue is in the name - No Books Were Harmed.
Where do you get your books from?
All over. I buy books by the pallet, but I'm also given books when folk downsize their houses, I get called in to buy stock when book stores sadly close down, and I have some charity enterprises who keep the bulk of their hardbacks for me. I buy 100s upon 100s of books every year, and also accept donations of unwanted books.
Can you make anything?
Just about. I work with teeny wee book of a couple of inches tall, to big tomes of over a foot tall. From 50 odd pages, to 3000, and everything in between. Just about anything is possible. I never strive for realism, so I'm not folding every spoke on a wheel, I'm creating the distinguishable silhouette of the study in hand. My bike is probably a good example of what I mean here:
OK, I'm in. Can I choose the book?
I usually have around 4500 books in stock (in stock, haha...in the hoose!). Whilst I'm not a book shop, I can usually offer you the colour you'd prefer, or not use the colour you'd least like; I can usually offer you the genre you'd like, often even the author. But my main priority is choosing the most physically suitable book for your chosen design. This is based on a host of factors, most of which are intuitive to me...depth of page, grain of paper, width of margins, binding of spine, hue of pages...and then I will consider your personal preferences.
Will you fold my own book for me?
Absolutely. If you have your heart set on a specific book being used, be it a Top Ten best seller, or your Granny's old dictionary, you are more than welcome to give me it to fold for you. Remember that by starting with the book, you will probably be more limited as to what design is suitable to be folded in to it (I'll tell you all about Alice in another #NoBooksBlog). I don't charge any extra for working with client's own books, although I should, because I ALWAYS do a trial run of their design in one of my own, physically similar books, to make sure I don't muck anything up, so they take me at least twice as long.
And how long does it take?
I would say my average folding time per average book...if there is such an average...is probably about 5.5-6 hours. If you think of the books you'd see on the NoBooksOnTour.com stand, most of them will have taken me around 5 or so hours to fold. And that's how long it takes me just to re-fold something I've already designed. The initial design process can be days or even weeks of coming back and forth, making trial folds, tweaking my notes, trying again, swearing a bit, two steps back, I hate it, it's shite, oh, actually, this is really cool, oh look, I nailed it....I only once kept detailed time notes on one book from inception to completion. It was this one, and the initial book took me 35 hours to create. I've never kept detailed notes ever again, as that scared the shit out of me (35 hours of work, plus 5 hours every time I re-fold it - and I'm selling it at just £35 each...!) - That's maybe another #NoBooksBlog post right there!
Big books, such as Encyclopedias (most of The Bibliophile Collection are such examples), usually take me months, on and off, to design & trial, and the final piece is usually a full week's work.
So what's included in the prices I see on here?
Everything. Whether the book is £10 or £100+, my prices are for the complete, final piece. The designing, folding, the book itself, even your postage (if in the UK), is all in. No hidden fees anywhere.
Can you make my name?
Yes
How about...
I can fold anything (famous last words); if you can't already see it via the search bar here (Up top, somewhere), then drop me a line and I'll see what I can do!
Think that's the main FAQs answered - stay tuned for some Funny FAQs on tomorrow's #NoBooksBlog ;-)
~ Jo