Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Perforations

So here are the fruits of my perforated paper obsession over the past few weeks:

I bought many of the ribbons at Eunice Farmer, my favorite local source for high quality trims and natural-fiber fabrics. The emphasis there is on the high quality. She has, I kid you not, ribbons that cost $49.95 a yard. These are not those ribbons, although they're much better than what you'll find at Hobby Lobby.

By the way, don't ever let wired ribbon deter you from using a particular ribbon for your project. Most of the time, the wire is easily removable.

The bookmarks were fairly fun to make, and I spent a lot of time prowling online, looking for original mottoes to copy. I quickly decided to collect images and not the actual originals. Originals cost around $5-20/each.

I've learned quite a bit:

  • Perforated paper came in many sizes and numbers of holes per inch during the time period; today it is hard to find anything other than 14 holes per inch.
  • Early papers tended to be white, not the brown available today. Many of the old things we think of as coming in cream or brown (like linens) are actually only yellowed with age. They were originally white.
  • The framed perforated paper mottoes tend to be from the 1870s and 1880s or later. They were available pre-stamped with a design to embroider.
  • During the Civil War period, bookmarks were more popular.
  • Religious sentiments were extremely popular.

Basically, if these don't sell, everyone I know will be getting a perforated paper bookmark for Christmas this year. And if they do sell, everyone I know will still be getting a perforated paper bookmark for Christmas this year.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It was great meeting you tonight!