spring give-away

It's time for another give-away! I hope I'm not the only one excited about it. ;p

As you know, I've been experimenting with very simple etegami bookplates. Eventually I want to list them on my Etsy shop, but before I do that, I need feedback from you. I have eight (8) sets of etegami bookplates to give away this time. They are printed onto self-adhesive sheets. You just peel off the backing and press the bookplate into your book.

There will be four different bookplate designs in each set: the salmon, the cicada, the stag beetle, ....and the fourth will be picked randomly from the remaining designs. Just leave a comment below, indicating that you want to be considered for the give-away. I will put your names in a paper bag, shake it up really well, randomly pick 8 names, and announce the results on my blog on March 3. In return, I ask for frank, private feedback on the bookplates after you receive them and have had a chance to try them out. Any questions?

ex libris 2

This is the direction I seem to be going with my bookplates (so far). I may end up going in an entirely different direction. Thank you dear readers for all the helpful suggestions. Keep them coming. So far I'm concentrating on Ainu motif-inspired designs. I think I will keep some of them black&white, color some of them with traditional etegami paints, and color one or two with colored gel pens... which I've ordered at great cost, but which haven't yet arrived.

ex libris

I have long been fascinated with bookplates, although I've only just begun experimenting with making my own. Here are my first tentative designs based on traditional Ainu motifs. Should I add color? Or should I leave them as they are?

According to Wikipedia Jp, the concept of bookplates was first introduced to Japan in 1900, in a literary journal called Myojo, and the Japan Bookplate Society (for the study and collecting of bookplates) was established in 1922. I have never seen a Japanese book with a bookplate. Usually they are marked with inked rubber stamps.