BookEndDesigns

06/25/2026

06/21/2026

Grabbing the 90s kid nostalgia with some Great Illustrated Classics hitting the saw this afternoon.

They'll probably roll out next month for July Brimfield, and then its hard restock season the rest of July and August so they'll definitely be hitting the shelves for the endless weekends of shows from September to Christmas

06/18/2026

Diary of a Wimpy Kid on the saw.

The Wimpy Kid books have become a bit of a surprise hit so far this year. I ended up with a bunch and didn't think much of it, but when you're a kid being dragged around to craft shows it can be tough to find something you like but they seem to spot these wimpy kid books pretty regularly. The upside is they're pretty consistent in size, not too expensive for me to find so I can keep the price on the lowest end of my range which keeps it moving pretty well since mom and dad are paying for the kids.

So now I have to keep an eye out for them when I'm out on the hunt.

06/08/2026

Thanks for stopping by!

06/05/2026

Knocked out a whole bunch of pin back buttons to add to the existing pile this weekend at Salem Art Fest. The page pins, as I've been calling them, are made from the pages cut out of the book safes. One of the top questions I get is "what do you do with the pages" and this is the first use. I'll comb through everything and pull out images and recognizable quotes to set aside with the hope of them fitting inside the right size circles to become pins.
These are premuch only available at in person shows, they're not copies or reprints, so I can't really take requests. You dig through and hope you find something fun.

06/02/2026

On the saw cutting away. Back to back short weeks for me, last week Memorial Day weekend was a three day show which cut shop time back, and this week Friday is a make up day for a postponed concert that was snowed out back in January (I tried to schedule my fun for off season) and then right into Salem Art Fest Saturday and Sunday. So I'm trying to get as much done as I can early in the week so I can have the truck packed up and ready to roll.

05/25/2026

Quad stack hollow book safe.

One question I get at shows pretty frequently is "whats the biggest book safe you have?" And usually I have some good size dictionaries, bit single books don't always get it done. Enter the stack safe. I can take multiple volumes from the same series or set (really it can just be a group of random books too if you wanted) stack them up and cut through everything except the top cover and the bottom cover one by one for as many books as needed to get to the desired thickness.

So, what the largest books I've done? It was about three feet tall, all various love stories, for a wedding, to be used as the card box for guests to drop cards in by the gift table. I was so big I had to drill holes through the corners and add threaded rods to all the books between the first and last so it didn't spit apart under its own weight.

This one is a little more reasonable at four books, but now you can hide your bigger secrets.

05/13/2026

Cutting, always Cutting.... throw back to last year just after Brimfield flea market when I picked up this partial set of blue and gold books from my neighbor.

05/12/2026

Day one Brimfield flea market.

I've packed along as many book safes as the truck could hold, so if you've wanted a chance to pick the best one from the bunch, I'll be set up here for the next six days.
Brimfield flea market, shelton field space f25

05/09/2026

Packed the truck full of inventory this morning and still managed to get a little time in on the saw. Friday is usually my cutting day, I feel like it sets me up for being able to hit the ground running on Monday. Finishing the insides, adding new endpapers and magnetic closures, getting to the actual finished product is still fun, but thats the long part of the process so for me, its best to knock that part out early in the week so I know what I have before the weekend hits and do all my cutting so I can start again on Monday.