Hi, I'm Kelly, and I'm the book binder behind Kinhollow bindery that now sprawls across my living room. As in, it has taken over to the point of becoming a roommate. My desk is covered with a cutting mat, there are stacks of fabric in every corner, and now my dining room table has turned into a giant ironing board to make book cloth. Pull up a chair. No, really. I need you to hold this bone folder while I find the bee's wax.
I hand make books in Pittsburgh, PA. Writing and sketching journals, grimoires, notebooks, and even bookish stationery. I start with the covers. I use fabric I love, and sometimes that includes dead stock, vintage textiles, and oddball end-of-bolt lengths that might not be made again. Then I press, cut, and, glue the covers. The sewing is all done by hand in a coptic style. It's the oldest binding style still in use, and it allows a finished book to lie completely flat when open. Plus it just looks cool AF.
Back in the stone ages, when I was in undergrad, I worked as a book mender at the university library. I know, it sounds peaceful, and maybe even the backdrop for a romance novel. Especially when I tell you I mended our optometry archive, full of gory medical images that would make Freddy Krueger wince. Insert Damsel in Distress! But what I learned there, horrifying eyeball illustrations aside, was that bookbinding is a legit art form. Fiber art, paper art, leather crafting sometimes, sewing definitely, and more arithmetic than I expected. I loved it then, and I still do.
The name Kinhollow comes from the magical little wrens who nest in hollows. Small, hidden spots just right for a tiny, winged sorceress. Kin are the people, or familiars, we choose. Hollow is also the shape of the land around me, and the way places get named in Appalachia. Kinhollow, at its heart, is a magical home for friends.
Every book in the shop is one of a kind, which is more than a hell of a good tagline. It's true. Fabric and beads run out. The sewing patterns for the bindings rotate. I've built a library of templates and I choose them based on what's right for the book in front of me. A book in my shop is the only one in the whole wide world. So if you love it, you probably shouldn't wait.
Come on in. The kettle's on.