Blurberati Blog

This week we have incontrovertible truth that romance is not dead. Travis Hines wanted to ask his girlfriend to marry him. He wanted an original way to do it. So he asked her in a Blurb book. Here’s his story, plus pictures captured surreptitiously by a photographer friend during the proposal:

This past December 26 marked the third year since Rachel and I began dating. A little over a month prior to that date, I kicked off my surprise planning. While simultaneously Christmas shopping and scouring the city for the perfect engagement ring, I wanted to do something special for the big moment.

So I spent a couple weeks digging up every picture we had taken while together over the past three years – rummaging through our cell phones, old computers, Facebook and Twitter accounts. I had over 500 pictures to work with and I managed to design a chronological, full-page photo book capturing many of the wonderful moments where we were together.

The book was absolutely perfect. With not a moment to spare, the engagement ring was ready two days before Christmas, and my countdown timer was set. We went out for dinner and drinks, and I then had to silently coerce her towards Union Station in Toronto, where one of our first dates had ended.

We took a seat at the end of the building, where Rachel gave me my anniversary gift, and I handed her the wrapped book. The glow on her face was mesmerizing as we laughed at every picture I had managed to squeeze into the hardcover, all while trying to contain the shaking of my legs.

Then she hit the last photo. A blank page came after that, then a few pages of text I had written. One of those pages had a question on it, at which time I dropped to my knee and reached into my pocket.

The photos captured the race of emotions from that point on better than I could ever describe. Noticing a camera pointed at us well after the fact only added to the nature of the moment. Our Blurb book has been shared and loved by just about all of our family and friends, and will be a part of our memories of that evening forever.

We’re proud a Blurb book was part of this moment, and wish them all the best! Check out more of the engagement photos, and post your own congratulatory message in our comments section.

A pencil remarque drawing in Wade Meyers's The Yielding Sky

A few weeks ago we wrote about a bookmaker who orders and sells his books as signed and numbered limited editions, which we thought was pretty cool. And today we came across Wade Meyers, an aviation artist who creates pencil remarque drawings on the standard grey end sheets of his Blurb book The Yielding Sky. These editions are personalized and done for collectors, who buy the books directly from Wade. So, his books are not just print on demand, like all Blurb books, but also drawn on demand.

Here’s what he says about the process:

This idea comes from the practice of drawing pencil ‘remarques’ on lithographic prints. Many artists do this, and collectors love it. When I received my very first test books I saw the gray end sheets and thought, “Hmm …” The response has been terrific, and I encourage all artists to try it.

They are drawn with artist’s pencils (3H to 4B), and if you look closely many of the drawings have subtle white highlights which really make the details “pop.” As a final touch, I lightly spray a coat of matte workable fixative over the drawing, and I cut a sheet of neutral Ph Vidalon vellum to slip in between the pages to eliminate smearing and to keep the facing pages from rubbing against each other in shipment.

It’s a great idea for illustrators who want to add even more uniqueness to their work, as well as generate a little extra revenue. You can see more of Wade’s remarque drawings in this Facebook photo album.