Making the mark

I’ve always wanted a way to establish my identity on my books. I usually scrawl my name and the date inside, but I’ve longed for a more “official” mark for a long time now,  and I’ve grown tired of running out of book plates and stickers to label my books.

I thought of a rubber stamp, but I didn’t really want to mess with ink, and I was still not sold on the self-inking kind. And then one day,  I mooched a book that had a dry seal on it, and I got the idea of having my own dry seal made for my library.

Luckily there was a dry seal maker next to the post office and I was finally able to get mine made yesterday.

The results? Here you go:

flyleaf
Yay!

seal
close up
books
Now all I have to do is work my way through my books...

It’s going to take a while, pressing that seal into over a thousand books, but I’m really pleased at how it turned out — there’s something romantic about embedding your identity into a book.  I could barely contain my excitement last night, that I mostly spent trying the dry seal out. It’s another great investment for my books, and I love it!

Squee!

49 thoughts on “Making the mark”

  1. thats a good idea.. I dont have a huge collection of book but I think putting a mark would be a cool idea… at least it can also remind people to return the books they borrowed from me hahaha

  2. @Melo: Hmm, I should’ve had mine say “I solemnly swear on my life that I will return this book to Blooey or I will suffer the ugly consequences”

    Bwahaha!

  3. 750’s not bad. The self-inking types are more expensive than that. So you go there with a print out of your logo? What’s the diameter? Been thinking about stamping, but this is a much better idea.

  4. @Chloe – I kept running out of bookplates and labels and I wanted a uniform look, so I went for this

  5. @Ihop- The diameter is around 2.5 x 2.5 in.
    I went there with a printout, but it didn’t come out exactly like that. I used a different font and the stars were bigger, but the finished product changed because they can only use that all-caps font and they had to adjust the stars into dry-sealable patterns.

    Best to have a simple design I guess.

  6. It looks real good, blooey. I would have preferred it with ink though coz my eyesights too bad for an 18 year old. Normal people would be surprised how excited we get over the simplest things. I remember how hyper I got at having my name made into a stamp in chinese characters at hong kong. Never mind the fact that nobody could read what it was when they open my books. Haha :)

  7. That’s so cool! I usually label mine with a sticker with my name, but as you mentioned, it’s hard to keep running out of stickers! I currently have three running designs for mine.

  8. @Reg- haha I think kuripot lang talaga ako, imagining how many books that P750 would’ve bought. But after using it I realized it was a great investment

  9. @Kathlyn, that’s a great idea too :) In college I took an elective on Chinese painting and was signing everything as Soon Mei Li. Haha now I don’t know how to write it anymore

  10. @Tina- I have like four different kinds of stickers too, plus some stamps in my old books… Now I’ll never run out of labels, or ink. This one is for keeps, unless — gulp — I wear it out!

  11. this looks really nice, blooey! really neat..reminds me of the Newbery medal..o, di bah sosyal..hehehe
    hmmm..ideya lang..how about a “BLOOEY MEDAL OF EXCELLENCE”? and a book has to be very very good to get that seal.. ;)

  12. @Blooey: hehehe..naaliw lang talaga ako sa dry seal..”looks official..feels official” ang dating kasi..hehehe
    pero ok rin naman na idea, di bah? *wink*

  13. Thanks! I’m thinking of having one made with a coat of arms emblem Japanese style, like a sakura or a cloverleaf. Hope it’s not too complicated. :)

  14. May I ask where you had it made? For how long and how much? I need to have one made before I fly on Saturday. Cool idea! THANKS!

  15. Hi Liana. I had it made at a stall near the entrance of the Makati Central Post Office. It was P750, I had it made in the morning and was able to get it in the afternoon.

    1. Hi Liana – the design can’t be very complicated because they’ll simplify it for you. And the font is default I think.

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