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15
I Was Able To Quit My Job As A Museum Gallery Guard To Make Hollow Books
Hello, Pandas, I’m Kara! I started making hollow books as a hobby in 2009 after coming home from my day job as an art museum gallery guard when I used to live in Chicago. I’ve done tons of odd jobs after graduating art school, (including horse-carriage driving, selling luggage, and a horrible stint at the Gap). As a shy bookworm, I often felt uncomfortable with showing my art, but I’ve always enjoyed drawing in a sketchbook. A sketchbook can be closed, which is much less terrifying to me. One night I was web-surfing when I ran across some images of hollow books. It just clicked with me. A book. A safe. A secret spot.
Coming home from days of “Please don’t touch,” at the museum, I wanted to get my own hands on something. So I started crafting hollow books with a simple x-acto knife. Then I heard about Etsy.com. On a whim, I popped up a Nancy Drew hollow book. I clicked the refresh button not long after, and it had sold! Other sellers had made hollow books from crappy library discards and titles nobody had heard of. Instead, I started doing classics and popular titles; soon I found out that booklovers wanted books that meant something to them, to put their treasures inside a beloved book.
In 2010, my husband bought me an electric scroll saw, and after months of trial and error, I figured out how to effectively use it to craft books more smoothly. Not long after, Etsy made me a featured seller on their blog which kick-started my business, and I quit my day job to make hollow books full time.
It’s been satisfying to make real money after years of the starving artist gigs. I finally feel comfortable in my current occupation as a hollow-bookmaker. When my husband got laid off from his job, he joined Secret Safe Books and now we make our living solely from crafting book safes.
More info: secretsafebooks.com
RELATED:
Keep it secret, keep it safe
For the magical next chapter in your love story:
Like all of our book safes, there’s a magnetic closure so your ring won’t pop out before you’re ready to pop the question.
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Our cat Remus is being groomed to take over the family biz one day
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What do you think ?
Kara Witham (Post author) 8 years ago
This is my 2nd post on Bored Panda, I hope you enjoyed it. I'm loving this community so far!
Kara Witham (Post author) 8 years ago
I'm delighted you think so, Neil. Thanks for taking the time to look and to comment, I really appreciate it!
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Kara Witham (Post author) 8 years ago
Thanks, it's one of our most popular flask books.
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Jessica Hunt 8 years ago
Beautiful but at the end if the day you've ruined perfectly good books that many people could have read and enjoyed.
Kara Witham (Post author) 8 years ago
Here's a book that embodies your comment, Jessica: BeautifulR...f674d9.jpg 
Kara Witham (Post author) 8 years ago
Hey Selma, do you have a public library near you? If not, perhaps the device you're posting on right now can download one of the 54,000 FREE e-books from this site: https://www.gutenberg.org/ Also, on Amazon.com, many used books are no more than 1 cent plus $3.99 shipping. I hope this helps. What I've found from book lovers is that they love to request books that they've read over and over so much they can quote passages from them. Many even mail me their own beloved editions to craft into treasure boxes, so they can have something meaningful to put their valuables inside of. One important thing about the fact that I purchase books to craft, both new and used is,--my purchase supports the publishing industry.
Load More Replies... Kara Witham (Post author) 8 years ago
This is my 2nd post on Bored Panda, I hope you enjoyed it. I'm loving this community so far!
Kara Witham (Post author) 8 years ago
I'm delighted you think so, Neil. Thanks for taking the time to look and to comment, I really appreciate it!
Load More Replies... Kara Witham (Post author) 8 years ago
Thanks, it's one of our most popular flask books.
Load More Replies... Jessica Hunt 8 years ago
Beautiful but at the end if the day you've ruined perfectly good books that many people could have read and enjoyed.
Kara Witham (Post author) 8 years ago
Here's a book that embodies your comment, Jessica: BeautifulR...f674d9.jpg
Kara Witham (Post author) 8 years ago
Hey Selma, do you have a public library near you? If not, perhaps the device you're posting on right now can download one of the 54,000 FREE e-books from this site: https://www.gutenberg.org/ Also, on Amazon.com, many used books are no more than 1 cent plus $3.99 shipping. I hope this helps. What I've found from book lovers is that they love to request books that they've read over and over so much they can quote passages from them. Many even mail me their own beloved editions to craft into treasure boxes, so they can have something meaningful to put their valuables inside of. One important thing about the fact that I purchase books to craft, both new and used is,--my purchase supports the publishing industry.
Load More Replies... 
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