I wasn't exactly sure where to post this, seeing as it's not exactly fan art that I made or anything of that nature, but I wanted to share this story and a few photos of my crazy little purchase here.
Backstory: I am a huge sucker for art books. If a special edition of a game has one, I want that special edition. If one is printed separately for a game or anime, I want to purchase it, including imports from Japan and the like. So when Tennocon rolled around and I popped my head into the store and saw an art book, I put it in my shopping cart and purchased it without any hesitation.
It wasn't until I was watching the stream and watched the folks on stage heft it around that I realized I had a problem. I don't live in a small apartment by any means, but it's still an apartment; space is at a bit of a premium and I realized none of my bookshelves could handle this beast, and it's life would be short lived if it had to live on my relatively small coffee table. When it arrived in the mail, my concerns solidified. I tested it on one bookshelf that looked like it might work, but I immediately changed my mind when I saw the whole thing lean in response.
It then occurred to me: a lectern! Of course. If I could find a spot that was somewhat elevated I could safely display the book, and people could enjoy looking at it without hefting it. People have lecterns for cookbooks, bibles, and dictionaries, why shouldn't I get one for an art book?
Well, that's where reality set in. Artbooks are unusually wide in terms of dimensions. Almost every lectern I looked at was either half the size I need, or some ungodly expensive piece of furniture which was still the wrong size. My search results returned one that would be the right size, although honestly I have no idea how it turned up in a search for lecterns, as it was, in fact, a portable computer cabinet, probably designed for a school setting.
Enter the Etsy shop PastorDearWoodcraft. I saw they had a very cute design for a lectern that wasn't quite the right size, but they did have a note in their description of the item to reach out and talk to them about custom orders. I described my dilemma in detail, including the enormous 17.5x12x2 inch dimensions and the 14 pounds of mass it would need to support, and they very quickly said that it was no problem, and that they could make it for me.
It was a great process and it has finally arrived today. I have set it up atop my dresser in my bedroom, as that is currently the best place for it, but when I achieve my goal of personal home ownership, this will be upgraded to a place of honor in whatever gaming den I put together. I want to thank the folks who made such an amazing art book, and once again shout out PastorDearWoodcraft for making this whole thing possible. I hope you folks get a kick out of this!