More scales

Coptic binding - linen, antique brass discs, handmade paper and linen thread

112 pages of smooth off-white 100gsm paper (18,2x15x1,7cm /7.2"x5.9"x0.7")

This week has sort of drifted out of my reach. It's still too hot, and I've got tonsillitis for the first time since childhood (and it's really gross and all I want to do is sleep so I don't have to swallow and I count minutes till my hammock chair arrives [can't be true since I don't know what time or even on what day it arrives]). Today I've been typing away on a tight, tight deadline, so, very little words left for you I'm afraid. Still, I wanted to share this with you tonight: a larger version of this little book. This would be a lovely wedding guest book, don't you think?

Golden

Coptic binding - leather, Finnish reindeer vellum, linen thread, imitation gold leaf

124 pages of black 100gsm Hahnemühle Ingres paper (16,3x12,5x2,3cm / 6.4"x4.9"x0.9")

This one I nearly finished last autumn, but it took me until this week to glue down the endpapers. I use very little leather in my books nowadays, and it's been years and years since I last made something you could call a designer binding. It's not because I feel uncomfortable working with leather (quite the opposite, actually) nor have I made any concious decision about using leather. Maybe it's a little bit because of the price of good quality leather. When I first learned to make leather bound books at school, I always had lovely hides to work with. Sure some were a pain in the derriere, but most of the time the leather was wonderful. Stepping down a notch or two on the quality (and thus, price) isn't really an option to me. I see no point in putting my time and energy in the work when I know the end result will never be worth the effort. Quality work deserves quality materials. And I simply find it too stressing to worry about whether or not I will find customers that not only think alike but also have the money to go with the attitude. Cutting down the high end stuff from my to-do-list makes life simpler, even though I sometimes think I'm just taking the easy way out. Or something. Well, clearly I've given it more thought than I thought I had.

The reason I got thinking about the things I no longer do, despite once being so familiar with them, was that I'm currently making some books that are both rounded and backed (check out the link if you have no idea what I'm talking about, Papercut Bindery has this very informative post). Backing is another thing I haven't done in years. It's not something you need to do unless you're making a fancy leather binging or something else you simply decide needs a backed spine. Most of the times you can finish a book without even thinking if you should back it. Now I just decided it was time to get a little more serious with my skills. It was backing after all that got me serious about bookbinding. It was a week or two into my bookbinding studies (back in 2004, time is such a difficult thing to grasp) when we were making our first leather bound books (quarter, I think). I finished backing my book block and showed it to my teacher who said it was virtually perfect. I think it was quite exactly then that I knew I could become great at making books. Not because my teacher thought my backing was great, but because I could see it was not and knew how I could do it better the next time. 

So maybe I'm trying out the things that used to come naturally just to make sure I still know I have a chance to become better than I already am.

Skiing and other methods of getting lost

Long stitch binding - Finnish reindeer vellum, brown wax paper, self made paper, photo transfer (photo from Emil's album), waxed linen thread
204 pages of coarse brown recycled paper  (13,5x10,5x3cm / 5.3"x4.1"x1.2")

The hottest day this year. Cross-country skiiers are appropriate, then. Maybe I need to think wintery things just to balance my sudden yearning for a hammock. For the first time ever I have a balcony large enough to house almost whatever I want, and apparently the one thing I return to again and again is a hammock. Getting lost in thoughts a lot lately. I already got a small herb garden today (strawberries, tomatoes and some flowers, too), thus my not-so-green thumb is perfectly content balcony-wise. V will have to do the watering because I usually can't tell one day from another and forget when it's time to tend to the greens. 

The picture rail is up, everything framed and laid down on the floor in the exact order they're to be hung - maybe tomorrow will be the day. The original plan changed along the way (art lost into random piles during the move, cannot be bothered to turn everything upside down looking for it, etc.) but I'm actually quite happy about the end result being more simplistic than planned. My collection of cabinet photos grew yesterday so I get to exhibit even more long-dead people on my wall. Leafing through the disintegrated new-to-me photo album got me thinking I've always found the habit of marking crosses on photos (over the heads of deceased people) somehow very morbid. It's not very likely you forget who's dead and who's not, is it? And if it's meant for the future generations, I still don't get it.

If you've been following my blog for a while you've probably noticed I get stuck on details a lot. Lately it's been getting a bit out of control, mostly because of the TV series I've been watching. Just a few nights ago V had to discuss the medical discrepancies in Hannibal with me for what seemed like hours, way past bedtime anyway. V thinks it's irrelevant if something's plausible or not - I just can't take seriously stuff with factual errors in it. (Hannibal's not too bad, actually. It's just gross and fascinating.) If a fictional story is supposed to happen in the same reality we live in, you just can't go and change the scientific laws unless it's the whole point of the story (which basically means the story isn't happening in our reality after all).  V's very patient with me, still foolishly disagreeing on certain things, though...

Work in progress

My bookbinding room is one big work in progress but mainly I just wanted to share a sneak peek of some collages and things I made for these vintage label holders I love so dearly. The books that go with these bits are yet to be made, though. Some will be quite large, that much I know.

I rarely share photos of my work desk for the obvious reason - I make a mess every time I work with something more than just a pen and a piece of paper. And it makes perfect sense to first take photos of a desk where everything is wherever it happened to land when I was unpacking, and then continue to re-organize all my tools in an order that's both sensible and (hopefully) possible to maintain (and not take photos of that).

The final photo is of yesterday's work. I should be getting my picture rail into a working order on Monday so most of yesterday was spent framing different sorts of small things into large frames. Much time was also spent online researching the U.S. Internal Revenue Stamps I found on the backside of these photos. Turns out they were worthless but they're still so much older, and more interesting, than any of the postage stamps I had in my tiny stamp collection as a child.



* all these beautiful pieces of not-nothing by the sweet Megan Adie of Aviary Press

Experiment

wax paper, brown tarred paper and a vintage illustration laminated with linen thread embroidery, vintage mother-of-pearl buttons, 304 pages of white 100gsm paper (approx. 12x17,5x3cm / 4.7"x6.9"x1.2")

This is what happens when I stop thinking if anyone is willing to pay ridiculous sums for my work. I spent hours and hours sewing layers of wax and tar paper together without any idea if it was going to work or not. I'm usually so focused in matters like durability I rarely err on the side of impracticality. I'm happy I made the exception this time.  Now I'm a bit obsessed with how this book will look after, say, a month's use. The surface layer is brown wax paper which, as you can see, shows every little crease and scratch (the ones on the book so far are made on purpose, though), so I imagine this book would soon turn into a pleasantly soft thing to hold if it were carried around and used on daily basis. . The reality is that this book will most likely end up sitting on a shelf with my other experiments since I don't really know what to write anymore making it pretty useless for me to own one more notebook or diary. V seemed a bit intimidated by the fragile looks of this book (telling him it's not fragile had no effect) so he's not volunteering to wear out my book for me. It's also a good thing to have some books that stay with me instead of the mere photos I'm usually left with.

The binding is a long stitch binding, a variation of Carmencho Arregui's crossed structure binding. The last time I made one of these was when I was teaching V to bind a book that wasn't case bound. Results proved that either I'm a great teacher or V isn't nearly as uncrafty as he seems. I recommend checking out the link to Arregui's website as there are tutorials for several variations, and the tutorials are crazy good so you can't go wrong even without me as a teacher.

First, again

 

This Coptic binding is tiny (approx. 7x9,5cm) yet important. First book made in our new home.

I've been away making this place a home. So far it's all been pretty dreamy and nearly perfect (one still needs to vacuum). One thing I love about this place is having a hallway I can fill with art. Alyson Provax's Time Wasting Experiments play a large role in my plans for a gallery wall. Now I only need a picture rail up on the wall and that isn't nearly as simple as it sounds.

neutrals

 

top: 4.9"x6.9"x1" / 12,5x17,5x2,6cm
middle: 6.1"x5.1"x0.5" / 15,5x13x1,3cm
bottom: 6.1"x8.5"x0.5" / 15,5x21,7x1,3cm