sunday

Sunday already?? How did that happen...

This week I had a go at making a hardback book with a rounded spine. Its my first go at this type of binding, I normally shy away from anything involving glue (it usually ends up on my hands and trousers and face and all over the book in places it shouldn't be) but I've decided its time to face the fear, practice makes perfect right...

It was exciting; rounding the spine with a big hammer, layer after layer of glue...

In fact, I felt a bit sad covering the spine when the time came to add the cover... Oh, and I forgot to take a picture of the finished thing, but despite a few gluey fingerprints on the end papers (oh, end papers, why are you so tricky?!) its looking ok. I'll take a picture tomorrow :)

Ps. I got a car today, my first car! Oooo its exciting! 

Edited to add...

Not the most interesting photos but you get the idea :)

monday

Lovely relaxing weekend away. A chance to catch up, a walk on the beach...

And a few examples of single sheet bindings. All the ways I could think of today (and not including Keith Smith's single sheet coptics, too complicated for the first lesson tomorrow, a bit too complicated for me!)

Various Japanese style bindings, with a few cover variations...

A stiff leaf binding (or, to put it more simply: using a hinge to stick the pages together, in various ways)

A kind of concertina pamphlet stitch combination, with pages sandwiched between the concertina folds (I like this one!)

And my favorite, an origami fold into which pages can slot...

Tomorrow I'm going to try a stab binding onto a stick, a perfect binding and a box/portfolio type thing. 

Have I missed any? 

ho ho ho

I'm off to deliver the last of my Christmas presents this weekend...

To 3 of my best friends. And as they all live in different cities, it doesn't really matter that I made them all the same thing... 

Have a lovely weekend!

erm

I'm making this bag for a present. My question is: is it very very wrong to want to keep it?

 

I won't, of course, but I'm tempted... Will show you when its done :)

sunday

Today has seen a bit of this...

Finally finishing this...

A little walk...

Later, a bit of this...

And eating lots of buttery homemade scotch pancakes (the little fat puffy ones, yum!) 

I reduced the amount of sugar in the recipe (new year health kick an all that) and as I was eating them they occasionally reminded me of a concoction I used to make in the kitchen when I was little. My mum would give me free reign on the baking cupboard and I would measure out (mostly random) amounts of flour and butter and raisins and really what ever I fancied... I would then bake it in the oven in a cup (I think I misunderstood the reason for the name of 'cup cake' my mum used to bake; a cup of each, not baked in a cup :) ) I would feed the cupcake to my dad for his tea. 

And he always ate it too! (thats love for you isn't it)

you probably know this already but...

My favourite thing to do with a bit of paper is to fold it into a concertina. There's something so very satisfying about matching up edges and creasing, folding and creasing and ending up with a little paper caterpillar that can squash and open and flex. And its so versatile as a book structure...

I'm trying to make a book that shows this versatility. Some plans...

blurr

Ahhh. Friday.

After a busy week I almost don't know what to do with myself, I feel like I shouldn't stop. I feel like if I loose my momentum I'll never get going again...

But I've made myself stop. Do nothing. Catch up with sitting still. You see three days off is great for really relaxing, its just getting going again on Monday that's the problem! Anyway, thats enough of that.

I went to the opticians yesterday. I've been getting headaches and fuzzy tired eyes and it turns out I need to start wearing glasses. I wouldn't mind but when I had my eyes tested two years ago my vision was perfect, so it's almost definitely working in an office and staring at a screen 37 hours a week thats done me in. Grrr. The thought of loosing my vision terrifies me, so I'm hoping the glasses, and the fact I work with computers a lot less now, will stop my eyes decline (and I know I'm being melodramatic, but how I would hate all your lovely blogs to go irrecoverably blurry...) 

I pick the glasses up next week, it did feel funny trying them all on in the shop, there were about 300 different pairs to choose from, and I don't have a clue how to choose glasses, where to start? It all felt a bit surreal...

 

Perhaps when I have the glasses I will be able to fold even tinier concertinas!!