Signs of the Times

Bookbinding workshop is starting again. Most of my friends have dropped out due to the steep price increase, a sadness. However, a whole new crop of students will be using our equipment, so I took it upon myself to proof a bunch of safety placards.

The class has little safety training, but we use a manual paper trimmer,  a guillotine cutter, and cases full of type-- all without regular reminders of safe handling.  They are not printers, they are beginning bookbinders, so they don't even learn to set type into a composing stick, much less safe equipment use. I'm related to My Dad the Safety Nut, and it drives me crazy to see the students ignorantly handling things that could hurt them. Hence the placards.

I can't believe how many leave the trimmer blade up and just walk away.

Then there are those who lay their stuff on the guillotine cutter. . .

Books! Gotta Love 'em

Tonight somebody in my computer user group posted some thoughts on why e-books don't satisfy the way real ones (in print) do. It got me started musing on why I do like e-books, considering I am a printer and bookbinder and LOVE old books.

I realized that my use of e-books is probably atypical.  I use the e-book format for books I either a) can't find in print (and are totally unaffordable) b) take up too much room on a shelf, c) provide reference to specialized topics I am passionate about, or d) are too heavy for me to carry around.

Personal collection on my iPad:

- Complete works of Shakespeare with a little commentary
- complete Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- 2 versions of the Bible (modern & K. James)
- A few no-longer available bad Victorian novels, for fun
- at least 10 type catalogs & specimens (originally tomes over 300 pages in print)
- Numbers of knitting and tatting patterns, even entire books from Project Gutenburg
- complete printing press diagrams to go out to the press on the iPad
- Incunabula (which none of us can either find OR afford (see below)
- a few specialty costuming/sewing catalogs in digital form

These have all been free (yep, free!). Since most are what librarians call "reference" works, they would not circulate anyway, so having a nice, leisurely, personal relationship with most of them is not even an option. The e-book format allows me to enjoy them, use them again and again, and not waste valuable space in my house to keep them at hand.

So here's to books! Whether E or otherwise, I'm a voracious reader and I'll read what comes to hand. And I love my extensive e-library on the iPad, which weighs much less than one of the above-mentioned.

(example: page in Turnierbuch/Tournament Book - copy of original by Hans Burgkmair the Elder; 1540: Augsburg, Germany, in German and Latin. Held by the Bavarian State Library, www.bsb-muenchen.de)

Books 5 & 6 Make a Pair

Someday, when my baby grandchildren are old enough to enjoy books, they will each have a miniature book made by Grandma. These two are bound in the traditional manner by being sewn, backed, and cased in as are bigger casebound books. They are covered in origami paper; the flyleaves are marbled in the European tradition. How appropriate for these precious babies: they are of both Japanese and European ancestry.

These books have no text yet. Grandma is still considering whether to write the stories herself, or write stories the children tell her as they grow up!

Second Book

Book two is "Ocean." It is an accordian book whose covers I have not yet foil stamped. The wavy band holding it closed is cut from book cloth. Only one end of the accordian is anchored; the loose end has a panel to pull out the text.





Pulled out text is two-sided. The first is marbled paper whose edges reminded me of waves breaking; the torn bottom edge represents the meeting of ocean and sand. The second side is my brief handwritten poem about the colors I see in the ocean near home.

Bookaholic

Yep. It's true. There is nothing like a book for me. Technophile that I may be, I can't snuggle up with a kindle and be happy. But give me a cat (or two) and a good book, and I'm a champion napper, err.... reader!

So now you know why this little bookshelf is beginning to fill.

I made all of these miniature books in one weekend- a workshop at the International Printing Museum (Carson, CA) with Peter Thomas of Santa Cruz. Despite my binding & repair of full size books, I took the class with an eye to having some fun, and fun it was indeed. I'll have to do subsequent posts to show them all off. The shorthand version of the weekend was that Peter, who is internationally known as a book artist, papermaker, and binder, is also a teacher extraordinaire. He leads workshops with humor, serious discussions about the future of the book and print, tales of his learning curve, and ukelele serenades. Each of us in the workshop had no trouble keeping up, from the beginner sitting next to me to the experienced printer/binder on my other side. The pacing was great and our output of learning samples impressive.




This one is the travel journal, designed to fit into a shirt pocket as a small souvenir collector- pockets on each page of it, with room to write notes. I think two views of it are enough for the first post. I hope to have time tomorrow to add the other books.

Travel journal open:



I wonder what delights will fill this when I've actually travelled with it!

Out of the blue

My Bible Study group has been bringing dinner once a month to a group of homeless who meet at a park. One of our church members started the group. It is totally informal, no plan, no agenda but sharing, and utterly cool.

Basicaly, the few of us who bring dinner show up with casseroles or rolls, plates, etc... provide beverages, and some of the others who also go often bring food, too. Everybody lines up and eats together. The only thing "religious" is that someone offers thanks to God before we eat.

It has been really interesting to get to know folks. Some of the same people show up every week, but others sort of drop in and drop out as they are available. Each week is a surprise. Organizers say they never know what kind of food, or what needy people, will show up. And sometimes something great happens. This evening, a pair of young men with instruments arrived, set up in the band shell where we meet, and began playing: a sax and a bass, doing jazz and doing it well. How cool was that! Totally out of the blue, and really pleasant for all.

We try not to stick together as "the group that brought food." We mingle and talk to everyone. Tonight, one guy blessed me with a handwoven rose I admired, which he made from a palm frond. Later, I asked his name and told him I'd like to put it on my Christmas tree. He offered his street name and his "real" name... and I felt the Lord leading me to affirm, "Well, God knows you by your real name, so I'll put that on the rose and pray for you when I see it on the Christmas tree." It was all I could offer in return for a gift freely given. I'm still smiling.

ON OTHER FRONTS:

I'm delighted to be able to report that I cased in _three_ of my so-called spineless wonders (old books) this week. One is complete and the other two are being pressed overnight. My learning curve in book repair is beginning to flatten out. I sewed and bound an antique crochet book (1888); re-sewed a signature-sewn paperback and bound it; and replaced the disintegrating cover on my 1959 Bible with a nice leather one. If I were less busy I could post photos, but I haven't even taken them yet!