I forgot to mentionthat I loaded up 2 new journals to eBay today.

ialso put up a large journal- 6×9 outter dimmensions

Youc an see them all here:

http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/less23

Today my leather and drawing paper arrived dry and quite safely. I’m completely overjoyed at the quality of the leather. It’s simply fantastic. Super smooth heavier than normal and just great. It’s damn near flawless. Brad came through again. Even the distressed leather is pretty darn great. I had bought a ream of Strathmore drawing paper from Utrecht and I’m pretty happy at their speed of shipping and the condition it arrived in- in this weather – it was dry and not one damaged corner. Not quite what I can say for the significantly more expensive fabriano I bought a week ago from Jerry’s. Super cheap prices, not so safe shipping. Though shipping was more expensive from Jerry’s. Go figure.

Today was quiet and not as hot as it h as been, I drove home in thunder and some small amounts of pouring rain, my tomatoes are happy! I had to rip into that leather tonight. I cut all the remaining covers for the Pastor’s order and got them glued up. Tomorrow I’ll finish trimming the glued portions and hopefully get them backed for the most part. I also cut 2 large sized journal covers for the eBay line and 11 covers for the small eBay line. 7 black and 4 distressed. The next group to get sewn will be the Pastor’s order.

I’m going to wait until Friday to see if the HP paper arrives after that I’m asking for a refund. I have 3 other orders to work on and I’m pretty excited about all of them. One is for a small HP watercolor journal, another midsize journal filled with kraft paper and another larger sized journal filled with drawing paper. I was able to get the kraft paper all hand torn tonight. 12 signatures of hand torn kraft paper, it’s rough and very earthy. The hand torn edges look the most like a deckled edge than any other paper I’ve torn. (Insert happy dance here!) Tomorrow I hope to get some of the drawing paper cut to size too.

I’m having some issues with the map I purchased for the inner cover. The map shack owner was or is a heavy smoker and the map stinks. Really stinks. I’ve had it in baking soda since I bought it and still when I crack open that bag it smells. I may be heading out for another map. I’m going to try kitty litter next- anyone else out there know anything to remove smell from paper? It’s just too cool a map to give up on.

My vacation from the DayJob- and several days from Bookbinding are coming up soon- July 19th through the 25th. I’ll spend some time binding, I expect that I have all special orders done before I leave and I will take orders during that time but I’ won’t be starting them until after I’m back. I will be listing items before I leave on Tuesday and I’ll check email periodically while in Maine, but not as often as I do here. I’ll be in a place with no electric and no internet for much of my time. I’ll be spending a significant portion of my time in a lake.

 

well I’m feeling pretty good I completed 6 books today. Granted I had made the covers and punched the stations on the previous 3 days but still it feels good to get all that done. That being said that’s a pretty good output for 3 part-time days. (I finished 2 more late last night.)

Today was spent sewing the 6 books and sourcing out materials for a custom order. My HP paper still hasn’t shipped yet thoguh I’ve been billed for it- what’s up with that? The custom order I’m working on is for a journal with drawing paper and maps on the inside covers, a very neat idea. I was hoping to find some nice topographical maps but he didn’t have any that were in my somewhat limited pricerange. He also didn’t have a small map of the US for inside the front cover.

I got the GRAND idea of heading over to Melrose to the used book store. ONly to be hit by devastating news once I arrived on Main street. The book store closed sometiems ago and has been replaces by, of all things for a dry town, a jazz bar?!?!? I think it was a jazz bar, could have been a coffee shop I’m not sure. I was too heart broken to go in, just kept on walking. So the vintage map I was hoping for wasn’t to be had, instead I’ve got a recent map that I’ll be looking to vintage-fy on Saturday. I also plan on heading to yard sales to see if I can find a book with a more authentic map. I am glad I was able to find an older map for the backing paper- a street map of Austin. It’s very cool and very very out of date. (I can’t believe the guy was trying to sellit as something that could possibly help someone when driving in Austin!)

I’m still wainting on my leather. I’m getting a little cheesed about it not being here today. It always arrives one day late. *grumbles*

So I’m off to cut mroe covers.

     These are the first 2 journals that I’ve made for a 25 journal special order.

       

This is the first in my large line for eBay. I’m not sure I’m going to be happy with the experiment. I’mgoing to give it a half dozen in this size before I give up on it. these are twice as expensive to make but take about the same amount of time to sew. We’ll see what happens with them.

You can view the auction HERE!

I didn’t get a chance to write a run down of all the things I got done book binding-wise yesterday.

I had a particularly productive day. I also realize HOW important it is for me to drink a lot more water than I have been, coffee is good but water is better. Anyway, I managed to cut, reinforce and back 7 travel sized covers and 2 large sized covers. I folded and gathers enough signatures for god knows how many books. I then laid out all the book blanks for the covers I had made. I cut all the spines. Finally I finished sewing 2 books- both in distressed leather but one larger and one small. I’m getting ready to start sewing this morning.

The great thing about the books that I have been working on is that they can fulfill my eBay needs and the large order needs- if she likes the coloration of the leather.

The thread that I used seems thinner than the thread I usually use; it didn’t flair the spine nearly as much as it usually does. The paper also seems thinner? I know it’s the same weight, 24lb (90gsm) but it seems different. It’s acid free and a nice color. To the binding table I go.

 

Yesterday was a sort of productive day. I did much of the hosue work I have been meaning to do and got a lot of binding work done. The heat has been brutal and hasn’t really made me want to make books. It’s made me want to spend lots of time in my air-conditioned bedroom.

All in all I’m pretty happy with my progress yesterday. I finished half of the pastor’s order- 8 of the 15 journals and will start working on the final 7 as soon as the leather comes in. I’m hoping to get them done by the end of this week or the start of next. It will all be possible if the leather comes in today. If it doesn’t arrive then I’m working on the eBay/2nd order line.

I have a large special order for around 25 journals of the eBay line. I’m breaking that order up into manageable chunks of 8 or so journals. Shipping on that order is going to be a beast. I just weighed a eBay line journal and it’s a half pound- meaning I can only get 4 or 5 of them into a priority mailer. Weight-wise, unless I go media mail it’s actually the cheapest way to go.

I headed to staples to get some much-needed supplies and to see what they carried for paper. I ended up getting catalog enveloped cheap. Since O go through so many I figured I’d jump on that. I also bought a magnetic organizer- very visual and something I’ve been thinking about for a while now. I also bought 3 reams of Wausau 24lb paper. I decided last night I’d use it in all the journals for the 25 custom orders- it’s a great warm ivory color- the color of heavy cream. It’s quite nice in that respect but I’m n ot in love with the paper. When I open a box of Strathmore or Fox River I’m in love with it. The texture of the paper is simply terrific, but this is not quite the same. Don’t get me wrong it’s very nice paper but I just didn’t understand why everyone on the AJ list raves about it. It’s just not Fox River.

I always get a bunch of stuff I don’t need when I’m at staples. I also bought pens and a soda.

In actual binding related news, I worked on making covers yesterday. I cut 7 small sized and 2 large sized. I actually finished reinforcing and backing 6 of the 7 small covers and both the large covers. Today I’ll start laying out the spines and punching the stations. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to blow through a good amount of sewing. I plan on cutting at least one large cover from every hide I get. Speaking of which, I already need to order more leather. I’m blowing through it like crazy!

I spoke with my friend about jumping on this running after your dreams bandwagon (She’s about to embark on a journey of self employment- a combination of XXX and XXX XXX.) Everyone has been right about this. I’m jittery and nervous but in a really good way. I have self-doubts and that’s what led me to stop making books last time- nearly 2 years ago- I stopped because I was nervous. I stopped because of fear of success. How can one be afraid of success? I feel pressure when I make books I get nervous but it’s wonderful. When I’m filled with nervous energy about the books its great- I can stay up late and create these wonderful pieces that while they may not be the piece I need to finish it’s a great work of art anyway. It rejuvenates me and energizes me. In short, unlike the day job, the pressures of making books are a good one that makes me feel good. I know that no matter how much I need to do I can do it. I’ve got time, and I’ve got the motivation. It’s just a matter of getting through the nervous energy and focusing on the end goal- working for myself making my art. Art makes me feel good. Books make me feel good. Making books makes me feel great.

A note here for my coworkers who read this: I’m not leavibng the company. I’m thinking of it down the road- perhaps in 2 years or so. Even then I will step down and work a day a week or so. I still have thoughts of moving into a regional buying position. I’dlove to be KE’s part time assistant.

(The DayJob has been a living nightmare lately. We had a Bridezilla and a nasty Maid of Honor come in and let’s just say my job is not to take verbal abuse. I make pretty flower arrangements and deal with some issues, but that’s it. I don’t get paid to have people make faces at me and treat me like I’m stupid. Speaking of which, it would be an interesting to study how people treat the workers at the store. It is a gourmet grocery store and the people who come in are for the most part pretty well off I think that what they don’t know is that many of my coworkers have college degrees and some even have masters and are working toward their PhD. I have a BA in Art with a concentration and a nearly finished minor in psychology. Perhaps it would be a nice starting point for an artist’s book.)

I decided that I need to keep track of my orders like we do at work, with an order form. I thought I could also keep the forms in one place so that i could refer to them easily. It also seemed like a great opportunity to work on my smaller book size skills.

I decided to make a 2 signature book- 40 pages of order forms and in a sewing pattern that I hadn’t made yet.

I made the cover from Wasseau confetti cardstock. I reinforced the spine with tyvek from a priority mail envelope(used). I laid out a quarter inch spine and punched stations for keith smith’s sewomg called Descending X’s. It’s a sewing style that I have never really been attracted to, in fact the page hasn’t been marked in anyway, which in 1,2&3 section sewings is an oddity. Most pages in the book are quite abused, post-its, coffee splashes and tabs mark all the pages I’ve read and refered to often. (I tend to refer tot he books while drinking coffe- it sets that tone for my day and helps me to think in terms of binding. I refer to it as some may refer to their bible. Sad but true. I find it gives me a lot of guidance and direction in my binding. Refering to a style every moreing helps me to design my own styles. This is a whole other entry from what i was getting at!)

I printed and trimmed 10 seets to size, folded and gathered them. I then punched the stations. Wrong. Completely freaking wrong!- not just upside down but also backwards. So I had to retrim the back cover, which I had designed to be a matchbook style closure. Thats gone in the finished book. I have the idea in my head so maybe next time.

I like how some of the descneidng Xs came out, but not many. I think it’s an attractive if overly fussy binding. It requires a lot of attention to detail, which i was,CLEARLY, lacking when I bound this book. Luckily it’s just for me and for reference.

I did learn something from this book. One is that I don’t like when the upper part of the X is as long as the tail. Two is that I do like it when the upper partof the X is half the length of the tail. It’s compact and functions on the spine. the fussy detail of the sewing is visible and quite nice. IN the first instance the X is long and drawn out. It’s quite unattractive.

So I’ll be making one of these for every 2 months and then make and slip cover forthe assortment.
Without further Adu here’s the spine:

The first pic is the whole thing. the second is a picture of what I like and don’t like. I like the first finished set and don’t like the second set.