Single Signature Books, 1 month of Journaling

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The first book most binders are ever
shown is the simple pamphlet binding. Its fast easy and can be made
pretty. There are 2 variations that I'm fond of, the 3 hole and the
figure 8. Each is exactly what it sounds like, the name does not
deceive.

Here are some links to good references
on these bindings:

The stuffy Stanford treatise:

http://aic.stanford.edu/sg/bpg/annual/v06/bp06-13.html

Hey Lucy's version of the traditional 3
hole Pamphlet stitch:

http://heylucy.typepad.com/heylucy/2007/06/tools-for-bookb.html

This a link to a hand out using the
hole stitch and a single sheet of paper folded.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/10497493/Pamphlet-Binding-Stitch

TJBookArts has a great list of
tutorials, many are single signature, perfect for a months
journaling:

http://www.tjbookarts.com/otherlinks.html

Hey Lucy's instructions are the easiest and could be adapted to anything you want, but I like the Stanford, though stuffy,  it's shear amount of information and 2 signature options a the best for the art journaler.

Say What?

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I like to buy new bone folders. I like to shape and grind mine to perfect shapes for me… Well I went to Michael's and bought a Martha Stewart bone folder, Great shape, crisp white color. Looks good.

I get home and greedily open my art purchases. They looks good. I pull the folder out. It comes with a frosted little pouch to keeps it clean and safe. I pull it out, it feels oddly light, but stiff and good. I tap it and it sounds…. Wrong.

So I looked at the back and find it's made of melamine…

That substance that the kids in China are dying from ingesting, yup that's the stuff. Great. Luckily I don't chew on my tools.

I do believe that it is false advertising to call it a bone folder when its not made of bone. Other companies that make items like this call them paper folders or folders, not bone folders to call it that is misleading.

Buyer Beware

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I have been going through quite an
ordeal with my sewing machine. The original sewing machine was a
hand-me-down from my mother because she upgraded to a newer machine
for her quilting. It was and is a Singer workhorse; a fantastic
strong machine. Well it decided it had enough of sewing paper. It
needs a tune up in the worst way and just can't handle, well, how I
like to abuse it. So I looked on Craigslist for a sewing machine,
something used and industrial. I found someone advertising just that,
after looking at 100 different pictures and descriptions I thought
I'd found the ONE and I emailed the seller. We worked out a date and
time. I drove out after work to a town far away.

I took one look at the machine and
instantly thought to myself I don't think this is the one in the
picture. I tested it and it seemed okay, with a strong motor, didn't
skip a stitch and looked good. I told myself that I was being
paranoid and that the machine I was thinking of was from a different
ad.

I get home and attempt to wind a bobbin
only to find that the winder works but not well. I can't figure it
out. I left the light on and got a cup of tea. Came back later to
find oil all over the case. The case was oozing oil from every seam.

After that it started to skip stitches
and has issues. I got conned by the “sawdust in the transmission
case” trick; the oldest resale trick in the book and I got caught
in it. The sewing machine itself is great, a real workhorse, a 70's
singer all metal case, metal gears, strong motor and a great machine.
But when it had been serviced it looked as though an entire bottle of
light machine oil had been dumped into it. I took it apart and there
wasn't a single area that the machine wasn't dripping in oil. They
had drenched it in so much oil that the timing belt on the bottom was
skipping, hence the skipped stitched. Oil and belts don't mix. Sewing
machines aren't like cars, they use light oil for a reason. If one
part is off it affects everything. So I figured lesson learned.

The machine is fixed and does what I
need it to but it wasn't what I expected. So I decided to sell it and
start fresh, I looked again on clist. I found a different ad
different location similar offering. I responded. We worked out
details. I was set to pick up when she gave me the address.

It was the same address I had bought
the over oiled machine from. I queried her, asking her questions, are
you the same person? I went through my emails and found the emails
from the first purchase, email address was different, name was
different but the physical address was the same. I questioned her
again mentioning the specific machine, wrote we'd talked for a long
time, mentioned specifics from the conversations we'd had. She
denied.

I couldn't do it. I wrote her back said
I was skeeved out by several things #1. Different email addresses.
#2. Different names. #3 Her refusal to acknowledge I'd bought a
machine from her in the past. As well as the misrepresentation of the
item I originally bought from her. I never heard back from her. But
if Kayla had emailed me back and said, “oh you must have bought one
from my sister Kim,” and explained the situation better I'd have
felt better. I'm someone who can write the machine off as a business
expense I wanted a good machine, yes for as little as I could spend,
but I can't do it with someone who has cheated me once. For instance
if they had told me the original machine would need work, it had
been oiled and would need work I wouldn't have been cheated, I would
have gotten into it knowing that I'd have to buy new belts and have
the machine serviced.

Anyway, I have the sewing machine I
bought tuned and working specifically for making jotters. It does
okay. Because of the original snafu I'll probably be listing several
bulk seconds sets.

(If you are in the North Shore of Mass, feel free to email me for the 2 email address and the physical address of the persons running the scam. I'll write publicly that the persons are in Methuen, MA and claim to have inhereted a closed sewing machine repair shop from their father.)

Give a Gift

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I want to take a minute on my blog to
write a little bit about something that is very important to me. I'm
not a religious person but I was raised to believe in community,
family and putting out a hand to help others in need. Growing up I
did a lot of volunteer work and it was very influential in how I
lived my life and looked out on the world. That is, I learned to look
at the world not through a lens of pity for those who are less
fortunate than I but through a view of how can I help and what can I
do to make it better.

I was listening to NPR a few months ago
and the commentator was talking about budgets. I have a very limited
budget so I was listening closely. She started to discuss her own
personal budget and how important charity is to her and her family
and that they, in good and bad times tithe. While that's not my cup
of tea I recognized that I'd been missing something in my life in
terms of how I used to volunteer. I haven't done it in ages. So I
figured I would do something about it.

I waited and procrastinated then in
happenstance overheard a conversation about how a charity that was to
pick up groceries was no longer able to follow through on the
commitment. A light bulb went on in my head. The grocery store was on
my way home from work and there was a homeless shelter on a slight
detour from my house. I could do this as my part in volunteering.

I contacted the shelter, River St
Shelter in Beverly, MA, made sure they would accept donations if I
were to pick up and drop them off. I then contacted the store's
marketing person and scheduled a day for pick up of bread, produce,
canned goods and other assorted items. I scheduled for Mondays.

Some Mondays I have to bag the bread
myself, or box up the grocery items but many times it is ready and
waiting for me. Even when I do have to bag the items myself a bagger
is willing to help me to do it, or someone is willing to help me to
my car. It takes about 15 minutes out of my day and costs me nothing,
the store and the shelter are on my way home from work.

It gives me a great sense of
accomplishment. In one sense I'm helping take things out of the
landfill and put them into hands that can use them; but I'm also
helping to feed people who on some occasions go without. The reaction
of the residents is fantastic, the majority are veterans with substance abuse or
other mental health issues. People who have served the country in one
form or another and the VA system has failed them.

All you need to do is call a shelter,
ask them for permission and call a grocery store, caterer or
restaurant and ask if you can pick up on a particular day. Call
before you arrive to find out if the product is ready or if they have
product that day and it's as simple as that. Of course not everyone
is going to have a shelter on their way home, but you could ask if
they have a charitable organization that gets food for them where you
could drop off. It only takes 15 minutes to help someone in need. In
this time of charitable organizations losing funding it is more
important than ever that everyone get out there and help others.

Anyway. I often work 50 to 60 hours a
week, if I can do it anyone can do it. I urge anyone who reads this
post to pass this information on to other, feel free to copy and
paste this and link to this post.

Back on track

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The weather here is miserable and has
been on and off since the middle of December. As a non-essential
member of staff I am often able to work my schedule around the
weather and today is one of those days. Thank god, the idea of
driving anywhere in this garbage is pretty bad.

My father has been hard at work on the
sewing cradles on the farm in Maine. He has a bunch finished and you
can find them in the supply section of my shop. Each fits perfectly
into a USPS Priority Mail Shoes box. They now fit a 12inch high sheet
of paper and he has rounded the bottom edge for a smoother look. He's
kept the basic design and simplicity of the item. They still come in
a simple linseed oil finish, rubbed on. The linseed oil finish is
used instead of a slick hard finish so that paper will not slide
around on the wood but he natural grain and texture of the wood will
hold signatures in place while they are being punched.

I've also made a ton of matchbook
notebooks. They are 99% recycled, all the paper and covers are
recycled but the staples are a virgin material. (Many staples are
made of recycled steel but I am not sure about the heavy duty staples
I'm using.) I've switched to a 6 pack for $5.99 and will give
discounts for bulk purchases. You can find them in the recycled
section of my shop. Say I love you AND the environment by getting
someone special some recycled journal for valentines day!

Hiatus

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Those of you who know me either in real
life or through the wonders of the internet know that I have a few
diverse and seemingly divergent interests and that occasionally I can
be somewhat single minded in the pursuit of those interests, to the
detriment of the other interests.

I've had a few interests that have
lasted most of my life; art, sports, engines (the sports associated
with them, and bikes. I've also had a few interests that were
passing; such as electronics, various art supply based arts, and
other assorted things. Typically one or two of my various interests
overtake my free time and I pass the others not quite by but they get
pushed aside. As a result I owe a bunch of people some apologetic
email. I'll get those out at some point in the near future.

Anyway, my recent obsession has been
about as opposite from art and journaling as it can get. I've been
working on bikes; a pretty much lifelong obsession for me, at least
until 10 years ago when I was riding and hit by a car. While I was
not hurt badly it did turn me off from riding a bike until this pat
summer, when I started to ride my bike, bought a cruiser bike and it
all went downhill from there. I started to ride for health and it
went from there. Now I'm helping my friends buy bikes craigslist,
repair, update and modify them into something that they won't be
embarrassed to ride.

It's an addiction. It's pretty cool to
buy a bike with a nice frame, fix it and then ride it.

So anyway, I've made a few books,
mainly recycled, over the last few months. I've also been exploring
some of where I want to go with my bookbinding. Now that it is
brutally cold here in the NorthEast I'll be making books more.

gift ideas for art journalers

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How about a Wishlist for the Art Journaler or “lifeBooker”?

Here’s my wishlist:

#1 A nice set of Pencils. A set ranging in hardness from H
up to 6B is excellent. IT gives a lot of great selection for drawing and
sketching. Or maybe a group of all around great sketching pencils like a 2B. (A
set of Palominos is always nice. Send me an email if you want some prices on
stuff I have in stock.)

#2. A nice set of pens. I like Pigma Microns. They come in a
great selection of sizes a variety of colors and will write anywhere and are
archival. I read a story once of a photographer who tipped her canoe and all
her stuff went into the water. He journal washed ashore a day or so later,
covers gone, pages still stitched together and with everything written in Pigma
still there. Not that I think that the average journaler will find occasion to
tip their canoe, but you might decide to journal in the tub and you never know
when your going to drop something into the water. I’d pick 3 sizes a small,
medium and larger size. You can get Pigma’s at most craft and art supply stores
in singles as well as in 3 and 6 packs.

#3. A set of watercolors. Watercolors are one of the fastest
and easiest ways to get color onto a page. A page can be sketched out, inked
in and then colored pretty quickly. Go
for a pocket set of 8 to 12 colors. I’m partial to grumbacher water colors, but
there are a lot of brands. Go for something on the nicer end of the spectrum
rather than crayola…

#4. Niji waterbrushes. Niji makes these cool brushes that hold
water in their handle. I discovered that you could also fill the handle with
ink or dilute watercolor. These are great for when you’re out sketching or
journaling at a coffee shop if your into that.

#5. Gouache. I’m a big fan of gouache. It’s good stuff. It’s
watercolor on steroids. It’s water based and opaque. You can pain in layers,
like in oils and acrylics, but you can wipe out whole layers of color at a
time. Good stuff right there.