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.

       

 

I wrote about this journal the other day. The cover is the hide that I found stuck in a drawer. I think I really like goat hide, too bad its so darn expensive and hard to find. This one happened to be from Alberta and cheap on eBay.

Anway, it’s up on eBay now.

Yesterday at the day job I had a wedding order to make. Not a bad bit of business for the man, but I also wanted to take pics for my portfolio. I took my camera, tripod and backdrop with me to work. It involved me taking down my journal shooting area. Which was fine as I was able to revamp it and make things better. I’m going to pick up another halogen light so that the lights are brighter and I can take pictures at all hours. That will wait until after my next paycheck. I want a light that has a lot more flex in the arm, this one is great but I need something with a little more directionality.

I’ve finished all the eBay line covers. I have a large back stock of around 12 books. I guess you could say that’s not really large, but I would come back and tell you it is for me. I usually make them as I go and place them on eBay as I make them. So I average 4 to 6 books per week plus custom orders. I pushed myself over the last week to really get more done. I found that in 2 weeks I could make and finish at least 16 of the eBay line and some custom orders. And that is with a 40 hour a week DayJob! Imagine what I could do if I only made books. MMMMhhhhhmmmmm, that’s what I’m talking about!

So I have 3 more of the eBay line that I finished. I just loaded them to the computer and haven’t had time to edit them and get them ready for Photobucket. I’ll do that soon and then I’ll post the pics.

Today I’ll be loading up several journals to eBay, my last black leather for awhile (I’m out of black leather!), a distressed, a cocoa brown and a deer hide. I’ve got several other journals waiting in the wings ready to go too, a whole dozen!

So starting today I really start to concentrate on the Pastors order. I’ve finished 5 of his books and I’m waiting on the black leather to arrive to finish his covers. The other things I’m going to do is make a special order form that I can refer to an order at a glance and know exactly what it is, sort of like the form I made for the DayJob.

       

 

I’ve been working on getting a backstock on my ebay line of journals for the last couple of weeks. So far I’ve completed 9. I have 3 more covers to go and i’ll have 12, freeing me up to work solely on the Pastor’s order. I just bought another distressed hide and I’ve got perhaps 3 more black hides coming. I’ve got a cove that I discovered hidden in a drawer from the first hide I ever bought- I had cut a small journal sized cover and backed it with really cool black and white fabric, I’d alsopaired it with paper and a thong and tossed the whole thigns in a ziploc and then hide it away on a drawer. Well i found it and I can’t wait to bind it. It’s goat hide, stiff and smooth, strangely enough, it still smells like leather! Got to love ziploc.

Anyway the journal that I’ve got here, is a distressed sheep hide backed with this wonderful handmade paper printed with I’m not sure what the writing is? Arabic maybe? I cut a series of slots on the spine and sewed it with the long stitch and then went back through and added Xs.

I though I might take a moment and explain whythe Xs. When signatures are sewn to the spine through slots and not alternated sometimes the slots that aren’t sewn down gape and are unsightly. I find it happens more on soft leather backed with softer, washi style papers. I’d have expected it with other paper- stiff rattley papers. The Xs serve to hold the cover spine to the spine of the book block elminating that unsightly gape. Not to mention it looks pretty cool. I’m thinking of toying with some other patterns to eliminate the gape.

Anyway, for whatever reason this cover came out really nice, the threads aligned themselves exactly where they should, very little unevenness and well spaced across the spine. I think I’m geting better with sewing to slots. After all for how long did I sew into stations only?

Anway, this is one of my favorite journals as of late.

I’ve been working on a custom order for 15 to 20 journal, all either dark brown or black, 48 pages, 2 signatures with my envelope style flap and thong closure.

I’ve got 5 sewn up, ready to be trimmed and finished. I choose a fast stitching pattern, a variation on the long stitch. One of them is the machine style stitch from Keith Smith. Usually the sewing takes me longer than the covers, but in this case, the covers have been taking me a lot longet than the sewing.

I’ve been asked how to get the pages square to the covers. Or how to line up the book block so that it’s square to the covers. Here is how I do it!

I start with a finished cover, leather cut to size and backed with a paper.

I then get out my trusty right anlge square! Its a mini square that I found at a salvage store in maine. It’s about 2 inches on the short side and 3 on the long. It’s very small, and in this picture covered in Leeho 2way glue. That’s accidental! I use this with a sample signature (i.e. one I mispunched the stations.) to line up where I want the spine to be and to make it square.

Here’s my signature and square. I pick one side to be my assumed square side. In this case, and most, I picked the bottom edge of my cover. I lay the signature on the cover, leaving some room on the fore-edge from the front cover and slip the square along it’s side. I line the edge of the square against my assumed square edge of my book and then line up the signature along the square. (Did that at all make sense?)

The next step is to insert the spine template. It’s a 1 inch wide piece of scrap paper cut to the same height as my signatures. One side is coated with Leeho 2 way glue, allowed to dry and make it removable. You just need enough ofthe glue to keep the template from shifting as you draw your spine pattern and cut or punch it.

This is the tricky bit. I hold the signature, all lined up and straight to the covers , down firmly, and don’t allow it to shift. I then bring my template in and line it up against the signature. I smooth it down and removethe signature.

This is what it looks like when I’m done with the lining up. I’ve eye balled a distance from the top and bottom of the book. I give the bottom a little more space, because it gets more damage and abuse than the top.

Now I’m ready to measure out my slots or stations. I line up my clear fiskars quilting ruler along the template.

After I line up the ruler i measure out where I’d like to see the slots or stations. I use my trusty right angle square and the ruler to measure things out in a pleasing manner.

If I’m doign stations rather than slots, I draw a series of lines that go the length of the template to show where the signatures will line up.

I find the template to be the only way to get the spine straight along the cover. In the early days i measured from the fore-edge and it could sometimes be quite ugly, especially if my foredge were off a fraction of a degree.

Everyday can’t be a perfect day. I came home from work today and pretty much crashed all I was able to do was cook, eat and fall asleep. The fact that I’m updating is pretty motivated for me right now. That being said I did drive to ACMoore and purchase linen thread in black and white, since Joanne’s won’t special order it for me. (Don’t get me started, I go through 100 yards of this stuff in a month, I told them so and they won’t order it. I even offered to buy the WHOLE case, and still no.) I like ACMoore 100% more than the local Michaels- everything is in stock, organized and the staff helpful. That being said I was able to get my Leeho glue, 9 rolls of thread and more paper for my business cards, in 15 minutes and I was out the door.

After the drive, no wonder I was tired. Driving on RT.114 through Salem was not a bright idea at 3:30pm on a Friday. Not smart at all. After that I headed home with every intention of working. I did little work listing 3 journals on eBay and getting little else done. Pretty sad.

What is even more sad is that I don’t have another real day off this week, I work only 4 hours on Sunday, but it’s going to be a brutal 4 hours of counting. I’ll be able to get a lot done before that. Hopefully I’ll get the folding done for all the Pastor’s journals. I’m in process of ordering more leather for his journals. I’d love to find a local tannery that would let me go in and see the leather before I buy it. I love brad’s leather (from upstate NY) but I’d like to get things closer to home too. I’d of course love to get things cheaper too. I have to say though; Brad’s leather is pretty damn good.

That aside I feel pretty accomplished due to the large amount of work I completed. I finished, in this order:
1 custom order for 2 3-signature journals
9 covers for a 15 to 20 journal custom order, I cut and backed them, so all I have to do is figure out what sewing style I’m going to use for them and lay it out.
Cut down 2 sets of 10 signatures
Finshed 4 eBay line journals, devising a way to fix the screwed up sewing pattern I made on the last of my gold deer hide spine (I double cut the spine, laying them out twice and then cutting twice. In this rare case measuring twice before cutting didn’t work, I’d already cut them, though I didn’t know it.) What really stinks about this particular screw up is that I did it not once but twice, to both the deer covers I had left. The sewing pattern I used is a modified long stitch, continuous. It looks great, really dense along the spine, but takes a lot longer to sew.