Limited Edition

So, yes, I spent the second half of my holiday sorting, filing, and piling.  Three boxes to the goodwill, and seven bags to the recyclers.  I won't frighten you with the story of the fridge.  I know it was a year old, but honestly, there was no mold on it.  Ain't homemade yogurt amazing.  But I will tell you about the bookcases.  I have several in varying sizes, most with doors on, which is good, that way the books are held in place by the latch.  This doesn't stop me from getting more books, especially in the children's section of the library sale room...I can't resist the pictures.  I recommend Wings by Shinsuke Tanaka.  It has no words beyond the title and pictures that make me want to strive for greater skill.

When I have too many books they are piled on the floor under the bookcases...they also have feet as well as doors.  And when the piles get to big I pull everything out, pick out what is ready for a new life and pack the bookcase puzzle back together.  I find all kinds of treasures I have no seen in some time.  The King's choice, retold by K. Shivkumar and illustrated by Yoko Mitsuhashi.  Ah-choo by Mercer Mayer. Many others.  And, a handmade book from Christmas of 1989.  Written, illustrated, printed and assembled on Christmas Eve of that year by my co-workers at the Saskatoon Bookstore.  It is made on the back of index cards used for the then high-tech filing system for the titles.  The Lion who shot Bach, Little White School House, Last Hiding Place, and others. The story is about me trying to make the evening bus to get home for Christmas, and what I had to remember to take with me.  I don't know who was getting a shirt for Christmas, but it figured large in the story.  A very special limited edition.

Favourite book of the day.

Even the title is cool.  A Guide for the Statistically Perplexed.  The font the title is in is cool.  The pen drawn graphs used to illustrate the cover are cool.  The smooth texture of the cover is..., but most of all the inside is extravagant.  I opened it to the delicate scent of a fresh book and ran my finger tips over the page.  Oh tactile glory, raised print.  Such a delicious rarity these days.  I am a book binder, among other book related things, and I love my info in a tactile format that has more artistic possibilities than the visual.

Enjoy it for yourself at the Nat Sci Library:  RA 409 .S7975 2013.  You may even learn something about statistics.

New Year's count

This year began with book repair.  And chocolate biscuits. I spent New Year's Day afternoon at a friend's house showing her, her daughter, and another friend some of the more basic book repairs: putting a cover back on a paperback, tipping in a single page.  That sort of thing.  It was a delightful opening to 2012.

New Years Day evening involved sewers and rubber boots.  But I choose to laugh at such adventures, it makes for a brighter life.  And I did get to see down the camera scope, which was very cool.

Happy New Year.

exercise book

 My mother and I decided some time ago, on the principle of use it or loose it, that in order to exercise our 'little grey cells' we would begin memorizing poetry.  We both are old enough that it was a school exercise when we were young, but we have taken it up again.  She has reviewed "Listen my children and you shall hear/Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere".  I took up Humpty Dumpty's Recitation by Lewis Carrol.  A couple weeks ago she called to say she wanted to memorize the "Night Before Xmas".  She wasn't able to find a single copy in the book shops, could I make her one?  And could I make it so that she could glue in the pretty Christmas cards she gets.  Sure enough.  The book shops came through in the end, but I was already well on the way in making her a copy so she's getting it anyway.  She will get exercise in memorizing the poem: A visit from St. Nicholas (the actual title) and I got exercise designing and making the book.  Word of advice, don't chat with a friend at the crucial time of gluing the text block together.

My plan for the text was easy.  I pulled the poem off the net to save typing, then I corrected all the minor mistakes against the version in my 1959 Treasury of Poetry. Oh the intertube.  Reminds me of a game of telephone.  What was the original message? 

I spread the text of the poem over several pages of 8.5 by 11.  Then I cut half inch wide strips of cardstock to go between each page at the spine so that when the pictures are glued in the book won't bulge (as much).  And this is where I got into trouble.  I had meant to glue a strip to each page, then hole punch the whole thing, then lace it up with the covers with ribbon.  But a friend was over using my scanner, and we chatted while we worked.  And I glued the whole text block together.  Never say die.  I hauled out the hammer and nails, solving the problem in a jiffy.

I am planning to memorize the Grinch. Noise, noise, noise, noise, noise.

A book start to finish: part 4 publication delays

This kind of thing often happens in the publishing world.  The author (me) is late getting the manuscript done for one reason or another ( I am taking Legal Writing and Research to enhance my abilities to help the law students in reference and my mind is currently being bent into a pretzel - ouch is the word, but it is a good ouch, like a new yoga pose), or the publisher changes editors (not happening here), or the illustrator breaks her wrist grabbing her two year old out of the way of her four year old who is pretending to be a bulldozer (also not likely here), or the printer has had a flood and all their paper is soaked and on drying racks so the publisher has to wait for a sunny day and the paper to dry out (remote, but not impossible), or the truck delivering the goods to market has a flat (I might have a flat on my bike bringing the book over to donate it to the library, but I can still walk the distance, so no worries there).  It is just the way of things. 

And if the e-book kiddies out there are feeling smug just remember you also have authors who have lives, and uploads that get eaten, and digital jigjags, and incompatible files.  Oh, and the battery on your e-book reader just died and you have a flat tire and can't get home to plug it in.  Too bad it doesn't have a little solar panel, you could hang it up with the paper.

When my brain has been thoroughly lawified I will get back to the manuscript of George Cecil Harris and his memorable fender.  Don't give up hope, I am only on the closed memo. 

A book start to finish: part 3 finding George

This should really be called the research section, but what is so title grabbing about part 3, research?  The first thing I found out about Cecil George Harris, was that he wasn't called Cecil, or Cec, he was called George.  Lucky him in my opinion.  The myth about the internet is that it is the fount of all knowledge.  It ain't even the fount of all information.  I contacted first the local lawyers among the library staff and asked from whence the case on George had been heard, which court house was it?  Considered consideration brought the consensus to Kerrobert.  From websites I did find out about the courthouse and the closing there of.  But George had to be sought elsewhere.  I called the Public Library because I knew they had a local history room.  The woman at the local history room was gem.  She found for me a history on the area which gleaned information such as George's wife's name:  Bessie Mae Duke.  And that they had two children:  Donna and David.  I also went to the Saskatchewan Archives, a branch of which is on the campus of the University of Saskatchewan and there I found George's obit.  Which, among other things said he was an IOOF.  Huh?  Out came the dictionary of abbreviations and it turns out George was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

A book start to finish: part 2 the inspiration continued

The Discovery Channel phoned because they were doing a segment on strange and or outrageous wills.* Could we do some photos of the fender for them.  Sure. I took some shots and sent them a copy of the case report in the 1948 Canadian Bar Review vol. 26. But the glare off the glass was too much for them.  More photos please.  More photos were taken.  Contact info to the professional who had taken a shot for the On Campus News was offered.  Nope.  Could the case be opened?  Sure, we’ll just find the key…..key? What key?  The key to what? Who would have that key?  Try this key?  No?  This one?  No?  The Discovery Channel offered to pay to have the case broken into.  As no key continued to be found the break in was arranged.  Facilities Management sent their experts, the case was taken into the Head Librarian's office, and behind closed doors, shhhh it’s a library, the case was opened and a new lock installed.  The fender was removed briefly and thoroughly photographed. 

Oh, that key.

Then Discovery Channel asked if we knew anything else about Mr. Harris.  And I was off.  For years I had seen the fender as everyone else had seen the fender, as evidence, as a noteworthy case in estate law, but as to the person who had actually lain trapped under the tractor all those years ago, breathing through the pain, scrabbling to get his knife out of his pocket and scratching those words into the side of his tractor?  He had disappeared.  I set out to find out what I could about him.

*I don't know what title they decided on in the end, or even if a show was finally produced on the subject. 

You can see why Discovery Channel didn't want my poor little photos.

A book start to finish: part 1 the inspiration

The thing about a book, aside from the fact that you will still be able to use if after you've spilt coffee on it and it has been handed down from your great grandmother to you, is what is inside it.  What's inside it makes it worth hanging onto when your great gran passes it on to you and your uncle Dwayne drank coffee on it the morning of his wedding and knocked over his mug in a nervous action checking on the ring in his pocket. I have been planning a book for the library where I work because we've got a little story and that little story grew a bit over the summer and I thought it should have a little book to go with the bits left over from the event and the legends that surround them. 

The first bit is the sad bit.  In June of 1948, a farmer, named Cecil George Harris, told his wife he was going out to do some work and he'd be home around 10pm.  He did not arrive.  Mrs. Harris went out and found poor George pinned in a nasty manner by his farm equipment.  She got neighbours and they got George out, but two days later George gave it all up.  When his tractor was inspected it turned out George had not been entirely idle during his hours of captivity.  He had used his penknife to scratch a will into the fender of his tractor.  That fender was used a court case about George's will and proved useful because everything did indeed 'go to the wife'.  The tractor fender, now evidence pretending to be a tractor fender, was kept in the court house in Kerrobert.*  Many years later the court house was closed and in a fit of keen preservation the fender was presented to the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan.  They dutifully built a lovely case and the fender was set up in the Law Library on display.

Until this summer when I took a phone call from the Discovery Channel.....

*The Kerrobert Court House is now used as the Town Hall and an art Gallery.  And John George Diefenbaker, whose murder case seems to be responsible for its ghost, is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan College of Law and his portrait hangs over my desk and haunts me.

laying it out

Hand making books, when the book is blank is easy peasy.  Just fold your sheets in half, sew them together with the top secret not to be revealed stitch pattern and attach to the cover of your choice and devising.  Sometimes, with a soft cover you have already done that.  But if you have created content (a bland all purpose word for what you put on your pages) then you will need to be careful about how you lay the pages out.  You can not create your pages in order.  They will come out all funny.  For me, hands on, I create a little mock up text block and write the page numbers, title, copyright placement on each page.  Then I separate them and I can be sure that pages which should lie next to each other for printing actually do.

                             In this way you get layouts* that look like this:

But when you put your book together, they come out looking like this:

*These layouts are from the Happy Leopard Chapbook Book of Days, their fifth fundraiser.

Holy Book Repair, Batman, part ll

 In wholing the book, returning the text block and the cover back to their unified state, I first lined up the new end paper (here secured by an ever handy brick) with the text block, then marked it with green painter tape.  I love green painter tape and use it often in my book repair work, and my art.  It holds, removes with ease and does not mark.  Once the green tape was in place to be sure the text block would be exact in its positioning I cleared the new end papers to a safe distance from whence they could observe, and proceeded to be liberal with the glue.  

It should be noted, just before you are liberal with the glue, that over the end of the spine, over the mull, I had placed a white strip of card stock, and when I spread the glue, it was from the end of the spine area on the cover out onto the boards where the mull would lie.  No glue is to go down the spine of the cover itself, or down the spine of the text block.  The mull is what is attached to the book's cover, not the spine.  Rather as though you glued your arms to the wall, but left your back free.  Why you would do this to yourself I am not sure, but the image should give you the right idea for what to do with the book.  With the book cover lying flat on the table, place a brick on either side of the text block to keep it in place and go away for a while.  A day.  A week if you want, it doesn't matter.  Go on a  holiday, go to Europe. 

When you get back your book will look rather like this.  

Holy book repair,Batman! part 1

This adorable little old priest came to me and asked if I could repair his Bible.  Apparently he uses it a lot and its spine was coming apart.  I offered to build a new cover, but he liked the designs on the old cover so I mended it.  First I helped the text block complete its escape.  I gave it a new mull and picked out fresh end papers.

Then I prepped the cover for its reunion with the text block. I stripped off the old end papers and using a piece that discard, strengthened the spine from the inside.  I applied book tape down the outside of the spine and to the corners which were showing their age.  

Book tape comes in few colours.  Red, blue (the kind even a desperate boat owner having to purchase from the miss mixed paints wouldn't choose), brown, (the kind that makes you think of icky things), yellow (YELLOW), British racing green, a lovely burgundy (that goes well with many law books I work with at my day job, but did not match this Bible), and black (old faithful).  There is also white, but it reminds me of white socks with black shoes and I have never used it.  If you have an expense account and wish to go to Brodat's you can indulge in a dark brown (which makes you think of chocolate), and maroon.  It is always good to dream.  Still neither of the Brodat colours would have matched the Bible either, so I stuck with the old standard, black.  Matches the priestly robes and all.

Upcoming, the wholing of the book.

spinal separation

Easy breezy repair and a most important one.  In hard covers the text block likes, on more occasions than the book-brother authority would like to admit, to make a break for it now and then.  We have no idea why text blocks feel the need to break free of what protects them from a hard wear world, but the burden of the cover just seems to become too much all of sudden and they lean out, unclenching the glue attachments and list toward all out freedom.  If you can catch them in this partially escaped state, you can save yourself a lot of work.  Pleasurable work, but work non-the-less. 

Get your glue ready, in a little puddle on a plate or some such item.  Get your glue brush ready.  This is a paint brush that is either in retirement, or was crafted by people who believe paint brushes should be disposable in quality.  Make sure your glue brush has a long handle and is not very big in the bristle department.  A size one is a good bet. Not too big and not too small for the job.  Just like porridge.  Spread the spine and cover open as in the picture, exposing the areas in need of fresh glue.  Swipe up a dollop of glue on the brush, hold it over the opening with your hand near the brush, and, with practiced timing, let go, then just before it lands on the desk below, catch the handle again and paint the glue all up the inside edges of the spine where the boards and the end papers should be attached.*  Put the glue brush in water.  Lay the book on its spine with the covers flat on the desk and gently press the end papers back into place.  Close the book, lay it flat and drop a brick on it. Gently. Leave it until the glue dries.  Done.

*I have tried the method where you pour the glue down inside the book along the edges of the spine, but that generally ends up with smears of glue along the shaft of the glue brush.  If you don't mind cleaning that up, or don't care if your glue brush is caked with dried glue, go for it.  Not that I would admit to being fastidious in anyway.  And not that anyone who has seen my work station while I am in the middle of a project would think it.  But I generally do it the other way.

visions of ebooks

I am a maker.  I make my own bread, my own yogurt, my own clothes...okay I only alter at this point, (one of the vicious realities for people who's legs are not regulation length, I can out height you if we are sitting down), and as you will note from the 100 handmade books saga, I make books. And I don't mean I just physically make them, I do, but I also write and illustrate and do the layout design on them too.  But books are coming out in a new form. I can't say I look forward to having to read an ebook, not enough tactility for me, but...cooooollll, how do I make that?  Well I took an introduction to Adobe Acrobat (six hours just to say hello) and that's how you make that.  I can do all the layout and put in videos and snarky talking giraffes and then presto, a pdf which will grow up to be an ebook.

Now I just need to finish the three months of paper work so I can sell on Amazon....want to hear about easy as 1,2,3 Amazon style?

100 handmade books aftermath

Wow!  The launch for the Book of Days was on Tuesday evening. There was food from the recipes, music from a harpist and her guitar playing husband, a whole host of friends and well wishers.  And purchasers.  The book sold out completely. Okay, okay, not all on Tuesday, I spent Monday and Tuesday offering it to everyone I came into contact with, with great success. I collapsed Wednesday to recover from several months of drawing and three weeks of stitching and gluing.  Imagine if you will a whole day of doing only as my whimsey takes me.* Ahhhh.

I did take my camera, but I was so involved with telling people what food came from which recipe and visiting and all, that I didn't remember it till we were packing up.  You will have to use your imagination.  It is a surprising tool.  Just try it.  Close your eyes.  You are in a low ceiling room, with paintings all around the walls (local artists), there are couches, and many mismatched tables and chairs.  The harpist plays medieval music with her husband.  There is a counter top and a table full of food dishes.  You are invited to dine.  Inhale the scent of the clam spaghetti sauce, look at the thick caramel on the top of the fudgey wedgy squares.  Have a small taste of the Post Reformation yogurt....chat, laugh, eat well.

* bonus points to those who recognize the quote.

100 handmade books

Okay, truth is we are making 102 because the book has an ISBN which means the National Archive requires two copies and it is sooooo much easier to make them two copies than to buy two copies because all the money you are making on the project is going to charity.

 

I am involved with Happy Leopard Chapbooks.  Twice a year we create a limited edition book to sell for charity.  Different charity each time.  Mostly.  And if you think making one book by hand is time consuming --- I must digress here to say that while I was spending the weekend with my mother I was also spending the weekend with my father, two people who courted in Latin.  My father gave me the tid bit that manufacture, from the Latin, means to make by hand.  So Ford, you ain't manufacturing those trucks.  I just know you're not.  Nor are any of the others, but this digression has gone on long enough --- you should try making 100, and two.

If you are around, come on out for the launch, June 21st (ah summer, when the days are getting shorter) at 8pm, the Refinery 609 Dufferin, Saskatoon.  There will be food.

Next blog: Luddite finds tribe

As I am wont to do, I hit next blog today.  A bookbinder!  A bookbinder in Canada!  And she follows other blogs of other bookbinders.  Oh I think I have found my tribe.  I have certainly discovered something called PBI, Paper Book Intensive.  They do this every year, oh be still my heart.  I will have to get a passport, and rob a piggy bank.  Hope the one next year is as close to home as possible.  It was this year, of course, and happened just weeks before I knew it even existed, so next year it will doubless be in Alaska. I've been to the Yukon (yes six years old counts), can Alaska be any less amazing?  Barring certain persons who shall not be named here, but about whom it is sometimes difficult to maintain a charitable frame of mind, or even keep a straight face.

Inside the cover

When the endpapers on a hard cover splits I was taught to use gummy binder tape for the repair.  It is fully functional, but looks less than stellar.  In fact as time goes on it looks worse and worse, like a hobo with patched pants.  White pants, patched with brown plaid.  Soooooo, being an enterprising, and over keen little thing, I kept my eyes out for a substitute that might meet my exacting needs.  Change being what it is, I was soon rewarded with a pile of discarded legal texts; the kind they make by the row for beauty of conformity, and then update, with more beautiful conformity.  They also indulge in several blank pages front and back of the actual word portion of the event to demonstrate, hummm, wealth? extravagance? generosity to my book repair needs?  Must be it.  My cutting tool in hand I extricated the pages, and in several cases ribbons and decorative spine endings too, but that's another story.   

Clean off any rough bits from the broken endpapers, cut a nice piece of your rescued paper, mind the grain, and glue it over the gap.  Instead of greyish, hey look-at-me-I-am-a-repair, you get a tidy, I-am-elegant-and-decorative look.  On my own budget I have been known to get a variant colour and use that, which naturally enhances the decorative look of the repair. 

Exciting a book binding library assistant

Well, at least if I get to do the soldering.  I have been thinking seriously of taking the back off my retired mac. The thing I like about being a book binder and repairer is that I actually get to do the work, so if librarians get to start teaching people neat stuff, I am in.  In this article by Seth Godin he talks about the future of librarians not as keepers of the books (he keeps saying dead, but like calligraphy, book making will step gracefully into being an art and it will never die), but as being connectors bringing data and people together.  Sounds like community.  I think we'll start with a potluck and I will show you how to take some of your favourite data and turn it into a work of art.