December 2006 Journal

12-10-06 I'm going to quit apologizing for not posting here. Stuff happens, fortunately all good, but stuff nonetheless that takes me away from the journal.

12-15-06 Yesterday was a hoot. A few weeks ago Gwen Childs, the director of the local arts council, asked if I would be willing to take pictures of a mural that's on the side of a local building. (The underlying brick wall is deteriorating and the mural is going to be removed so the wall can be repaired.) It wasn't until after I'd said "sure" that she told me that in order to do it I'd have to climb a ladder leaning against an adjoining building. I cocked my head, looked over my glasses at her and said, "No. No ladder. Get me a bucket truck." So...Gwen called the Belle, Director of Tourism. Belle called Randy, the City Administrator. Randy called Grover, the Fire Chief...and I got my fire truck. It came complete with five cute firemen who hoisted me up in the bucket so I could take pictures of the mural.

12-24-06 A few days ago I found three bolts of gorgeous mock leather cloth at Wal-Mart. One (on the left) is textured suede that is almost impossible to tell from the real stuff either visually or in the hand. It even shows brush marks when you rub a finger across it. Lovely! Another (center) is a suede-feeling snakeskin print. The weaving shows through the print, so with this one it's obvious it's cloth. The other (on the right) is a textured design that reflects light in the dark areas. It was the first bolt, the textured suede, that really caught my eye. It belonged on the cover of a book. I did this one using that cloth for the front and back and the print cloth on the spine. The insert is cork paper with gold wire above and below. The second book uses the snakeskin print with the suede on the spine. Front and center is a delightful clay face done by Page Candler. The muse of the book? The area beneath the face is recessed into the book cover, then an oval was placed on the surface, again with a recessed area to accommodate the face.

12-25-06 I will be teaching two workshops in early January at the Berea Arts Council. The first is Paste Paper with a Purpose, a delightfully fun workshop that brings back memories of finger painting as a child. The second workshop is Beginning Bookbinding. During that workshop, we will use paste papers made in the first class to cover simple, yet elegant books. The two workshops are independent of each other. Participants can take either or both. Paste papers will be available for those who take only the bookbinding class. There are application forms for each workshop available at the above links.

12-27-06 Someone wrote to ask how I achieved the rounded corners two books done on the 24th. It's incredibly simple. No templates, no curved cutting...just straightforward folding and gluing. The rounding is actually the natural result of using thick material on a cover. I don't normally post pictures directly on these journal pages in order to keep download time to a minimum, but this is a short journal month, so I don't think it will matter. Having them visible will make explaining easier. (The pictures are clickable for larger images.)

This is a example corner. The cloth is paper backed. 3/4" is allowed for edges. Note...the binder board corner is perfectly square.

Just enough glue is applied to the paper backing and binder board to make them tacky, but not slick. Fold the corner over and hold until it's stuck.

Run a bone folder hard down along the edges of the binder board so the paper backed cloth fits tightly. It's important to get these secure before....

...smoothing the edges outward and sealing them down.

Place just enough glue on the flap and binder board to make it sticky, then fold the flap over and press down hard.

Repeat on the other side, then put into a press immediately and press hard. Otherwise, the inside will have raise ridges.

And this is the finished corner. The thicker the bookcloth, the more rounded the corner will be. This rounding is more effectively used on large books than small ones. It's possible to do the same thing using paper to cover the binder board, but the rounding won't be as pronounced. If you want the corner rounded more, back the paper with cloth or another paper to make it thicker.

12-28-08 I'll stretch the pictures just a little further. Below are shots of two mock-up corners using coverings of different thicknesses:
	The corner on the left is covered with a very thin paper instead of cloth. As you can see, the rounding isn't as pronounced, but it's still there.	This one uses very thin paper that was backed with cloth that increased the thickness. The corner is noticeably rounder.