Christmas Bookbinding Books

I should have blogged about this pair of books last year, but what with essays about Peter Pan and days with the family I didn’t get the chance.
For Christmas my mum very kindly bought me Vol 1 Non-Adhesive Binding, Books without Paste or Glue by Keith Smith and Bookcraft by Heather Weston.
I’d been hoping for Smith’s book, as I’d seen some of his other volumes while doing the bookbinding evening class and was fascinated by the idea that you can bind a book without any glue (something I have tried but not very successfully).
Weston’s book I hadn’t seen before, but it’s a really nice collect of easy to follow techniques, not just for binding but folding and decorating books, and examples – perfect for getting ideas going.
I look forward to trying lots of new techniques out, although I might get my essays finished first.

Geninne’s Art Blog

I really can’t believe that I haven’t blogged about this sooner.
Some time in the summer I got it into my head that I wanted to try hand carving my own stamps (something still sitting on my to do list).
I must have seen it on a website somewhere and one of the links took me to Geninne’s Art Blog where she gave you a step by step break down of how to do this. Very interesting and exactly what I wanted to know. So then I started looking at the rest of her website.
To be honest, I was blown away. It’s pretty simple, mostly about her wonderful bird illustrations, with photos of the place she lives and her dog Turbo, but the colour is just amazing. If I’m feeling a little down this is the place to cheer myself up. Go have a look and get a taste of Mexico.

Beady Necklaces

As if repairing Bibles and writing essays about Peter Pan wasn’t enough I’ve also finally gotten round to making the necklace with the beads I bought at the last Bead and Gem Show. What I liked best about them was their pastel colours and the feel of them.

While I was at it, I also strung some seed beads on some elastic to make a really simple necklace. Something with a little colour but hardly any weight. It was just an experiment really, but I really like how it’s turned out, so I might try it with some other colours when I’ve some more time (and some more elastic).

Note - 4 Jan 2011
I think the seed bead necklace needs some work.
Back to work today and I thought it would go nicely with my outfit. Put on my big coat and my scarf and felt something tickle my back. Didn’t think anything of it. Picked up my handbag and there is a sudden weird noise! I thought my water bottle was leaking for a moment, then realised it was the beads escaping onto our wooden floor. Nearly had to strip to get them all out – they got caught in my vest, bra, pants….

Bible Repairs

On Christmas Day, while we digested the huge lunch ‘im outdoor’s Nan had cooked us, we somehow got onto talking about her Bible and how the cover had come off. It looked like quite a simple repair to me, so I offered to take it home and rebind it for her.
It was only when I got home that I thought – What am I doing!?! This is her Bible – quite an important book in her eyes!
But I made up some paste, removed the tatty bits that were still attached and made a new cover.
I’m really pleased with the end result, all it needs is the title in gold on the spine, but I don’t have the means to do that at the moment. Maybe one day.
I hope she likes it, I’ll find out on Sunday when ‘im outdoors takes it over to her.

Copyright

Anyone who has read my blog in the past couple of years will know that I make stuff and write stuff.
I read hundreds of books and blogs and design websites (just look at the list on the right!), and anyone who makes or writes stuff like me, will know that anything can give you inspiration. A story you read, an article in a paper, the way a branch of a tree sticks out and looks like a scary man. Any of these things can make a spark that gives life to a project.
Now you might be wondering why I’m telling you all this, but it seems that while the web is great for getting our stuff out in to the big wide world, it also makes it easier for people to copy what we are creating. Now when it’s something written it’s quite easy to do something about it, but what about when its your design or your blog?
Luckily I’ve had no such problems, but others have – click here and here to read more about this.
This is something I feel very strongly about. The handmade community needs to stick together and fight this. This is people’s lives they are messing with. Not all of us are big multinational companies looking to make a profit. Most of us are just trying to make a living doing something we enjoy. Where is the harm in that?

Christmas Writers Group

The Creative Writers Group met for the last time this year, and considering we weren’t sure if it would continue this time last year, I think we’ve done quite well.
I felt strangely powerful to find that people had actually had a go at the homework I set last month, some of which was very successful.
And I even had something to read out, although it had nothing to do with the homework and isn’t finished.
I won’t post it here as it still needs a lot of work, but the Writers Group was the perfect sounding board to check I wasn’t wasting my time. We all agreed that I need to cut some of the stuff from the beginning, where it was very obvious to us all that I’d been writing my way into the story.
But that’s the joy if editing. Let the words bubble out of you head and onto the page, then give it a couple of days, or weeks and go back and cut all the mess out until you get to the good stuff.

Homework this month:
Create a character based on the connotations of their name when their first name is the name of a pet, and their second name is the name of a neighbour.
Now think about what they look like? What their occupation is? What they spend their money on? What’s their greatest fear?

Now write a story or poem about that happens when your character desperately wants something, but this desire is frustrated?
(borrowed from Mslexia)

The last bookbinding class

Last night I had the last of the bookbinding evening classes, after last week was cancelled due to snow.
In all I’ve enjoyed the classes and think I’ve learnt lots. But I found it hard work doing these in the evening after a long day at work, and was disappointed to start with, that the classes were more focused on repairing than starting from scratch.
But I finished the two big books I was working on, and I’m very pleased with how they turned out. Hopefully my mum will be too, but anything has to be an improvement on the poor book she gave me a few weeks ago.
Hopeful I will be able to use what I learnt in the last 10 weeks to improve the books that I make.

Oh dear

Oh dear I’ve been rather lax with the blog these past couple of weeks.
Of course I’ve been busy as normal, but the real problem is that I haven’t made anything to write about. Essays about the courage of children in late 19th century novels really doesn’t count.
Bookbinding last week was cancelled due to heavy snow but has been rescheduled for this week, so hopeful I will have 2 finished books to display at the end of the week.
And I attended the gem and bead show in Farnham last week, so have some new beads to make into a necklace at some point.
Also the website for Garden Escapes is close to being finished, so there are many projects on the go, just none ready to show to world yet.
Must try harder.