Bookbinding Evening Class wk 1

Last night I went back to basics.
I joined the first of a 10 week bookbinding course at the local Adult Ed.
As our first project, we made a single signature hard covered book. I’ll post a photo once it’s finished – next week I hope.
The tutor, Sarah, seems very knowledgeable, but I’m undecided about the class at the moment.
I know most of the students had never done anything like this before, so starting at the beginning is a good idea. Also it means that after two weeks we will have a finished project to take home. A great way of keeping people motivated. But some of the things that I think are important – like not wasting material, or measuring things and being accurate, didn’t seem important to our tutor, while things like paper grain which I didn’t know anything about was of high importance according to Sarah.
Also in 2 hours I could have made a multi signature hard covered book, so it all seemed a bit slow.
But I will stick with it. I know there is so much about book binding that I don’t know, and in 10 weeks I can’t imagine the information I could collect. I think once we’ve done the 3 set projects to give us the skills we need, we’ll be able to carry on with our own projects – who knows what I might learn.

I believe you should be open to as many things as possible. Who knows where it might take you.

Change is in the Air

It’s been ages since I last posted anything and in that time things have changed a bit.
For starters I’ve just got myself a new job. Still working at the University, but moving away from the Department of Electronic Engineering and moving to the Web Team. Finally all my hard work learning about web design seems to have paid off. Not only that but it’s the next grade up. I start on 25th October and as usual I’m a mix of nerves and excitement.
Of course that means that everyone is asking me to ‘just do this before you go’, the brand new level 1 students arrive next week and the returning students the week after, and with a work load like that it doesn’t seem possible to think of making anything.
So it’s no surprise that I’ve booked myself on a book binding evening class at the local Adult Ed Centre which kicks off this week.
And on top of all that I’ve only a week or so until the start of the next OU course.
Thank heavens for a supportive partner and home delivery by Sainsbury’s.

EA300 Children's Literature

A big box of OU text books was waiting on the door step when I got home last night. As always they look scary, but I’m sure they will be exciting and interesting once I get stuck in.
My only issue with the paper work is that the normal calendar, an A3 sheet which would show you what you should be doing each week and when TMA’s are due in, and the book with all the assignments in it are now only available over the web – on a site that doesn’t open until mid September. This is slightly disappointing and means I’ll be printing more things off myself this year. Viewing things on the web is all very well, but when I have things to do on a weekly basis I like a physical list that I can tick off, and when working on assignments I like something that I can doodle and make notes on.
Anyway, everything kicks off on 2nd October. I can’t wait.

Amy Butler Sun Surf Halter

For my first clothing project I thought I should go with something that looked relatively simple, so I choose Amy Butler’s Sun Surf Halter.
I have to say that this was my first go at something so complicated but her pattern made it really easy and I might even go as far as to say it was fun. It was amazing to put things together and have them fit perfectly.
As we’ve run out of sunshine here I think it’ll be perfect for our trip to Egypt in the new year – to sit on the beach or boat, for instance.
Maybe I’m ready for one of the more complicated patterns now…

Set Books

My set books for EA300 Children’s Literature have finally turned up. I can’t wait to get reading and if I didn’t have things to do; work, cooking dinner, washing, blogging, I’d be sitting in a pile of books, cardboard boxes and packing materials reading.

This list include:
Peter Pan DVD (2003)
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
Northern Lights, Philip Pullman
Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome
Mortal Engines, P Reeve
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
Tom’s Midnight Garden, Philippa Pearce
Junk, Melvin Burgess
100 Best Poems for Children, Roger McGough (ed)
Voices in the Park, Anthony Browne
The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter
Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
Coram Boy, Jamila Gavin
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor
The Other Side of Truth, Beverley Naidoo

Some of these are old friends and some are brand new and I can’t wait to get acquainted.

CIW Web Design Specialist

Yesterday I took the second exam toward the Master CIW Web Site Manager qualification. This was the CIW Web Design Specialist exam and consisted of questions covering Site Development Essentials, Web Design Elements, and Basic and Advanced Web Technologies.
I managed to pass with 79%, which considering I’m only doing this in my spare time, and not every day in my job, I’m quite pleased with. It means I can now call myself a CIW Professional and a CIW Web Design Specialist.

To be honest I’m not sure I will end up with the final qualification as that would mean also taking tests on JavaScript, Peal and Server administration, and as I don’t use any of these things at all, it would take a huge amount of work for me to pass all three. But I’m still happy. The CIW Web Design Specialist was the qualification I was really working towards and I’m pleased to have passed.

Results

I can’t believe we’re already half way through August.
But it does mean I’ve finally got my results for A363 Advanced Creative Writing from The Open University; and they’re not as bad as I’d feared. I got 79 for my huge final assignment with comments of ‘good’ and ‘excellent ideas’ (you don’t get very detailed comments because of the amount of marking they have to do). And a mark of 72 over all. This gives me a Grade 2 pass and a Diploma in Literature and Creative Writing! Apparently I can put the letters DipLCW(Open) after my name now. Very exciting.

As always I’ve also been busy with other things. I’ve completed the first of my sewing projects with another close to completion.
‘im outdoors has a second hand office chair, which had a slightly torn seat cover. The tear soon got bigger until I couldn’t bear to look at it any more.
So on the hunt for material for a top for me, I found some perfect material on the remnants table. It only took a morning to make a cover for the chair, and I’ve got enough material to make a cover for the back as well if I ever have time.

New Blue Book

Now I’ve finished my OU course (until next time) I’ve suddenly got time to do things that I didn’t have time for when I was trying to write assignments. Which means I’ve made my first book in something like a year! It’s not great and could be improved but I’ve proved to myself that I haven’t forgotten how to do it, which was my main concern. It’s not bad really, just a small A5 book.
I might make some more over the summer, but I do have some sewing patterns to work on too…