Weaverly

Books and More Books

I seem to be caught in a balancing act between physical books and ebooks. I enjoy reading ebooks, and have read over half a dozen in the past year (The most recent is Chad Harbach's The Art of Fielding. Loved it.). I also enjoy reading physical books, but I find them harder to hold comfortably, particularly the ones whose print runs into the gutter areas of the spine. What finally tips the contest in favor of ebooks, for me, is that I can make the print bigger in an ebook. That's a great thing, especially for "a person who has a certain number of birthdays," as my optometrist coyly states.

Yes, I see the wave of the future. More ebooks, fewer physical books. So here I am, very much behind the curve, launched wholeheartedly into an obsessive pastime of bookmaking. Go figure.

Here's the batch completed today:

While we're talking about books, you might like to see this video. It's an amazing stop-motion animation shot in a real live bookstore, with "real" books. Thanks, Jim, for sending me this one.

A Miscellany

The sky as I finished up my walk yesterday was threatening, to say the least.

During the night the wind blew and blew. Branches littered the ground this morning, but the sun shone brightly once again. Here are the first gleams on the backyard trees. No trees down, miraculously. 

In the studio, I've settled into a nice book routine. I do four at a time, which fits conveniently on my work table. First I paint all the covers on the reverse with matte medium and trim them to size. Then I glue on all the leather spines. Then I punch all the holes in all the spines. Then I punch all the sheets.

Then I do all the sewing (or at least I started. Had to stop for dinner.). 

Sounds a little bit like As I was going to St Ives, doesn't it?

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As your reward for staying with the tale this long, I have a wonderful video to share with you. You will love it, I promise. Click and enjoy.

Low Tech, For a While

Very soothing on a grey drizzly day. Almost as good as yoga. I will stay here until the daylight fades.

Four Covers

Something I'm able to do without hurting my thumbs—cut new book covers. These have already had their backs reinforced with matte medium. I've now cut them to exact size and they have had their front edges painted with PVC. When dry, this will be invisible, although now it looks like a big splattery mess.

Repurposed lampas fabrics with handspun pattern wefts. Click for a closer look.

 

Bibliophilia

A bibliophile is a person who loves books or collects books. Strictly speaking, I don't think the term applies to persons who love to make books, of which I am one. But there must be a word for such as me. If you know what it is, please let me know.

Meanwhile, I continue to do what I love. The lampas I coated with matte medium (on the back) has been cut to size. Here's the start of sewing a signature.

And now two books completely sewn:

A front:

Two backs:

These both need some kind of wrapper band, but I haven't decided what kind. I might make twisted cords of the remaining gray handspun. We'll see. Meanwhile, I had to punch holes for the kumihimo bands in one of last week's books, and I worried about raveling, even though the backs were well coated with matte medium. So I painted a blob of PVA around each hole, and when that dries, the cords can go in. The holes are hard to see in the weave, but the green arrows point the way:

Found!

Found! More paper in my stash. This is from an old batch of cover stock I used for printing party invitations for a long ago party. It looks kind of like parchment (or what I imagine parchment looks like).

I spent a pleasant morning tearing it down into signatures and now have enough for four more books.

I took another retired wall hanging from storage:

There are two pattern wefts in this lampas, both of them handspun singles:

I think it will make gorgeous books. I coated the back with acrylic matte medium, and now I'll wait for it to dry:

Meanwhile, I completed a couple more kumihimo bands and installed them on finished books. I like the way the yarns echo the ones in the weaving. Click to enlarge.

Finally the loom calls, and if I can tear myself away from the books for a few hours, I'll be doing some weaving. Maybe.

 

Report From the Field

A visit to Durham, where I used to live. That was in the Sixties. First my front door (the one on the left):

Nothing much has changed. The grounds are a little scruffier. But there are new Venetian blinds. Here's my back door (on the right). This is where I carried the laundry outside to hang on the line. Lotsa diapers.

Motel upholstery spotted in Durham:

A visit to an old friend. Wendell is now retired, and a Churchill and Roosevelt scholar. Here he is with part of his vast collection of Churchill books. 

An echo of past times. "What's a phone booth?" some might ask.

On the way home, a stop at a Thai restaurant for lunch. Wall decor is a camera magnet!

Back at home, and to the loom at last. A new warp, for some more striped pillows.

Callaway IV

Snake Journal Just Posted in Etsy Shop

One of my favorite books ever, the Snake book, is now available on Etsy. Is there a herpetologist in your life? Or someone who appreciates exotic pattern? Or a lover of Lampas? This might be the perfect gift for any one of these folks. It's a small blank journal (4 1/2 x 3 1/2") with lots of pages and fits comfortably in the hand.

Two New Books

These books were completed a few months ago. I've been dragging my feet about listing them on Etsy, because—frankly—I love them so much I didn't want to part with them. They both have jacquard-woven covers in lampas weave, with handspun pattern yarns. The pages are Frankfurt, a paper made in Germany by the Zerkall company. It's a heavier weight paper, and feels divine. As for the covers—what can I say? They look good, feel good, and function unobtrusively. But it's time to let them go. If you're looking for the perfect gift for one of the creatives in your life (yourself, perhaps?), you might take a look at these.

The first book (labeled 007) sports an abstract doodle in handspun hand dyed wool and alpaca. Click to enlarge.

The second book (labeled 006), also has a lampas cover. The imagery is based on a photo of bare-branched trees. One of the pattern wefts is handspun wool, and the second pattern weft is orange commercially spun cotton. Warp for both is black cotton and peach silk.

The cloth for both these covers was woven on a TC-1 (jacquard) loom. The books are available for purchase in my Etsy shop.