tedorigawa bookmakers

According to my logs, I have made 100 books. Admittedly, most of them are less than stellar performances. I mean, I stapled my first book after the duct tape didn't work out. Some of these books have been ripped apart and re-built. Some of them have been put on a back shelf near the gates of Hell.

But all of them were part of my aspiration at getting better at making these little rascals. My 100th book was a Japanese-style bound book of quotes about The Future - "The Future Belongs to the People who Prepare for It ~ African Proverb" - with nifty Japanese paper. (Picture's upside down, duh). Before that, I made a couple of casebound books which are much better than even I expected them to be.

Also according to my Book Book (the first book I made, with a cardboard cover and very badly made Japanese stab binding, where I keep a record of the books I've made so I can enter posts on my blog), I've been aspiring to improve my bookbinding skills since January, 2007. Four+ years. A very good four years of learning, thinking, improving, and progressing, I think, nicely. In another couple of decades I might even be confident. Especially when it comes to gluing in the endpapers. Slam, shut the cover and hope its aligned properly.

I'm looking forward to improving. I hope I do. I'm looking forward to being able to create a book that will be around for a century. Wouldn't that be great? To know something you've made will be around much longer than you?

Thanks for listening & reading this blog. See you next time.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [1:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (32)

I attended two workshops this last week (Sept. 15 ~ 17). One was for a couple of hours on two consecutive days and one was for a couple of hours on alternate days. I found I could fit both into my schedule and rushed off to Tokyo.

Yamazaki Yo's workshop - (one of his books on bookbinding) Thursday-Friday, one casebound book.

I practiced making a 172-page casebound book (the novel This Is Life by Seth Harwood; Episode 49.) On day one, I used the link-stitch to sew it up, glued the spine, added endpapers, headbands, and that extra piece of paper on the spine, and mull. Yamazaki Yo, the teacher, showed me a simple and convenient way to measure things:

• Use a strip of paper rather than a ruler.

And to add endpapers, he uses an endpaper that is too large and then cuts the excess away rather than measure exactly and hope it is glued on straight. This made for quick and stress-free endpaper adding.

I also learned how to say "mull" in Japanese: 寒冷紗 (kan-rei-sha.) Literally, 'cold-cold-gauze'. As an extra attraction, I taught the teacher (Yo Yamazaki) how to say 寒冷紗 in English. We also traded vocabulary for "clamshell box" which, in Japanese, is 夫婦箱 (me-oto-bako). Literally, 'Husband (夫) - wife (婦) box (箱)'

On day two, I made the cover using templates rather than measure everything. For the 7 mm space between the cover and the spine, I slipped in a 7-mm wide piece of wood (called a 'template' by some). For the 15 mm extra book cloth around the edges of the book board, Yamazaki-sensei had a 15-mm strip of wood. Quick, easy, and consistent. Very nice.

Marumizu Gumi workshop - Thursday-Saturday, one casebound book & book cloth.

I took this workshop once before and you can see more on Episode 34. On Thursday night we made bookcloth out of a used t-shirt and other cloth I wanted to use.

Backing paper was thoroughly moistened, the cloth was made wet; glue was added to the backing paper and then attached to the back of the cloth. The edge of the cloth was glued down and viola, finished. Except for waiting at least 24-hours to dry. I made four bookcloths and used one in the next class.

On Saturday morning, I made a casebound book which I had previously link-stitched together (after Yamazaki-sensei's workshop). Inoue-sensei, the teacher, showed me a different way to add the strip on the spine by folding a thin piece of paper in thirds. Very nice, too. She also showed me how to make the spine flat so that it fit better into the cover - by using a bonefolder.

The benefit of workshops (at least for me at least this time) was connecting with other bookbinders, renewing my enthusiasm for bookbinding, and learning tricks that make the whole process faster, more accurate (templates) and cheaper (making my own bookcloth).

Welcome to Fuzzy Julius. This is a B4-size (5 1/4 x 7 1/2 inches) lined notebook with 128 pages (Eight signatures of four sheets each) with yellow endpapers. What it basically is is more practice. I practiced a better technique of attaching the endpapers and also a better way to crease the spine. It also uses pieces of paper that I wanted to use up before I ran off and purchased a few quarter acres of more paper. I have a bunch that I hope to use up with excellent books of a variety of types. I also have wood for covers that I want to use soon, too. Ta da. Look! A road paved with good intentions! Haven't seen many of those in the last few decades.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [2:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (50)

A link to a YouTube video I made of a few books I made this past week. Please enjoy while I figure out how to embed the video on podbean.

July Books by Tedorigawa Bookmakers

Welcome back y'all. I've been busy with life and enjoying myself except that I haven't made a book in two months or more. I've planned quite a few, of course, and that leads me to my next big project. And you all are involved. If you want to be.

I'm going to make a bunch of notebooks: A5 and B4 in size - handy for pockets, doodling during meetings, shopping lists, sketches, and diaries - with photos of the city in which I live interspersed throughout. Twelve photos to correspond with the twelve months but the photos will not be season-coordinated. No fluffy kittens chasing snowflakes.

My thinking on having photos from around the city is that potential customers will pick up the notebook and think, "Uh, another notebook." Then they will flip through it as we are wont to do when picking up a notebook. A photo will catch their eye and it will be of a place they are familiar with. Will this pique their interest? I hope so. Will it pique it enough for them to shell out some cash for it? I hope so.

Here is where you come in. Over the next few weeks or months, I will be posting five photos here. If you tell me which photos you prefer, I will include your name at the end of the notebook as contributing editor. Or a more glamorous title. Art director maybe? All you have to do is:

• look at the shots
• state your preference in the Comments section
• leave the name you wish to have emblazoned across the back of the notebook.

Today's five photos are, from upper left: Tree and Coffee One, Tree and Coffee Two (closer); Skyline with Town One (more sky and clouds) and Skyline with Town Two. And down at the bottom we have a Cemetery. The coffee shop is a small local roaster trying to compete with Starbucks and Tully's. It has two locations and a very small clientele, as far as I can see. But it deserves a chance, eh?

The two skyline photos were taken from a ridge overlooking one of the two rivers that bisect the city. The river is in the foreground and barely visible in the two pictures. We are looking toward the main downtown area of the city with the big buildings, noise, buses, and people in Skyline with Town Two, and away from downtown towards the mountains that are dusted with snow during the winter in Skyline with Town One. Well, not dusted so much as buried under several yards of the stuff.

And down here at the bottom is a snapshot of a cemetery attached to a local temple. Cemeteries, temples, and shrines are an oasis against noise and visual pollution in the cities. They are visually, aurally, and spiritually more placid that the hustling city streets no matter what city you're in.

Let me know which photos you'd like to see in a notebook by punching the Comment button at the bottom of this episode and stay tuned for more in the coming weeks. Many with audio.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [1:58m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (45)

Susan Mills is a bookbinder and podcaster. Her artist books can be found at SusanMillArtistBooks.com and her podcast, Bookbinding Now, can be found at Bookbinding Now.com or on iTunes. She interviews bookbinders, printers, and other artisans working with books. She was gracious enough to allow me to interview her and here is the result. We talk about many things related to bookbinding including education and experience. Please listen and enjoy. Also, please check out her Bookbinding Now.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [15:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (83)

This evening I finished a case-bound 128-page lined notebook with photos of the city and friends for a co-worker who is retiring as of tomorrow. There are eight signatures of four sheets each. The book is A5 (small - 8.3 x 5.8 in) in size so it will fit easily into a coat pocket. It has Japanese wave-y paper for the cover, black paper for the spine, and photos of a retirement party as endpapers. There is also a moleskine-esque strap to keep it closed.

What I learned from this book is Think! The strap could have been placed more correctly had I given it more thought. Also, when you print out about 128 pages of lined paper - buy ink. The lines sort of fade off toward the end of the book. However! It's the thought that counts, isn't it?

I shall present this book to my co-worker as a work of love for all the support, assistance, and knowledge she has foisted upon me (and others) over the years. She will be sorely missed. It is interesting to note that her selflessness has earned her high praise from co-workers but paranoia from management, who feared that she, by helping others and being a leader, wanted their jobs. Is this true of all managers or only merely incompetent ones?

Listen Now:

 Enhanced Podcast [3:54m]: Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (130)

No, no, this book doesn't run, at least not very far, but it's a notebook for writing down your running accomplishments. Well, not exactly your running feats but a friend of mine can.

I made it for a friend who runs both half-marathons and marathons. She runs nearly everyday and she runs with an iPod Touch. She probably already has an app for recording her running and exercises. (rubiTrack perhaps?) But I made this book for her anyway.

It has ten signatures of four sheets each for a total of 160 pages. It is B6 in size, which is a handy size to slip into a pocket; if you have a pocket in your running outfit. It also has pictures on random pages of marathon runners, masses of people at the start of a marathon, and a

sign that says "No Running." Why? Because my friend's motto is No Running/No Life. It was easy to find a sign that said "No Running" - every swimming pool has one - but nearly impossible to find one that said "No Life."

Also, each page has space to write down the distance run, the marathon name, the time it took to run the marathon, and comments. With each page having space for about 15 marathons, my friend will have to run about 3,000 marathons to fill up the book. No problem, eh?

The cover paper is the same as the Setsubun book down there in Episode 62. I like the feel of the paper as well as the design. It is a little rough - not really rough - so it is a tactile.

I have found I work better (faster?) when I have a goal. I must be goal-oriented because once I decided to make this book, I worked on it until it was finished. On the other hand, I have four text blocks that have been sewed, the mull has been sewed on and the four semi-books are sitting on my desk waiting to be dressed. I suppose I need a good idea of what to do with them. One or two of the text blocks are lined notebooks, one is blank, and one is a novel. I think I need inspiration for the cover. Or book boards.

And an update: Last night I had a flash of insight.

I will make one of the books for a colleague who is retiring and, I'm sure, needs a handmade, lined notebook.

Listen Now:

 Enhanced Podcast [03:20m]: Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (131)

Yes, I have now enrolled my books in the library that is Facebook. Check out my face on Facebook at Tedorigawa Bookmakers. Why? To explore all the avenues; this is, after all, a blog of exploration and aspiration. Enjoy.

The usual short Tedorigawa audio drama begins about three minutes into the audio. Enjoy.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [0:04:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (62)