Episodes
Monday Feb 18, 2013
Episode 99: Half-bound/Half-baked
Monday Feb 18, 2013
Monday Feb 18, 2013
This weekend I spent way too many hours making books. Not that I made a lot of books but I learned to do things I haven't done before. For example, half binding is the book cover that has the corners and spine the same material but the main part of the book cover is of another material. I made three of those.
The picture above shows the third one. It is a 200-pages, lined journal, A5 in size. (Or, for my American friends 6.25 x 8.5 inches) Half bound, as you can see. Measuring is important. I keep saying that but it really is true: the corner pieces have to be the same size, the middle spine cover has to balance on either side of the spine and, of course, the middle bit has to reach under the corner and spine pieces. All very left brain.
Before the third book, I made one from a recycled Ritz cracker box and this book. The front is simpler but the corner bits look better, I think, because the measuring was better. It is about 100 pages, lined, and the same size as the other. The lines of both books are both light red and light blue (they change color mid-page).
I have on my work table two more books I need to bind. One is a novel and the other is a lined journal with about 400 pages. The journal will be half bound (as the binder is half-baked), while the novel will be quarter bound (just the spine cover). Both will push my personal envelope by having print on the cover. Should be interesting.
Tuesday Jan 22, 2013
Episode 97: Prints of Errors
Tuesday Jan 22, 2013
Tuesday Jan 22, 2013
This last weekend I experimented with printing on book cloth, something I have never done before. The printer is old and managed to print most of the cover I wanted to use. As you can see, it smudged on the left side and didn't complete printing the Tedorigawa logo - just the top part.
The book itself is one of many experiments and attempts at improving my bookbinding skills. It has about seven signatures of five sheets each which makes it a 140-page book. However, the pages are made up of misprints from another A5 size book I made - a schedule book. The point of this book is the printing and the Measuring of the Spine Cover.
The spine cover is pretty well aligned and equal on both sides of the spine. The red book cloth is glued on fairly well, too. In fact, except for the printing part and the misprints on the inside, this is a fairly good book.
The good part is I am happy to try printing on book cloth again; this time with a newer, cleaner printer.
Friday Jan 11, 2013
Episode 96: Tedorigawa Notebook
Friday Jan 11, 2013
Friday Jan 11, 2013
This is a 128-page, A6 (41/4" x 6"), lined business card. I plan to pass these out to bricks-and-mortar stores that allow me to place my other books on their shelves. Similar to the "T" book in Episode 93, down below a few flicks of your mouse. It has my contact info on each page plus my photo at the end. What store could refuse them?
The book has left over handmade book cloth on the back cover. The original bookcloth can be seen in Episode 84, a few more mouse clicks down the pike. The front cover is made up of three items:
1. Blue craft paper.
2. A label from a local sake (酒) named Tedorigawa - in fact this Japanese says "Tedorigawa". First, of course, I had to empty the bottle, then soak it in the sink for a few hours to get the label off.
3. A loop of very flexible metal that I found in my "To use later" pile of cr... supplies. I thought with the silver of Tedorigawa, it fit nicely. Also, it makes it harder to pile other books on top of it so that store owners will keep it on top and accessible. And visible. Mainly, though, I just thought it looked nice.
It is also one of the few books that I cut the fore edge to make it straight when the book is closed. Usually, I don't cut it but lately I've been thinking I should. Or it depends on the book. Some people think a book with an uncut fore edge looks 'incomplete' or 'unfinished'. I think they look rough and natural but, well, you know some people, eh?
Meanwhile, the ongoing saga of re-writing and editing of Calvado: A Deadly Love Store continues. I was hoping to get it up on Smashwords (links to my Venetian Slime Woman: a Biological Love Story) by the end of January (2013) but this is looking doubtful as I found a few major plot holes. It is still a good book but I want to make it the best I can and one that you can enjoy. I work on it everyday so hopefully, you'll be able to get a copy before the end of the year (2013).
And, why are the pictures all upside down?
Thursday Dec 20, 2012
Episode 94: Three Firsts with Five Needles
Thursday Dec 20, 2012
Thursday Dec 20, 2012
My bookbinding teacher allowed me to try my hand at a round-backed book and this is my first attempt. It has 400 pages, all blank except for one which has a drop of my blood on it from where I stabbed myself with a needle. Fortunately, I only stabbed myself once as I was using five needles at the time. My first five-needle sewing and my first round backed book. Wow, two firsts in one book. It is also B6 in size, I think. And no, that is not a full-sized sake (酒) bottle, it's a smaller one, luckily.
More people feel as if the following six requirements make a 'real' book:
1. Hard cover 2. headbands 3. rounded back 4. content 5. Writing/design/picture on the cover 6. Writing on the spine forcing a right-handed head tilt.
Some people even insist on leather covers but when I ask them when was the last time they bought a leather covered book the answer is somewhere between never and never.
Blank books, coptic binding, book covers made of paper... these don't, to some people, convey the idea of a real book. So, I'm working on including all six of the 'requirements' in my books as possible. And the more requirements I add, the more people compliment my work. Is this because I'm meeting their expectations or I'm actually getting better at bookmaking?
This book also has my first use of marbled endpapers. Not a cheap option, let me tell you, but it fit really nicely with the cover. So it has three firsts in one book. My, what an exciting time it has been.
The second re-write of Calvado: A Deadly Love Story is in progress. I hope to have it up on smashwords.com by the end of January. Calvado is the story of a model/medical student who gets involved with a singer with a mysterious disease. There is love, death, violence, mystery, humor, and medical mnemonics. It is also the first in the Calvado Pentalogy. In each book of the Calvado Pentalogy, Calvado makes an appearance, though she might not always be the center of attraction (which is something she doesn't really want to be anyway.)
Enjoy your winter vacation! See you next time.
Wednesday Dec 12, 2012
Episode 93: More Years
Wednesday Dec 12, 2012
Wednesday Dec 12, 2012
Two books today, both related to living in the material world. First, a B6-sized (41/4" by 6+") schedule book, suitable for pockets and colorful enough not to get lost in a dim theater. This one has two yearly calendars (one for 2013 and the following year), a fifteen-month calendar (from January 2013 to March 2014), and about 100 lined pages for notes and memos of your choice.
Plus it has photos taken around the Kanazawa area, complete with temples, rivers, back alleys, and traffic jams. Localized and unique, if you will.
The second book with the T on the front is really a business card. The T, of course, stands for Tedorigawa. I plan to hand this out to the first real store (bricks and mortar? Probably reinforced concrete and steel) that deigns to accept my wares for sale. It has 100 lined pages for memos and to-do lists plus it has my Facebook , podbean, and email address on each and every page for handy viewing by the store staff.
Plus it also has photos taken around Kanazawa including a photo of me at the back. For easy reference should I stop by the store. And identification should the police need one. Making these were part of my self-induced self-directed apprenticeship in making more books well more often. I've got the more books more often part down but I'm having trouble with the 'well' part. I hope that comes with more practice. As can be seen on my Facebook, I'm making a book by sewing on cords for the first time. New experience, new learning curve, more frustration, eh? We live, we learn, we evolve.Monday Dec 03, 2012
Episode 92: Dos Dos-a-Dos
Monday Dec 03, 2012
Monday Dec 03, 2012
After having made my first (primero) double book, I decided to give it another shot; try again, so to speak. The first one came out good so why not, eh? This second (segundo, or in Arabic: ثان) double book is made up of misprints and mistakes from making the previous 2013 schedule books which can be seen below in Episode 90.
The Red Side is made up of ten signatures of five sheets each for 200 pages. It comes with Chinese lettering on the cover and a reddish orange bookmark. And a picture of Cai Lun - inventor of paper circa 105 AD.
The Yellow Side is made up of ten signatures as well for about 200 pages making the combined book a total of 400 pages. It also has a yellow bookmark and random pictures of Kanazawa.
What do we take away from this exploration into bookmaking? First, making dos-a-dos was not as difficult as I first thought. Intimidation was my main stumbling block which, upon reflection, causes many a person to stumble.
Second, these types of books were often used for double novels, especially science fiction, in the past. I think they'd make for easier reading than as a blank journal. They're a bit cumbersome to write in.
All-in-all a good experience that I enjoyed having but I doubt I'll make more unless I have a novel or two to print and sell. (Hint, hint: Tristram'sPrinter and The Venetian Slime Woman - both available at Smashwords.com for reasonable prices: $2.99 and $1.99, respectively.)
See you next week with two more 2013 Schedule Books!
Coming Soon to Smashwords - Calvado: A Deadly Love Story
Monday Nov 05, 2012
Episode 90: More 2013 Schedules
Monday Nov 05, 2012
Monday Nov 05, 2012
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to sit on a moving train for nine hours. Twice. I took the opportunity to sew five text blocks; two on the way up and three on the way back. Last weekend I spent a half a day in my stationary house and cased three of them in.
Three schedules/diaries/calendars with monthly calendars from January 2013 to March 2014 plus two yearly calendars for 2013 and 2014. There are nine signatures of four pages each for a total of 144 pages. 101 pages are lined for journal keeping. There are also about eleven pictures of Kanazawa included and one, the mompei blue one, has English-Japanese translations of a variety of words and phrases. They are A6 in size - 41/2 inches by 6 inches for my American friends.
The mompei-blue one has brown pages while the other two have your standard white pages. The page numbers are extraordinarily large compared with normal journals. I did this because I thought it would be fun and it would be easy to remember what page you wrote something on. If you can't remember, there is also a bookmark in the red one and the white one.
Here's the skinny on the covers. I cut the numbers out of the bookcloth. Then I glued the paper on the book board for the numbers. Then I glued the bookcloth on the book board with the numbers over the paper.
One thing I learned on both the train ride and the weekend was that doing one thing repeatedly is a good way to get better at it. I believe it's called practice. I wish I had more time to practice but while on the train I found that I could sew one nine-signature text block in about an hour. I sewed on book in 45 minutes; a personal best. I tried to time myself on casing in but I kept getting interrupted by life. However, rough estimate puts casing in - including measuring and cutting the book cloth, measuring and cutting the cutouts for the numbers, gluing the inside paper, gluing the book cloth, gluing the endpapers, and pressing - at about three hours. I definitely need more practice casing in. Fortunately, I have eight more text blocks that need to be cased in.
If you would like one of these, email:
tedorigawa.bookmakers@gmail.com
and let me know. I think I could let them go for ten bucks each. (That's about 55 cents (US)/hour on the train. Too cheap, eh?)
Audio up!
Monday Sep 10, 2012
Episode 89: 2013
Monday Sep 10, 2012
Monday Sep 10, 2012
In Episode 87 I talked about the prototype for my 2013 Diary/Calendar. Well, here is the finished product. Green book cloth with lighter green thin paper underneath so that the year would stand out. It is a handy fit-in-your-pocket A6 (41/2" by 6+") in size, it has a bookmark and six signatures of five sheets each for 120 pages. The first 40 pages are both a yearly and monthly calendar going from January 2013 to April 2014. 2013 and 2014 yearly calendars bookend the monthly calendars. Why April 2014? The school year in Japan starts in April. The final 80-some pages are lined in green ink (to match the cover's greens) with translations in Japanese and English for your educational outlook. Many of the words are nouns:
- monkey = 猿 (saru)
- bamboo = 竹 (take)
- squirrel = 栗鼠 (risu)
- キュウリ (kyuuri - cucumber) = キュリー (kyurii - Marie Curie)
- 剣道 (kendo, the sport) = 県道 (kendo - prefecture road)
- I broke my leg. = 足を折った。(ashi (leg) o otta.)
- I'm lost. = 道に迷いました。 (michi (road) ni mayo imashita.)
- Please call a police officer. = 警察官を呼んでください。 (keisatsukan (police officer) o yonde kudasai.)
Tristram's Printer: A Typographical Love Story
A lovely young woman accidentally stumbles into the world of book arts, art, and papermaking. She learns the basics of all three arts and finds herself in love with a printer twice her age. Is he in love with her or in love with the image of his dead daughter? Literary fiction with love, divorce, art, drugs, laughter, death, and creativity. The first book of the Calvado Pentalogy.
You can download this novel via smashwords.com ($2.99) or you can email me at tedorigawa.bookmakers@gmail.com and I will hand make one for you. Thanks. And yes, that's much of my face on the cover.Tuesday Sep 04, 2012
Episode 88: Naked Books and A New Novel
Tuesday Sep 04, 2012
Tuesday Sep 04, 2012
Naked Books
Last weekend I was taught, I didn't learn it yet, three-needle coptic binding. It seems to require less thread. Is that possible? And it looks complicated but it really isn't once you get started. Previously in the year I learned two-needle coptic binding which is a third easier than three-needle binding. In the last couple of days I sewed three books using either two- or three-needle coptic binding. On the left you can see the three books. From the Top we have: Blank Notebook with about 180 pages, A5 in size (pocketbook), all white pages. In the Middle we have: An Odd Assortment of papers, about 180 pages, all A5 in size. The papers are leftovers, misprints, and test prints from my 2013 Diary/Calendar book. Rather than throw them all away, I decided to upcycle them into a memo pad. On the bottom we have: a 2013 Diary A5 in size, about 140 pages, with a bookmark (more on this when it's finished.) These three books will probably be casebound either today or tomorrow, I hope. Here are the front of the three books. From the left are the 2013 Diary, the Blank Notebook, and the Odd Assortment memo pad. The logo on the Odd Assortment is a test print for the 2013 Diary's last page. The 2013 Diary has a tail, as you can see, which is actually a bookmark. All of these fit in your back pocket. Not at once. Unless you have extra deep pockets.A New Novel
In the past few years I have written a few (5) novels, all love stories. Two are available on Smashwords.Com.
The first one is The Venetian Slime Woman: A Biological Love Story. It's about an EPA water specialist who stumbles into and feels compelled to protect a strange unearthly woman from the Department of Homeland Security.
Homeland Security wants to capture her, experiment on her, and find out what makes her tick. Why? Because she is of a species that grows from slime mould and learns by osmosis. In theory, they can never die. If a human touches the mould before it evolves into a human-like form, they die. If Homeland Security gets her, the Venetian Slime Woman will die.
It takes place in Venice, Seattle, the American midwest, and St. Augustine, Florida.
The reason I'm talking about it here is that I have bound a couple of copies. Smashwords.com is a good place to find and buy ebooks for your Kindle, iPad, or computer. If you like one of my books you can order a real copy - casebound or coptic - from me.
Next week: Tristram's Printer: A Typographical Love Story.
Monday Aug 27, 2012
Episode 87: The 2013 日記 ~ Diary
Monday Aug 27, 2012
Monday Aug 27, 2012
I have grabbed the habit of making prototypes of books I want to make. I use cheaper paper, I check and re-check the content for errors such as spelling, grammar, and placement on the page, and I make small and large adjustments - sometimes incredibly large adjustments - before making the actual book. One example of this approach is the 2013 Calendar/Diary which I'm currently slowly working on. There are at least 365 places where mistakes could creep in in a calendar and it has to be checked and rechecked again and again. That was redundant, wasn't it? Yes, but it had to be said. The 2013 Calendar/Diary consists of:
- two yearly calendars (2013 and 2014),
- 16 monthly calendars (from January 2013 to April 2014),
- several sections of lined diary,
- a bookmark,
- a strap to keep it closed, and
- pictures of the local scenery.