Episodes
Wednesday Nov 04, 2020
Ep. 252: SeaLemon and Agnes Grout
Wednesday Nov 04, 2020
Wednesday Nov 04, 2020
Bookbinder of the Week: (今週の製本者 )
Bookbinding
This week I cased in a book of my fiction (Tristram’s Printer) in A-5 size, 260 pages. I used two different papers for the cover for two reasons: first, I’m cheap and didn’t want to run out and buy more and two, I’m trying to use up the papers I’ve got so I can run out and buy more.
The backboards themselves are thick paper; not as thick as cardboard, more like card stock. I’m experimenting with them because a client wants a thin, flexible cover for their project and I want to make sure this is up to the test and that I am up to the task of using it properly.
Last week, hahahahahaha, I made a B6-sized book of Tristram’s Printer, like I said. This morning I checked how many pages it had and discovered the final page has No Page Number written on it. Odd, methinks. I check a few pages back and the recto page claims to be 263 but Mr Verso says 260. Yes, the final signature was miss-printed. But at least the book looks mostly pretty.
I also discarded my template for book covers idea. Since each book, for me at least, is different, a template didn’t make much sense. I was making two covers instead of one. I did, however, make a spacer. I was bemoaning the fact that I couldn’t find a good spacer for the hinge gap space bit between the spine and the covers. Then it dawned on me, thank’s to the coronavirus pandemic, that I could make my own out of book board. So I did.
Fiction
Writing more on Growing Slurry and The Posthumous Biography of Agnes Grout.
Both seem to be episodic meaning the main characters have adventures that illuminate their characters, histories, and philosophies (except without the philosophical asides – I hope I’m showing and not telling).
In Growing Slurry, Sliven is investigating some wholesale fraud in his past while Gina is starting to – beginning to – trust him. I’m wrapping this novel up within the next 30, 50 pages, I hope.
In The Posthumous Biography of Agnes Grout: Death Weaver, Agnes is forcing one of her adversaries to accept one of her children so she (Agnes) can work in one of the weaving mills of Lowell, Massachusetts. Agnes suspects she may have some scary ability to slip back in time to warn people of their impending demise. She’s not sure she had it or is just losing her mind; time will tell.
As always, if anyone knows of a good (and cheap) cover designer, let me know.
Sunday Jan 04, 2015
Episode 128: Planning! Or Failing to do so...
Sunday Jan 04, 2015
Sunday Jan 04, 2015
As you can see, it has purple endpapers that are intended to match a pair of chairs that will be delivered at the end of January, another Saturnalia present arriving fashionably late.
It comes with a weekly calendar, a monthly calendar, and two yearly calendars. It also has lots of space for note-taking; for example, the weekly calendar is on the left side while the right side is blank. A request from the recipient.
This is the fourth book I've made so far this year and it's only the fifth of January. I will definitely not say I will be making a book-a-day for 2015 but I'm off to a good start. The other three books were kind of a fluky thing.
I had this badly printed novel on my desk for a while (like a year or more ~ the novel is Tristram's Printer). It was printed on only one side of the paper and I contemplated occasionally, what to do with it. One option, which came up frequently, was to trash it. Another was to Perfect bind it. The last option was to use a Japanese stab binding which is the one I went with. However, a 200 page novel is hard to stab. So I divided it up into five mini-novels which are pretty much divided along chapter lines. On the second day of the first month of the year, I stabbed section one.
This stabbing was followed on the third and fourth. When I finish all five sections I hope to make a small clamshell box for them and title it Tristram's Printer's Skeleton as the pages have been edited in red and black pen. Lots of corrections.
On the last two pictures you can see a monthly calendar followed by a weekly calendar. On the weekly calendar you can also see how much space is available for writing: the entire right-hand page. The previous planner had a weekly calendar on both pages but the recipient requested more writing acreage which I happily provided.
Speaking of casing in books, I believe I have about 14 uncased books lining my desk. Does that mean I will case in 14 books in the next two weeks? One can only hope. Especially considering that two of them were intended as year-end presents.
Friday May 30, 2014
Episode 122: A Mountain Day
Friday May 30, 2014
Friday May 30, 2014
The day after I printed out a prototype and sewed it together, the Japanese government added a new holiday. Back I ran to InDesign to make that a red-letter day. Not the government's decision but the actual day itself which, if you'd like to know is August 11. It's called Mountain Day, the fourth in a series of national holidays that celebrate nature. The other three are Sea Day (in July), the Spring equinox (in March) and the Fall equinox (in September). Mountain Day makes the 16th national holiday thus far in Japan.
My 2015 schedule book has two yearly calendars (2015 & 2016), a monthly calendar that runs from January 2015 to March 2016 (everything ~ schools and work ~ starts in April in Japan), and a weekly calendar that runs from Jan. 2015 to the end of April 2016. And why does the monthly calendar end in March and the weekly calendar end in April? Good question. I think I have more work to do.
It also has 12 pictures but the pictures have nothing to do with the seasons or the months. They are photos I took of relatively well-known scenes around town. In the book itself the pictures are muted so that the dates and days can be easily seen. Not your usual touristy shots but shots of parts of places so that people who live here can try to figure out where it is. At the end of the book are all twelve pictures with captions so people can check if they're right or not.
Monday Jan 13, 2014
Episode 119: Belated Christmas
Monday Jan 13, 2014
Monday Jan 13, 2014
At left is the cover of one book. It has textured off-white book cloth with a thin red string glued to the front. This one is B6 in size; slightly larger than a pocketbook but has more space for writing in the monthly & weekly calendars.
Three books were B6 in size while one, the one with the yellow rectangle on the cover, is A5. Or, if you're a north American, three were about 5 x 7 inches and one was 6 x 8 inches. Each book had a different cover, different photos, and different endpapers but the basics were the same. The basic calendar was made in InDesign, converted to pdf, and printed out using Cheap Imposter.
The most encouraging aspect of this project for me was the adding of the endpapers. I think I did a good job of gluing them in properly, and straight. At right you can see the Japaneseque endpaper on one of the smaller books with the very red one on the large book.
Hold Tight.
Wednesday May 22, 2013
Episode 107: Lined Wordy Journals
Wednesday May 22, 2013
Wednesday May 22, 2013
My most recent event was the making of two A6-sized lined journals with a slight difference. The difference is that each page had a translation in Japanese and English of a bunch of random words. The words came in two or three categories. First, such words as most learners of English will come across in their studies such as 'food' and 'study'. Second, confusing words the learner of English will probably see sooner or later such as 'book' which means both 'something people used to read in the 21st century' and 'make a reservation.' Third, fun words such as 'bamboozle' and 'booze.'
There are eleven signatures of four sheets each which translates into about 176 pages (both sides, of course. I've decided to count pages like normal people do.) They are A6 in size (41/4" by about 6" for my American friends). The procedure was as follows:
First, think of the words, write them down, and get them translated. As much as possible, I tried to pair words together that reflected something that both words shared: pronunciation in either Japanese or English, meaning, or rhymes. For example, "I" in English is a homophone for "eye". And 愛 (pronounced 'I') means 'love' in Japanese. So 'I,' ' 愛,' 'eye,' and 目 (pronounced 'may') are clustered together. 目 means 'eye' in Japanese
Second, put everything: lines, words, logo on a new file in InDesign and spend a few seemingly hundred hours tweaking it. Third, hope your printer can print out all the pages without eating a few in the process. Fortunately for me, this time, my happy Epson printer was mostly up to the job.
After printing out two copies of the book, I folded, sewed, and glued the spine, mull, and spine reinforcing paper. I then put the two naked, lined, wordy journals on the ever-growing pile on my desk of unfinished books. This gives me five books I must case in in the next week or so.
Most of the time was spent on getting the words and translations. However, the second most time-consuming process was printing. Being careful to print the right pages in the right order; being sure the printer didn't skip a page; making sure it had ink. Fortunately for me, I use a program called Cheap Impostor that does the imposition but between the preferences for Cheap Impostor and the Epson, sometimes I manage to print things out of order. Sometimes? Often. I'm practicing, though, so someday I hope to be as smart as my machines.
Monday May 13, 2013
Episode 106: Islamic Notebooks
Monday May 13, 2013
Monday May 13, 2013
Here's the thing: Islamic bindings have a flap that folds over the front of the book. In the right hands, they are exquisitely decorated. The flap serves at least two functions. First, it protects the fore edge of the book. Second, it can serve as a bookmark as your plow through the content, if any.
I made these two lined notebooks simultaneously for two reasons. First, if you're going to print out a bunch of pages for a notebook, you might as well do a couple. Second, the first book is a learning experience while the second book benefits from mistakes and insights of the first book.
The process for these books was:
1) Print out 40 sheets of lined and numbered pages, then fold them. Each book got 20 pages, for 80 numbered pages total. I printed them on a Epson printer, not a hand printer like Gutenberg did.
2) Fold, sew, and attach the mull and extra strip of paper to the spine.3) Measure and cut the book boards which, in this case was thick construction paper.
4) Measure and cut the book cloth. The cloth I chose has been hanging around my desk begging to be used for at least five years. It is slightly Arabic-looking if you don't know anything about Arabic writing. Upon closer research, it looks closer to Tamil. If anyone knows what it really is, let me know.
5) Measure and cut the endpapers. There are normally two endpapers per book but because this book has that extra flap, there are four endpapers~ two for the text block and two for that extra flap.
6) Glue everything together.
7) Sew the snaps to the front cover and the extra flap. The snaps keep the book closed.
From start (printing) to finish (sewing the snaps) probably took me 2.5 ~ 3 hours.These notebooks are pocket-sized A6, 80 numbered pages, five signatures of four sheets each, with a snap to keep it closed. If I were to do it again, and I'm think I will only in a larger size, I will sew the snaps before gluing the endpapers in to hide the sewing.
And, for no particular reason, on the front page is a picture of Claire Clairmont, the lover of Lord Byron and maybe the lover of Percy Shelly, too, while he was married to Mary Shelly, author of Frankenstein. Plus, she gave birth to Byron's daughter, Allegra, not Ada who went on to invent computer programming. On the back page is a picture of Kanazawa's main train station. Again, just because I could.
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.
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
Tuesday Nov 27, 2012
Episode 91: Confidence vs Competence
Tuesday Nov 27, 2012
Tuesday Nov 27, 2012
After a long train ride my confidence in sewing increased. Now, after a weekend of casing in books, my confidence in casing in has increased. Practice, as it turns out, helps. Confidence, it should be noted, is not the same as competence. I'm sure I could get better at casing in but my confidence is less a hindrance than before. I cased in four books this weekend but two were a new binding for me: the dos-a-dos. Here is the first one.
One cover has red and gold Chinese writing (meaning 'Good Fortune') and nine signatures of five sheets each for a total of 180 pages. With a black bookmark and headbands made out of the same paper as the paper used on the other cover. Both books are A6 in size (pocketbook size or 41/2" by 6+" for you Americans). It took my bookbinding teacher and I a few minutes to figure out how to apply the cover papers but we worked it out quite nicely, I think.
The other book has Nepalese writing on it, I think. It has eleven signatures of five sheets for 220 pages. It has a red bookmark and headbands that are made of the same papers as the paper used on the other cover. My teacher's idea, by the way.
What did I learn about this experience? A few things. First, it's nice, frustrating, exciting, and rewarding to push my personal envelope. Second, gluing the top paper to the bottom paper is better than the opposite. If you glue the bottom paper first, you're not going to get the edges of top paper glued properly. Third, it would be nice to have two brains. Fourth, more time to make more books would be a real confidence builder. And maybe competence at the same time.
Speaking of competence, the interview on this episode is with my bookbinding teacher: Masayo Wakai of MameHonKobo- Wakai. Here, very roughly, is a translation of the interview. Very rough, so if you're a talented Japanese-English translator, don't judge me too harshly.
When did you first become interested in bookbinding?
About seven years ago.
What was the first book you made?
About 20 years ago I made a book about color for an art class I was taking in college.
Did you make any books between 20 years ago and seven years ago?
Nope.
How long did it take from the first book you made to the first good book you made?
About six months. I got a book about bookbinding and studied it while I made a book. I would make three books in one day.
When did you start selling your books at craft fairs?
About two years ago.
What advice do you have for people who are interested in bookbinding as a hobby?
Start making books and study what you made. If you study it you will find what is good and what is bad. Eventually, you will get better and better at making books.
Thanks for listening. Next week: The Second Dos-A-Dos book.