Episodes
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.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.
Monday Mar 05, 2012
Episode 74: Running Time
Monday Mar 05, 2012
Monday Mar 05, 2012
About six years ago a child of mine ran a 5 K race and for finishing within the allotted time, got a t-shirt. She wore this shirt off and on for six years and finally decided to throw it my way. I backed it with thin paper and turned it into book cloth. Then I waited for a project that required such a cloth. And behold, this year, the same child actually asked me to make a diary/calendar/journal for her. I pounced on the opportunity. The result is a B6 size, case-bound book. It has six signatures of four sheets each for about 96 pages - some blank but most covered in either a monthly schedule or a weekly schedule. Also included in the book: pictures of my daughter's current favorite singer (Selena Gomez) and my daughter. Making this diary/calendar truly one of a kind. Of course it took me forever to get right. I mapped out the calendar in Excel and did imposition via experimentation. Lots of printing until I finally got the right imposition and alignment for all. Lots of double, triple, and gazillion-ple checking to make sure the days and dates lined up correctly and so far my grateful child has only found two mistakes - not related to dates and days but content within the days. i.e. I missed writing a holiday although I had the day red-ed out as such. I promised my daughter that she would get her book before the end of February. Thank god it was a leap year this year. I needed that extra 24 hours. I believe the writing on the back says Running Person in Japanese, which makes sense as most marathon runners are people. One other thing: On the front of the book it says "Kanazawa Marathon 2006." Hmmm. A schedule book for 2012 that says 2006. Odd, eh?
Tuesday Feb 28, 2012
Episode 73: The Eddie Trombone Case
Tuesday Feb 28, 2012
Tuesday Feb 28, 2012
A friend is writing an online novel called Teach Yourself Japanese: The Eddie Trombone Case. Or it might be completely true. True or false, fact or fiction, I was looking for content to practice imposition, binding, casing in, and the other particulars of bookbinding. Viola, a marriage made online. I copied his online scribblings, did a little desktop publishing magic, imposed it, printed it out (which took close to a half-century to finish - Gutenberg had it easy), and did a link stitch before casing it in with a sort of ersatz Chinese motif cover.
• About the Book Part One There are six signatures of four sheets each for 96 pages. It is B6 in size and I really messed up the first time I cased it in. I forgot to push the text block up tight against the spine and it came out loose and messy. After I tossed it across the studio and shoved it in the recycle bin, I relaxed. Then I tore it apart and re-bound it. It came out better when I was relaxed.
• About "the Book" Part Two What, you might ask, is the story about? An American in Japan by the name of Eddie Trombone is missing. A consulate officer at the Osaka consulate, Gerard K. Dirkins, is charged with finding him. His efforts lead him to a book Eddie took out of the Chicago library called "Teach Yourself Japanese" and a diary kept by Mr. Trombone. From Eddie's diary, we follow his life from Chicago to Osaka and witness the many frustrations as Dirkins tries to understand Eddie's frustrating "new" and exciting (?) life in Japan. Will he ever find Eddie? Is Eddie still alive? More importantly, will "Teach Yourself Japanese" ever be returned to the Chicago public library? This book, which I have made in an edition of three (two to the author, one for me), is titled "Teach Yourself Japanese: the Eddie Trombone Case, Part 1" because the online novel is not, as far as I know, finished yet. Plus, I am currently working on "Teach Yourself Japanese: the Eddie Trombone Case, Part 2." Second, you might ask, is why is the green part of the book so big? Well, when I tossed it across the room? I kind of ripped part of the cover which was mostly the fake Chinese red part. And, I, uh, kind of had to cover up the tears. Maybe this will be the copy I keep for myself. In retrospect, rather than a hard cover, I think I should have made it a softcover because it is only 96 pages. Kind of thin, but when Part 2 comes out, I might try a dos a dos.Sunday Jan 03, 2010
Episode 40: All Wined Out? The Wine Diary
Sunday Jan 03, 2010
Sunday Jan 03, 2010
Drank a bit of wine over the holidays/no work days if by 'a bit' you mean several bottles. And completed this Wine Diary 2010. Many pages (8 signatures some with 7 sheets, some with 5. I was trying to make everything fit.), about 160 pages, and case bound. The decorative paper on the covers is from a local paper shop and turned out to be too thin. The front cover has, underneath the decorative paper, white paper. The back doesn't have the white paper beneath the decorative paper so it might appear darker. This is A5 in size.
The Wine Diary 2010 has space for a list of wine shops, their phone numbers, email addresses, and urls. Another list for the wines purchased and finally, the largest section: wines consumed. The wines consumed section has all the particulars: cost, place purchased, vintner, plus a place for the label and a full page for comments.
It is going to be released into the public. i.e. I'm giving it to a friend who enjoys, as they say, the grape. I hope he doesn't notice the few errors: the front endpaper is too big but it looks nice. The back cover endpaper is also a bit suspect. I really have to practice gluing in the endpapers. Or glue them in before I guzzle a fine wine.
Saturday Oct 10, 2009
Episode 35:Two Green Episode Guides
Saturday Oct 10, 2009
Saturday Oct 10, 2009
I just completed two green blank notebooks that will be used for episode guides for two other podcasts I make (Hokudai/Cast - Japanese, English, and Chinese with music; DinoSoar Pix - audio drama). Both books are essentially the same: 150 mm x 110 mm (a handy pocket size), 120 pages (six signatures of five sheets each), and hardbound with green book cloth.
Hokudai/Cast Episode Guide & DinoSoar Pix Episode Guide
The DinoSoar Pix Episode Guide is thinner and less, er, perfect. Neither are perfect but the DPEG one is the lesser of the two. The H/CEG has endpapers whilst the DPEG does not. I think the endpapers, plus the better gluing and sewing job on the H/CEG the nicer looking of the two. Also, the H/CEG was made second so the DPEG labored as sort of a practice book. What did we learn from this little episode guide creating event? Alignment is important. Beside alignment, thinking would be nice. Thinking is always nice. By making DPEG first, I could think about how I should improve my next attempt, the H/CEG. Maybe I should always make three or four books at a time. By the time I get to book 4, it might just turn out okay.Monday Feb 16, 2009
Freakishly Odd?
Monday Feb 16, 2009
Monday Feb 16, 2009
Hopefully by this time next week I will have a few snaps of a fun book I'm in the process of making: A non-blank notebook - a doodle book, if you will - that is going to encompass all sorts of new techniques that I haven't even come close to mastering or even non-mastering. An experimental book to go along with the experimental nature of Tedorigawa Bookmakers. All part of the master conspiracy in my mind. Oooh, that sounds ominous, if I do say so myself. The new book will have a linkstitch exposed binding, a cool cover, eight signatures of four sheets each for a total of 128 pages, and about B6 in size. And a cool cover, I hope. The cover will incorporate found objects, at least two different kinds of paper, and an odd doodle or two. Content will include stories, drawings, receipts and other stuff I haven't decided yet. Blank notebooks are good and I get a lot of practice from them but most people don't pick up a blank notebook and think, cool binding. They pick up a blank notebook and think, uhn, nice? Anyway, hopefully next week. What should this book be called? I'm partial to "The Invisible Rhinos of Tokyo."
Sunday Dec 28, 2008
Episode 20: Just in the Nick of Time
Sunday Dec 28, 2008
Sunday Dec 28, 2008
Just in the nick of time. Today, December 28, 2008, I managed to finish a 2009 calendar/diary. It has blue Japanese paper as a cover, with light blue paper as endpapers. Coptic binding with black waxed thread and white pages. This was supposed to have been finished as a Christmas present but all sorts of delays ensued, not the least of which was me spending four hours handwriting the dates only to discover while writing November that I skipped a day back in March or April. Usually I don't mind skipping days but when they are in a permanent document that will be used over and over again as the year progresses, well, I felt I had to do something. So I started over and my, wasn't that fun. Here, if you turn your computer sideways (here's hoping you have a laptop), you can see the handy (pun alert!) size: fits well into a jacket pocket or the pocket on some briefcases. Also, in a purse, if you carry one. What did I learn from this escapade? Well, first, start your yearly diaries and calendars early. Well before December 24th, I'd say - just as a rule of thumb anyway. In fact, I just finished the weekly calendar for a calendar for 2010. Thinking ahead, I am. Also, be very, very careful of dates and days. For some reason these are important in calendary/diaries. I don't know why. I like the hand-written monthly calendar but I didn't like the hand-written weekly calendar, so I xeroxed a page and used that. Not the best solution but workable. Overall, I'd say this rates 3.5 stars out of five.