Episodes
Tuesday Nov 16, 2010
Episode 56: Monica Holtsclaw
Tuesday Nov 16, 2010
Tuesday Nov 16, 2010
A special episode today as we interview Monica Holtsclaw of BoomBoxBindery.com. She studied at the North Bennett School and is a box maker and bookbinder in Florida.
The quality of the interviewer's voice isn't as good as I wished it was, but Monica's voice is clear and she does most of the talking so please listen and enjoy.
Monica talks about how she got started in bookbinding (after studying to be a graphic designer), and her workflow for making one-of-a-kind books and editions. She also has advice for people just starting out bookbinding and for people thinking of starting a bookbinding business.
The music is Universe) by Vitaly
from musicalley.com
Monday Nov 08, 2010
Episode 55: Busy Season
Monday Nov 08, 2010
Monday Nov 08, 2010
The busy season for handmade, handbound books is drawing to a hectic close. Christmas is when most sales are made with possibly the exception of summer fairs. However, if we sell books in stores (not necessarily our own) probably a large percent of our sales is just around the corner. If we haven't got a ton of books sewn up, covered, and ready to go, we will soon. Hopefully by Thanksgiving or the end of November so we can relax during the holidays.
In any case, enjoy this short video about a paper temple - amazing camera work.
Sunday Aug 22, 2010
Tedorigawa 53: Sixty
Sunday Aug 22, 2010
Sunday Aug 22, 2010
For the first time in a couple of months - actually almost four months - I made a couple of books. The first one was a mess. What did I expect after a four month layoff? You can't just jump into the deep end of the pool and expect to ride a bicycle. (What?)
My plan was to make a Chinese stab-binding blank notebook with colored thread. A couple of errors were made. By me, of course. First, holes on the wrong side of the paper - I was using printer paper that was going to be thrown away. I folded it over but punched the holes in the closed side when they should've been on the open edge. After re-sewing it correctly I managed to tear the thread. I added tassels because it looked neat and makes it fun to use. Blank notebook, 60 pages, A5 in size.
Book Two was simpler and easier to make. Again, printer paper that was going to be thrown away folded over once and then chopped in half to make an A6-sized pad of paper which is being used to celebrate the number that is 60. Why? Because 60 has a lot of characteristics that other numbers don't have.
It's a composite number with 12 divisors - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 60. It's also a highly composite number, a unitary perfect number, a semi-perfect number and is the smallest number divisible by the numbers 1 to 6. Finally, 60 is the sum of a pair of twin primes (29 + 31), and the sum of four consecutive primes (11 + 13 + 17 + 19).
Back to the book: A6-sized paper using a modified Daifuko Cho binding - holes in the top so a merchant could write the day's profit just by lifting up the top and then hanging the book on hook by his bed. Or desk, if he's not weird. Sixty-six pages. The Japanese on the cover is, of course, 60 - pronounced roku-ju six-ten = sixty.
Monday Jul 12, 2010
Tedorigawa 52: Santa Reparata
Monday Jul 12, 2010
Monday Jul 12, 2010
What is Santa Reparata in Florence, Italy? It's your basic International Art school that teaches, among other subjects:
- Digital Imaging - Photography
- Drawing - Painting
- Creative Writing, Literature, Journalism
- Design: Fashion, Jewelry, Textile
- Italian, Music appreciation, Politics and Social Science
•••
That said, my goal for this summer is to make three books: an accordion book with a series of short short stories, a blank journal with a funky cover, and a couple of novels that may or may not be for sale. The other two will, of course, be up for the highest bidder. I mean, isn't the purpose of bookmaking to make enough money to go to Italy to study bookbinding? Of course it is.
Thursday Jan 28, 2010
Episode 43: Luke sum ipse patrem te
Thursday Jan 28, 2010
Thursday Jan 28, 2010
The iPad, the Kindle, the Nook, the Sony Reader. Will real paper books disappear into cloud libraries? Are this centuries bookbinders dealing not with leather, wax, pulp, and inks but oughts and ones? Perhaps. Is this bad? Not for me. I enjoy binding and I enjoy giving my bound books to people. But who reads old books anyway? Old people?
Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne has been a burden on my back for sometime. It's not an easy read but it's an enjoyable read. I have even written a novel about a printer whose main goal in life is to print Tristram Shandy. (It is also a love story between a young woman and an older man. Very unique in the literary world.) My book, Tristram's Printer, will soon be available only through Tedorigawa Bookbinders. Maybe. Maybe this year.
Goals, then, for this year are to print, bind, and edit (not necessarily in that order, I hope) three novels and offer them up for sale: Calvado, The Priests of Hiroshima, and Tristram's Printer. The first two have been bound but no covers; and they haven't been edited. The third one is in the printing/sewing stage. Maybe it will be edited before sewing and binding?
By the way, the title of this episode is Latin for
"Luke, I am your father."
Wednesday Jan 06, 2010
Episode 42: Novel Sales Coming Soon?
Wednesday Jan 06, 2010
Wednesday Jan 06, 2010
I have two novels floating around my workshop that I'm planning on releasing to the world. The first one:
Calvado:
A Deadly Love Story
is about Mack who causes the deaths of all who love him or he loves. Then he meets the love of his life: Calvado, a former fashion model now a medical school student. Calvado must deal with her love and studies while Mack struggles to protect her. On top of all that, someone is trying to kill Mack.
The second one:
The Priests of Hiroshima
is a sequel to Calvado. This time Calvado, suspended from medical school, is traveling the world and ends up in a mysterious bookshop in Istanbul. A Japanese student arrives and with the help of an English-speaking cat, they find time holes throughout the bookstore. They end up in Mainz, Germany in the workshop of Johannes Gutenberg and Agents of the Inquisition.
I am binding them now and if all goes well, this Double Novel, this Original, Unedited, Hand-Bound Piece of Art will be available for sale.
(In the accompanying audio portion of our program, the narrator misreads 'Mack' as 'Micheal.' I fear our narrator has seen This Is It! one too many times.)
Tuesday Sep 08, 2009
Episode 33: Workshop Box Tops
Tuesday Sep 08, 2009
Tuesday Sep 08, 2009
In two weeks I will be taking a two-day bookbinding course from someone who makes money doing three things: teaching bookbinding, selling bookbinding supplies, and selling books she has bound. It is this last skill that intrigues me the most and I will be grilling her about how she does the business of binding books. The class will start on day one, as classes are traditionally begun. I believe we will be up to our elbows in marbling endpapers. Something I have little interest in and no aptitude for. Should be fun. Then we will fold and sew. The second day, I believe, is spent designing and making covers and putting the book together. It is the designing and making covers bit that most intrigues me. I want to improve all aspects of the bookbinding process and it is this section that is the most challenging for me. I will, hopefully, have much more information to pass along. Or a long rambling complaint. Also, tonight I will add another notebook to my Cereal Series only this time it will be using an ice cream cover: Ice Cream Notes. On the audio portion of our show tonight we feature: "Fire in the Heart" by Internal Flights from PodsafeAudio.com. Please enjoy.
Monday Aug 10, 2009
Episode 31: Designer books
Monday Aug 10, 2009
Monday Aug 10, 2009
Here are some extremely well-designed books bound on the theme of water and employing a large variety of material. From the Guardian in the UK. Over at Kimbooktu is the world's most expensive book: Norman Mailer's Moonfire about the US landing on the moon; the book is complete with moon rocks and Buzz Aldrin's autograph (Buzz was the second man on the moon - he also searched for Noah's Ark.) And after organizing my workspace to such an efficient degree that I can't find anything, I got a commission to make five books with wooden covers in the next 20 days. No problem, that's over four days a book if I didn't have a day-job and wanted to sleep.
Friday Jun 05, 2009
The Crapsey Quintain Poetry Coptic
Friday Jun 05, 2009
Friday Jun 05, 2009
I will be working on my Crapsey Quintain Coptic Book of poetry tonight as I have delayed working on it for quite some time, and don't you just love the name? Adelaide Crapsey created a type of poem she called the quintain - a 5-line poem of 22 syllables total. Eacy line should get progressively longer but that doesn't always hold water, not even for Ms Adelaide. I don't know why I got interested in her, her quintains, or her biography. Could it have been because of her surname? Am I that shallow? Here's an example of one of her quintains called Night Winds
Night Winds
The old
Old winds that blew
When Chaos was, what do
They tell the clattered trees that I
Should weep?
On a business note, I am planning to sell my books and will be setting up an online shop for a variety of finished books shortly. As an added bonus to early visitors, I will be throwing in - free - other stationery items such as pens, notebooks, simple notepads, and a 1959 250 GT Berlinetta Ferrari. Oh, wait. I made a mistake. Sorry, no notepads. Or the Ferrari, gosh darn it!Not open yet, watch this space for future developments and the opening day.
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music from Sonnyboo.com and composed by Peter John Ross. Check out his movies! Especially Relationship Card - it's hilarious.
Friday May 22, 2009
Original Work?
Friday May 22, 2009
Friday May 22, 2009
I am going to continue work on an original, handwritten, handbound novel that I have put off for several months now because of either a) writer's block or b) laziness. I think writer's block sounds better because it gives the impression I'm pacing back and forth in my studio trying to wrestle with the creative beast instead of laying on the couch running through blogs and Tweets and things.