I have a lovely little Kelsey press that needs a new home. 5x8" chase, with composite rollers---it's fully functioning and ready to use. I've posted it over on Craig's List, though you can contact me directly through this site. And I think we'd all prefer a local pick up here in Portland...
UPDATE 5/26/11: The press was sold this morning to a couple of awesome ladies from NH. Many thanks for the inquiries, and best of luck to the new owners!
We had a great response to the last series of workshops at Strong Arm Bindery, and are very happy to announce the next go-round for the rest of April and on into May. As ever, if you're interested in signing up for a class, or if you have any questions, please call us at (207) 879-4672 or via the e-mail: [email protected]
SIMPLIFIED BOX MAKING
Saturday, April 23
10:30am - 4:30pm
This workshop is an excellent introduction to box making all its organizing power. We'll make a lidded box, as well as a hinged-lid box. And throughout the day we'll explore special features, such as creating compartments, as you would with a pencil or jewelry box, and surface treatments that please the eye and improve longevity and durability.
Class fee $95 (includes $20 materials fee)
PASTE PAPERS
Saturday, April 30, 2011
10:30am - 4:30pm
Paste papers are nuts! A traditional method for bookbinders to create their own decorative papers on the fly (and on the cheap!), paste papers can also be great outlet for creativity and experimentation. This workshop will provide a happy haven to explore different recipes, methods and tools to make your mark in the realm of decorative paper work. Paper, pigments and paste, all provided.
Class fee: $95 (includes $20 materials fee)
DROP-SPINE BOX
Saturday & Sunday, May 7 & 8, 2011
10:30am - 4:30pm
AKA Clam-shell box... Some books need extra protection from the elements, and the dop-spine box is a classic solution. Two trays, measured and built to fit around the volume, are built into a cover that will stand it's own on any bookshelf. Knowing how to make a drop-spine box opens up a whole new world of structure and design to every student of bookbinding. This workshop requires alot of attention to detail and is intended for those with some bookbinding or boxmaking experience.
Class fee: $180 (includes all materials)
CLASSIC CASE BINDING
Saturday & Sunday, May 21 & 22, 2011
10:30am - 4:30pm
Back by popular demand! Make a book from the ground up; from folding signatures, sewing the text block, shaping the spine, building the case, then covering and casing in! It's a 2-day bookbinding marathon. The workshop is open to all levels---a great introduction for those just getting started with their book work, and a handy refresher for others with experience.
Class fee: $180 (includes $20 materials fee)
We've got two workshops scheduled for March (and now April), and we're feeling fairly optimistic about the state of the alley by the time they roll around...
To sign up, please call us at (207) 879-4672, or send us an e-mail: [email protected]
Stiff Leaf Binding with Multiple Matting Options **POSTPONED**
Sunday March 6 10:30am to 4:30pm
***Stiff Leaf Binding Workshop is now scheduled for Sunday, April 10 10:30am to 4:30pm***
This is a nifty little book constructed with museum or mat board and perfect for carrying small batches of photographs, drawings, ephemera, etc.
We'll build the book and then spend the afternoon exploring a variety of matting options and creating handsome frames and enclosures to house your pieces.
This workshop is appropriate for all levels of skill and experience, and will require a minimum of hand tools. Workshop fee is $80, plus $15 materials fee.
Classic Case Binding 2-day Workshop
Saturday & Sunday, March 26 &27
10:30am to 4:30pm
Build a book from scratch! This 2-day workshop will cover all the steps necessary to make a classic case binding, from folding and sewing text blocks to building a case and covering it with cloth and paper.
This workshop will be a great introduction to bookbinding, but also a healthy refresher course for those with some experience. Students should expect to bring some basic hand tools. Workshop fee is $140, plus $20 materials fee.
If you'd like to sign up or you have any questions please call us at: (207) 879-4672 or e-mail us: [email protected]
I've spent most of my waking hours these past 2 months piling through an edition of 12 fine bindings. They were delivered last week to an empty office: it was a wee bit anti-climactic, maybe, but I've been sleeping so peacefully these past 3 nights that all disappointment has ceased.
The project was challenging on a couple of big fronts, namely gilt edges and gold tooling (neither of which I've ever done in large quantity), and having come out the other end of it with some success and a tremendous amount of new and practical information, I'm happy for my time in the crucible.
A friend of mine, who faces similar learning curves with his work, wondered if there's ever a point where we stop consoling ourselves with the refrain, "But at least I'm learning alot," and honestly I don't think there is, so I'm willing to further console myself with the thought, "At least I'm not getting bored."
I've got plenty of new-found knowledge from this project, and when it comes to gold tooling in a production environment, I've got nothing but big love for Vaseline and lighter fluid.
I'll try to keep this short: when I got my training for gold tooling it was a more precious method; you'd blind tool the design on the leather, paint the impressions, and only the impressions with glaire, put down a tiny bit of gold to fill the impressions, and go back in with the hot tool.
This time around I was using the John Mitchell method (and probably every other dude in the Old School).
The entire binding is covered in B.S. Glaire (that stands for British Standard--apparently developed during the 2nd WW when there was a shortage of eggs). The blind impressions are made with a cool tool.
The binding is then covered with Vaseline---this acts as a mild adhesive that holds the gold leaf (here laid down in a larger and swifter blanketing fashion than cutting small, fussy pieces to fit the tool impressions).
By the way, you're covering the whole binding with glaire and Vaseline to prevent staining
You go back in with a hot tool and hit the impression you've already made. Then wipe away the excess gold leaf with a Vaseline-infused cotton ball, or soft cloth. Gold leaf that's embedded in the grain, and excess Vaseline can be wiped away with, you got it, lighter fluid (or naptha). It all cleaned up so nicely, and the work was phenomenally quick. But it's good to keep the area you're working in well ventilated and let anything that's been soaking in the lighter fluid evaporate before you toss it in the trash.
It's been a long haul, and I want to thank all family and friends who put up with me and my constant beefing these past two months. I sure learned alot, and I wasn't bored.
Even Dirty Girl, in the midst of leather prep (and alot of swearing), stepped up just when I needed help holding down the leather while I was shaping the head caps. Thanks, kitty!
We had a project come in last week that required building a new home for the overstuffed documents of one store-bought 3-ring binder. The ring mechanism itself was up to the task, but the boards were too short and the spine was too narrow; the whole book had taken on the shape a flying-wedge.
The hardware was removed and prepared thusly.
Rich had the brilliant idea to use a section of a giant tube mailer to create the new spine piece. He also had the table saw and steady hands to cut it. The piece was cut to accommodate the thickness of the book's innards, and provide enough room at head and tail for the page dimensions.
We wound up using epoxy and clamps to attach the cardboard and metal (working time 5 minutes; set-up complete in 15!).
The rest of it was just a matter of covering the new spine piece with cloth and building some very big boards. These were attach on the hinges extending from the spine.
The thing weighs a ton. But now it lies flat and I think it's bullet-proof.
I had the great and good fortune to be vacuuming mold out of this account book today.
It's your standard mid-19th Century sheepskin account book---nothing special. It suffers from serious red rot, but the paper's good, the spine's strong and structurally it's still a champ.
What kept me breathing deep was the piling on of seemingly gratuitous appointments. For example; the masked leaf motif along the sprinkled edges---and given the natural variety of each mask, I think these were made by pasting the tops of whatever was growing outside the bindery door onto the side of the book and getting on with the sprinkling.
And then there's this; a plaid end band. What the hell. Who was working at this shop? Every other book in pile had the same sheepskin, the same stamped covers and board edges, the same lines and columns on the inside. And all of them have the same nasty ticking fabric on the end bands. This one's got plaid end bands.
And finally there's the end papers. Classic paste papers made on the cheap in the shop for the purpose of slapping some color between the covers and the numbers.
Click on these images--they look like rocks and sticks in the shallow parts of a river.
I have no doubt whoever had the inspiration to make these end papers would also be inclined to snap the ends off a few ferns before they sprinkled their edges. It goes without saying they'd use a beautiful wool plaid on their end bands.
While I'm Hoovering spore out of this gorgeous chimera I'm thinking about the lucky clerk who got to open this book every day, in fact multiple times a day, and put his pen to paper. It's the same hand throughout, and the records within go on for a year and a half. They had to notice these details, too. And actually, the front and rear fly leaves--that includes the paste papers--are torn out.
This is absolutely what I aspire to do in my stationery work. I want it to be very useful, very durable and to provide some delight to the one who has to use it every day.
