First Bookbinding Class of the Season
It is always suspenseful to begin a first class of a season. OK, I feel jitters almost before any session — no group of students is the same, and I’m worried if I can help them to learn new things (yes, I can =))
Everything went as planned. Students were happy. We have almost followed the planned schedule. OK, not really. One student had to leave earlier and I had to finish the book with him first, and then return to the other two students. We have left the studio at 30 minutes after midnight that day =)
It is a magic moment to come for a class to your own studio for the first time. Moreover, a very comfortable thing too. For the past two years, I had to bring all my equipment to a school or some other location every time I had a group to teach. It could be 60 kg or even more of assorted stuff to take there and back. To make it even harder, I live on the 3rd floor and our building lack an elevator. Nowadays, I just drive to my studio and enjoy all the stuff already stored at the workshop.
Some adjustments are still to be made. I plan to craft some map cabinets, to fit inside the tables I have already built earlier (to store leather, paper and other stuff in sheets). The tables themselves still have to find their comfortable places in the studio. I need multiples holders, shelves, etc. I have plans on upgrading the tables — to make them more stable and comfortable. However, all that could be done step by step. And be sure to read reports on every of these changes later =)
Yesterday I have worked at my studio, as I usually do on Thursdays. For my first class, I’ve finished only two out of five initially planned tables. After all, I had only three students on the 2nd of October. Two tables 1,5×0,75 cm in size (and a smaller one for myself) are quite enough for the crowd =)
Now I have four large tables. Every tabletop is finished with polyurethane varnish. I plan to add another layer or two of the lacquer a bit later. However, it is already possible to invite up to 8 students to my studio. That’s great, because I prefer not to teach larger groups. In my experience, the same lesson you can finish in 5 hours with 3 students will last 9 hours with 8 students and will end only after 12-14 hours of exhausting work with groups of ten or more.
Next class is scheduled for the 16th of October. Coptic binding, long stitch, French stitch, all that stuff. I can’t wait to meet my new students =)
Hope every one of you had as nice a beginning of the year as I had!
That’s me furnishing the studio:
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