I’ve just received a package with corner cutting jigs from Argentina. Triángulo de la Felicidad (triangles of happiness, I suppose) is made of plastic. It has one of the classic designs when a truncated corner has a reinforcing crossbeam.
We have a huge sale at our Etsy store from this Friday to next Tuesday (to allow customers from all time zones to buy something). All our 3d-printed jigs and tools are cheaper by 30% now, and prices on everything else dropped by 15%.
Over past years I’ve been using lots of different things as weights while making books. You name it: books, larger books, dumbbells, weight plates, handmade soft weights, proper weights, anything else that was near my workbench. I have also used bricks. However, since the first use, I wanted to make some encasements.
Oftentimes there are discussions on affordability of bookbinding equipment on Facebook and forums. I’ve been preparing my studio for a new season (yeah, I haven’t had any classes since this summer in my workshop), and found the first press that I’ve made for myself more than ten years ago. Or should I call it a vise?
As temperatures fall below the freezing point in some regions, it may become risky to order white glue. Or even to buy it at a local store. Like many other water emulsion glues, PVA may lose its gluing properties after freezing/thawing. Especially, if that process is repeated several times (e.g. while glue is in transit).
This happens again and again. Time after time. Every evening before a new class, I’m feeling a great anxiety about what will happen tomorrow. Even while I’m absolutely sure what to show my new students, and historically 99% of students are happy with the results, I’m really worried and nervous.
József Tari started to collect miniature books 45 years ago. His miniature library now holds more than 5000 tomes. The smallest book in his collection is just 2.9 x 3.2 millimeters in size. This is much larger than the smallest books ever created (like that one, made by Russian scientist in 2016), but still very impressive.
While many things have changed since 2017, iBookBinding continues to produce and sell 3d-printed corner cutting jigs in multiple colors and sizes. And as a more recent development, we now offer the same jig made with metal (steel, brass, etc.)
For almost 15 years the top place in the list of the most expensive books and manuscripts was held by the original copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s notebook Codex Leicester (1500s), acquired by one of the Microsoft’s founders Bill Gates in 1994. With selling price of more than $30 million it was ahead by a third compared to the next book on the list – one of the original copies of Magna Carta (1297).
This video was released in 1981, but it is definitely worth watching. Bookbinding craft is not so prone to changes and all the main processes are shown here in detail.
I have just returned from my vacation and a package was waiting for me at the post office. This summer the London Centre for Book Arts issued a call to support their development and current operations. One of the rewards in their Kickstarter campaign was a new book they’ve just made. That book is exactly what I found inside the package!
My woodworking workshop/bookbinding studio is located in my mother’s apartment. She lives in Romania for the better part of a year, and I put the place to a good use for the remaining 10-11 months =)
Have you seen this amazing pop-up book that was published in 2001 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the L. Frank Baum’s story?
