I’ve been photographing my bookbindings for some time now. And after my (much more artistic) fellow binder Chris asked me the dimensions of some of my things, I’ve even been measuring them. So I’ve had a growing collection of photos and measurements clogging up my hard drive and my notebooks.
At the same time, I’m often looking to show people the work I’ve been doing. I usually have my small green book with me in person, and at work there’s my big black and brown notebook. But anyone I know online has no way of seeing what I’ve been up to since the experiment last May.
And recently, since I’ve started doing more with the covers of my books, my learning curve has taken another steep climb. I find myself wanting to record the lessons I’ve been learning. I take a lot of mental notes about how my bindings go, but then I forget it all as other bindings get my attention. And since I’ve been giving much of my work away, I don’t even have the books to remind me.
It’s amazing that it took me this long to put the three issues together and make a gallery. But it’s up now, with pictures of most of the bindings I’m willing to have seen by the public, plus binding notes on some of my recent works. And with a format is in place, it’s going to be easier to record what I’ve been doing.
(Those who know me best may have a comment or two on the tone of the binding notes. You know who you are, and I know what you’re going to say. But trust me. It’s the flaws I learn from, not what goes right.)
Ay-Yi-Yi!
Now you’ve gone and done it.
Meandering, moseying and mining my way around the electronic ether, in pusuit of a burgeoning interest in bookbinding, I wander unsuspecting into a seemingly innocent site. Unprepossesing, low-key, unintimidating to an extreme…..I’ll snag the nuggets of info I need and be on my way before anyone in authority is even aware of the breathe of wind that rustles the papers on the desk.
Ha Ha! The Electric Pimpernel!
Oh! How lovely….this bookbinder sounds at the very least, to approach hobbies like I do. A small controlled, little adventure in the creation of anything worthwhile. An appropriate nod to craftsmen who have gone before, a belief that they may hold the solution that would avoid re-invention of wheels. A hope, however thin, that maybe….perhaps on the esoteric fringes of the craft, we may have one, small, elegant solution. The joy of using our hands…the struggle of bending and training them to our will. The satisfaction of having something to show for our efforts at the end of the day, a learner by doing after my own heart. To be able hold a beautiful, self-made BOOK…..a real, honest-to-goodness BOOK!
I learned in my youth that a sacrament is an outward sign instituted to give grace. If that’s not a book, what is?
But wait….what’s this? A wee, coy, azure, teasingly underlined, understated link. Where will it lead? Did I just see it wink at me? (Haaaaaaa…..a wink-link!….not to be confused with a weak link.) This could be like those Oriental gardens, designed to surprise with an unexpected vista hidden around every bend. Should I? What the heck! It’s a Sunday before Memorial Day and I have rare time to spend. With rodent poised, I click and just as swiftly, am captured.
I discover adventures in parenting, passion for truth, a dispenser of love, a political conscience, struggler with SAD and work and time, a cache adventuress. You tricked me. You made me care. You spread the flypaper and made it look like a picnic blanket. When I realised I was caught, I didn’t mind; it was the least of my concerns. I felt like the toddler all dressed for Sunday service who was told to sit on the front step and stay clean while his parents finish getting ready. But the puddle called to him; he had to go. Once the shoes are dirty, there’s nothing left for it but to belly flop. What else could he do?…..What else could I do?
In the immortal words of Gene Wilder in “Young Frankenstein”, “Damn your eyes!”…..I’m hooked.
Okay! Okay! Get a grip.
Being a precious commodity, honesty always reaches out and grabs me by the throat. Could you relax your grip a little? I disagree with Thoreau when he says most men “lead lives of quiet desperation.” I believe most of humanity leads unheralded but every bit as difficult and noble lives in the pursuit of truth, principle and just plain right living. I drop my guard for just a second and I’m whacked with the realization that that pursuit still goes on all around me, despite my inattention.
Thank You for that…..I think. What you are writing about may border on catering to addictions. For all I know, you could well be an honesty PUSHER! Oh well, it’s your conscience.
……Ahaaa! Chaos, Confusion, Upheaval! My work here is done.
Damned elusive Pimpernel!