Quick update

Can't type lots in detail today, because I poke the entire eye of a tapestry needle into my finger last night while sewing a caterpillar binding, and it hurts to type, and have you ever tried to touchtype while holding one finger out of use? 'Nuff said.

Had a good, but tiring weekend. Did a little book shopping Saturday night, then stayed up until 3am reading the newest Laurell Hamilton book. Eep. Spent Sunday at Fest...to all the hardy souls who sat and listened to the group butcher music a week ago, you should have been there this Sunday. Carol and BOb were absent, so we that were left sightread trios all day. And it sounded pretty good. Did shopping at Fest, including some bone bits for me to use in bookbinding, and two Jolly Rogers cds, and a nice big tea mug for Frank for his birthday. We were both wiped out, and were in bed by 7:30 that night.

Spent yesterday morning being lazy--tea, blankets, cats, and new books. Got half of my bookbinding table cleaned off (which included sorting and putting away several boxes of yarn and stuff), and I spent the evening working on that. Finished one caterpillar-sewn book (Altoids-tin sized) and the little butterfly-sewn one that will live in an Altoids tin. Also got the cover glued up for one of the leather-bound Coptic books, except I'm using window blind fabric rather than leather. For the record, PVA glue won't stick to that stuff, but the spray adhesive will (I wanted two layers thick). I may stitch that one up today, if my finger feels okay, or I may just get covers and pages ready to go for when I feel less like a pincushion.

Project update

I finished the wrap-around Coptic bound book that I'd started last night, complete with a matching tie-cord and jaunty dark blue button. And a second 60-pages-in-an-Altoids-tin book, butterfly sewn again. Decorated both of the tins, too. The purple tin got an overlay of pale pink rice paper, which barely shows up, except for the dense streaks, which is not at all what I'd expected, but nice. The green tin for stamped on leaves, then a coating of cheap hairspray (the poor artist's fixative), which made the stamping ink run. I stamped it a second time, and let the ink dry longer, then put a lighter coat of hairspray on, and that worked better. Finished a long narrow (5 sm x 16 cm) 4-hole stab bound book. Used bright turquoise cardstock for the cover, overlaid with torn white rice paper (torn so the edges would fuzz together)...it almost looks like marbled paper. Made one "regular" hardbound-type book, except it's about 2" x 3", and I glued gold leather over the cover, and a darker honey shade over the spine. I didn't get the text block centered right when I was gluing it in, so the front cover lacks about 1/4" of covering the pages, but after I glued vellum over the first page, it looks intentional. Yup, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Last but not least, I've started, adn half finished, a second caterpillar-sewn book, this one about 3" x 5". The caterpillar is crawling all over the cover on this one, brown thread over ivory vellum.

And yes, I'll be getting pics up eventually. Maybe even this week.

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Gak. I'd typed a nice entry about all the projects I'd worked on today, and lj ate it rather than update. Since my punctured finger is still tender, and I don't want to type more, I will sum up: I finished the book I'd started sewing on last night, 4 other small simple books, and decorated the Altoids tins that two books go in. And I'm sewing on another book now, another caterpillar binding. When I'm feeling more patient with the computer, I'll scan what I've finished recently, and post it for your amusement.

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Double gak. Ok, lj didn't eat the first entry. Oh well. Now I'm really not feeling patient enough to mess with the computer. Later.