On Making Books

Today's a quiet one in the department. One of my coworkers is our sick and my boss will be out most of the day. Also, Antoine's friend is in town visiting and staying with us for a couple of days so Antoine took today and tomorrow off from work to hangout and catch up. Awesome for Antoine, stinky for me. With Antoine off from work that means zero communication from him most, if not all, of the day. I know for most this would not be that big of a deal, but for us it is (well, at least for me since I'm stuck here at work). See, during any given day Antoine and I communicate via aim or email nearly all day. There's even an occasional phone call here and there, sometimes multiple calls in one day. What can I say, that's how we roll! So, feeling a little left out and abandoned (I know, I'm such a drama queen) I decided today might be a nice day to work on the bench and starting making a book or two.

Now, anyone who knows me really well knows that I love making books...this may or may not be evident from the handmade book(s) you have received from me for either your birthday, Christmas or any other significant day in your life. Fact is, I like making books...creating something from scratch and personalizing it to a specific person's tastes and likes. The process of folding the pages, choosing endpaper, and assembling the cover relaxes and excites me at the same time! Monday and Tuesday our department dyed linen and cloth, using a polymer base with inks and/or arcylics added to it, to use to repair and restore old books. We also took the opportunity to create/design cloth for our own books. I went a little nuts and dyed a ton of cloth that I'm really looking forward to using. I've already got two books in mind...maybe I'll post some pictures once they're done!

Anyway, back to bookmaking...

*Update: Antoine called me about 10 minutes ago and I just got off the phone. Now I'm happy (not abandoned)!