A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about using (and making) soft weights for a box making project. That text received some very nice comments and I have decided to follow-up with a bit of research: how to make the best soft weights?
Couple of weeks ago I have shared with you my experience with soft weights. I needed them during construction of false rounded spines for a box project. Today I would like to share my thoughts on making those false spines.
Several days ago I was repairing a Siddur (a book of prayers) for a friend. I came to his office to offer him a choice of leather to pick a piece for the new cover. He intrigued me with a question then: “Why wouldn’t you try to make a leather kippah?”
Oh, that feeling, when you plan to make or do something for a long time and save it for later just because you don’t really need it? That was the case with soft weights for me.
Every time I travel I look for some book or bookbinding-related locations in almost every city or town I visit. Past trip to Italy was no exception. Unfortunately, this time we had a very tight schedule (3500 kilometers just in 11 days) and almost no time for museums. However, we had a full day in Venice and I hoped to find something interesting there.
What I truly love about bookbinding (woodworking, other crafts) is that there is always a chance to experiment, find some new tricks, small hacks and create strange jigs. Currently I’m working on a couple of large boxes (for dolls) designed to resemble books. The project brought me a lot of fun, and I plan to share all of it in time =)
Vacation season has arrived! Me and my wife decided to visit Italy this summer. We have quite an itinerary and will drive from the north of the country to the south and back.
There are some historical discrepancies in the video, still I like the approach very much =)
Looks like someone has a lot spare time and that someone is me. Yesterday I’ve spent an hour and a half wrapping handles of my newly made lying press with a rope. I know, I know, usually you can see something like wooden handles. But I don’t have a lathe in my workshop (yet). I had some old handles made with bare steel nuts and I thought: why don’t give that idea a chance?
![shakespeare_in_metro[1]](https://www.ibookbinding.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/shakespeare_in_metro1-580x326-225x126.png)
A new Shakespeare-themed train would be in service in the Moscow Underground for six month starting today. Joint project by the British Council and Moscow Metro have resulted in the eighteenth themed train and fourth literary-themed train to be in operation in the Russian capital at the moment.
Rare book department of the National Library of Ukraine could’t account for their copy of ‘The Apostle’ — the oldest book printed in the modern borders of Ukraine.
“…If you’re detecting a light floral aroma, you’re probably smelling 2-ethyl hexanol, a kind of alcohol, that’s often used in solvents, but also in flavors and scents…”
I’ve took my time before posting something new at iBookBinding.com. There are lots of topics I would like to cover, but April is traditionally a busy month for me and the first days of May I’ve spent organizing my small woodworking workshop. For a long time, I wanted to make different bookbinding tools and now it is becoming a reality.
Every time I need to attach a new thread I have problems remembering how to tie a weaver’s knot. Eventually I decide a square knot will do.
Anthony Bourdain & The Balvenie head to San Francisco, California to meet with Andrew Hoyem, master typographer and printer of Arion Press. One of the last of its kind, Arion Press has only a handful of members on its staff, all fellow craftsmen dedicated to this age old process. Each works meticulously to create the books in multiple parts, from the typecasters, to the proofreaders, to the printers and the bookbinders. All of these hands build a work of art through a process that must be seen to be believed, and can only, truly, be described as magic.
