Books and Bookbinding and Dining Room Un-Progress

Dining Room

No significant progress on the dining room over the weekend.

I did measure the space between the drafting table and the wall, and looked at horizontal surface options for that space.

Moved my tubes of rolled paper and book cloth to the dining room.

Moved some largish flat sheets of paper bought for book projects into the paper drawer of the drafting table.

Ron had an idea for taking pictures of merchandise, or more precisely, lighting them. The original idea was to put the light table up in the dining room, but the drafting table took that space. Ron has a light tent that can sit on the drafting table, though (and is also easy to put up/take down). 

In any case, the lights he has are bulky. He started thinking about alternative lights, and I made a comment about LEDs, and now we have a possible plan, based on some under-cabinet LED light strips we put on the shelves above our bed at the beginning of summer. The idea is to make a cube out of PVC pipe, holding four of the LED strips, which sits around the light tent. If we make it to knock down into two squares and some cross-bars, storage shouldn't be a problem. Found the light tent, next step is to pop it up and measure.

Books & Bookbinding

Apparently I've just decided to shift bookbinding natter to this blog, mostly.

Made a book for a Christmas present for a relative over the weekend. It has a couple issues I'm not entirely happy with, but not horrible. The block (interior) was pre-made, so I had to make the cover and case it in (attach interior to cover). I meant to pack it up and get it out in the mail yesterday morning but the bed's gravitational field was too strong and I ran out of time. 

I've been working on a book of poetry (not mine) in InDesign, last week I sent a PDF to the printer I've worked with for MuseCon and Windycon with questions about doing what I would like with it. Called with a follow-up today, got a partial "no", which I have a work-around for, and should be hearing back on the revised plan tomorrow. 

Over the weekend I submitted a quote request to a place I've been buying supplies for custom board cutting for covers for the above project. If I'm going to be binding mumble copies, I either need a board shear (not likely, given budget and space considerations), or I'd rather pay somebody to do the cutting for me. Cutting paper and book cloth is easy. Book board . . . not so much. Each cut requires multiple passes with a sharp utility knife, and one blade (segment) is only good for a couple/few cuts. 

Placed an order Sunday for more pre-printed book interior pages, paper for covers and endsheets, and, um, another shade of brown thread (yes, really), for Sooper Seekrit reasons.