Much of a muchness

What a day. The three parcels I had been expecting all arrived within an hour of each other. The lovely paper from Falkiners, the tools from J. Hewit and Sons, a bookbinding supplies company in Edinburgh and some more tools and several books from John Neal Booksellers in the USA, who have a fantastic range of bookbinding supplies and books, as well as calligraphy books and equipment. I have been struggling to punch holes through the card stock I use to make the book covers, especially when it is covered in book cloth which is quite tough. However, I have bought a beautiful Japanese push drill which is so easy to use and so efficient, I love things that work properly and this is beautifully made too.

I wanted to make an album type book which could be used as a sketch book. I used a mixture of smooth cartridge paper and rough watercolour paper for the pages. I tried to work out how to make this book myself which was probably not a good idea. It kind of works but it does not fit together well enough. The problem seems to be I did not make allowances for the thickness of the screw heads on the brass screw posts, so the covers don’t lie flat. It’s not bad as a first attempt but not good enough to give as the gift it was intended for, so back to the drawing board. I can make another one using my new paper. Excellent. Hopefully I can get this one right.

The marbled end papers are made by Cockerell from an original hand marbled design and as usual came from Falkiners. I really should have shares in that shop or they should pay me for the mentions…