Expozine
Expozine is in their sixth year, this year. If you’re at all interested in comics, zines, small-press and self-published books, GO! It’s at that weird-cool church basement in the Église Saint-Enfant-Jésus at 5035 St-Dominique, Montreal. It runs from 12-6 pm on Saturday and Sunday, Nov 24 & 25. more info: http://www.expozine.ca
Some small studio news : New leathers have arrived, and books have been made and shipped. I’m making other books and boxes, too; things that don’t have anyone’s name on them as yet. And I’m working with a photographer next week, so I will finally have some photos soon, despite my many previous promises. This new activity also has to do with a new website coming soon…
Also to come soon : an open house. This will be a joint effort with some of my atelier neighbours, specifically the ones with the pool table in their space. There will be wine and beer, people to talk to and things to look at. Keep posted for further info!
a wee seasonal reminder
I know, I know … noone likes to think of the upcoming holidays now, but one must be practical. to a point, anyway. If you are in need of things for gift giving, and you want to have them custom made (hopefully by me, but this note is very general), now is the time to start asking around and planning your project.
That’s right – yeah, I know Hallowe’en is only just over. And I know you’re already sick of lights and store window displays. But you’ll be asking me three days before the holidays if I can make things for you, and I’m going to have to say no, because there won’t be any time.
I will have some nicely bound books and some new boxes with noone’s name on them, just in case, but that shoe might not fit.
reuse and recycle
Part of the policy of no bar code is to reduce how much stuff we use, as binderies can be hugely wasteful productions. We don’t put out a huge recycling box every week – we save and reuse as much as we can.
This means board and paper, but it also applies to our leather use. We buy expensive leathers – bookbinding leathers such as the fine binding leathers from Harmatan (c), and Russell’s Oasis(c). These two companies produce various lines of leathers – these ones in particular are the high-end bookbinding leathers, that are vegetable-tanned goatskin, made from goats traditionally raised in Nigeria. The animals are raised in a traditional family-type setting, and all the preliminary tanning happens in Nigeria in this same traditional setting. A variety of native plants are used in the tanning process, and then the tanning process is continued at the English tanneries, also with a variety of vegetable tanning materials. (Both companies talk about this on their websites; this text was written a few weeks after reading about them. No attempt was made to steal their texts!)
First grade skins are getting more and more rare. A first grade skin has no or very small and few scratches and scars. The skin is often very buttery and soft, very pliable and lovely to the touch. The skins are becoming rare because barbed wire is used often in the farming communities, and this can cause scratches on the animals, which of course are things that stay with the body. Given that these skins are more and more rare, and are very expensive, we use as little leather as we can.
This means various adaptations in the work I do that is parallel to my bookbinding work – to minimize leather use. With scraps and odd pieces and edges, I make small boxes. For this work, I have adapted my technique so that the absolute very minimum is discarded. There are no overlaps or fillings (when you bring the leather around to the side of a box, and don’t cut flush, you have to fill in the space created by the thickness of the leather). If you cut the leather flush in a particular way, you don’t need to make this “filling”. A side bonus is the time saved in making the “filling” and also in the finishing work. No, of course I’m not going to tell you ALL my secrets!
New box photos to come tomorrow.
