My Little Temporary Corner

I have a little corner in the house which is more stable temperature wise and also quite pretty I think... And I can actually see how many books I've been making. And honestly, this is probably one of the rare times when I do have a collection building up. Preparing for a charity event happening on the 18th October at one of the recreational club in town (RBRC). Unfortunately after what happened thanks to the fiasco involved preparing for the book retreat, I am all out of boards. Until I can get some cut, there will be no books to make for a while... *cry cry cry*

Lets admire back at the books. Currently am in love with coptic binding with washi-ed spine and secret belgian binding. So I guess until I run out of ideas of washi combination, you'll be seeing a lot of these for a while.

Fixing The Ong Kiat Family Tree Publication

A while back, I was asked if I could help fix a family tree book. I asked to have a look at the book first to see how fixable it was. The leaves have fallen out and it was a perfect binding, as expected. This kind of binding will never last, unless you never open the book. And in this case, it being a family tree book, definitely it will be looked through many a times.

Two options, I could redo the perfect binding as it was before, OR I give it a new binding that WILL last the many times the book will be flipped through over and over but it means I will have to physically mar the book.

Client chose the latter and I chose the stab binding method for it.

Stab binding literally involved stabbing all the way through the thickness of the book. In this case, a power drill helps. Also since we don't have that much allowance, a smaller drill bit was chosen.

Using a neutral bookbinding thread, I added a bit of detail with the spacing of the holes, subtle and smart.

The overall look, I felt the new binding added on to the appeal of the book. It is a strong binding, and they can look through the book to their hearts content. I'm pretty proud of this fix.

The client was happy, but I was a bit insulted when she asked how strong was the thread -__-

Seriously?!?

Sigh... I am aware people do not know. Or just don't know. Bookbinding threads are strong. They can be used to stitch leather. They. Will. Last. Forever if you don't put anything sharp to intently cut it.

For me, the statement hits on my credibility. The trust. The knowledge. The years.

Maybe the client had been burned before by others. Who knows. Cool part about it was I caught myself, all these feelings. And put it down to, do not take it personally. And left it as that. Notch it up to another personal growth experience.

Bookbinding Retreat @ Kunyit 7 Lodge

 Soooooooooooooooo looking forward to this retreat! We are going to have a great time! Got few more spots left, , got a couple of surprises in store for those signed up. This is a win win for everybody!

 The first time we stayed an Kunyit 7 Lodge, it was a wonderfully fun time. We had a proboscis monkey boat ride experience, a gorgeous sunset view, beautiful light up of the landmark mosque it was practically glowing. And had such a fun evening session bookbinding nobody wanted to go to bed.

Hoping to have that fun again. Its close enough to home, yet far away and different enough.  If you got nothing planned on those dates of 26th - 27th September, we love to have you join us! More details on the retreat in the brochure images in this post! (click on photos for a larger view)