ADAM AT HOME UK

Should you wish to listen to this blog post, please press  HERE   So now you have the basics of sewing a little book under your belt... it is time to talk about paper. Hopefully you followed my suggestion of cutting different sorts of paper - and perhaps you noticed that sometimes a piece of paper cuts, or folds, more easily in one direction than the other. This is because paper has a 'grain' (rather like wood).  I don't want to disappear down the very large rabbit hole that is paper-making, but it is useful to know that whatever base material is used for making paper - wood-pulp, plant fibres, mulberry bark, cotton or indeed old paper - it is broken down to its basic fibres and mixed with a lot of water to make a slurry, which then finds its way onto some sort of fine mesh. The way the fibres are aligned in the paper-making process produces the grain. One direction will always be easier to fold on a piece of paper than another. That is called folding along,...

 As usual, if you prefer to listen to, rather than read this post, please click   HERE Well my friends, the first post of 2021... What will it bring? Already we are in full national Lockdown — and have left the EU with our tail between our legs... but hey, this has nothing to do with bookbinding, SO: A good friend of mine has been wanting to learn how to make books for a while now, so we had sort of decided that Christmas might be a good time... but the pandemic put paid to that of course, initially because he lived over the border in Wales (different set of rules), but now my friend is back in full-time employment and the reast of us are in full pandemic Lockdown! SO... I have decided to use my blog as a vehicle for a short series of 'lessons' in how to make a book. Whilst primarily aimed at Will, of course anyone who wishes may feel free to 'have a go'.  Before we do anything, I thought it would be useful to talk about basics - tools, materials, that sort of thing...