More Pockets!

I finished pocket construction last night, and only after I had finished did it occur to me that pocket folding would be a great tutorial... Maybe in the near future I'll work getting that together. Right now I present you with 75 folded pockets from 19 different sheets of paper. The two that I think are my favorite happen to be right next to each other, they are the white with pink cherry blossoms, and the pink & brown stripes. I love how the lines meet up perfectly even though there are two flaps making up the pocket!

The next step in pocket construction will be cutting all the board needed to get ready for case construction. I got a third of the board cut this afternoon. The cutting starts with finding the grain along the parent sheet. The direction of the grain is very important in every step of bookbinding, and everything in bookbinding has a grain to it. Finding grain on book board or mat board means taking the whole sheet and flexing it back and forth, this is easiest when the sheet is still whole in a big sheet. Once I find the grain I take a pencil and mark the grain direction every few inches so once it's cut into smaller pieces I'll always have the grain direction market.

Once I've found the grain it's time to get the board on my table and get it measured to size. I've never met a bookbinder who enjoys cutting mat board by hand as it's a chore. My mat cutter is on the fritz, but I would still say that using it is still cutting by hand as it's still a lot of work. However that's a conversation for another day, today is about making pockets! Today I cut one sheet down into 28 squares that will make up the case and the base that the pockets rest on.

I started by cutting the board into long strips that were then cut down further into squares. I plan on cutting one sheet a day for the next 2 days until I have all 75 squares that I need. As I said I really don't enjoy cutting board and it wreaks havoc with my wrists so I try not to have marathon board cutting sessions. Once the board is all cut I'll sand all the edges so they are nice and smooth for the cloth to cover. I highly advise sanding board outside or with a painters mask on, it creates a lot of fine dust that hangs in the air.
Over the next two days I also plan to make a case in white, off white, black, and pink over the next few days to put the pockets against to judge which pockets go with what color book cloth.

Also on the work bench for this week are two custom watercolor sketch books for a client. She contacted me looking for a specific paper, and I was luckily enough to find a fantastic deal on it in Portland so instead of taking just one, she ordered a second for gift for a friend too! They are going to be Celtic Weave with just white thread so the stitching won't be as noticeable on the page. I'm actually really excited to get started on them as I love that sewing and I've never done it with the same colored thread. She also wants eyelets set in the sewing stations and I love playing with my crop-a-dile, so as you can see it's a very exciting project as well.

Not a big change but I made the pictures larger today, anyone hate it? The pocket pictures were so small you couldn't really see much detail at all.
And to make myself look like the biggest geek in the world anyone out there playing Animal Crossing on the Wii? I just picked it up and have been visiting a few Etsy sellers, I would love to play with any of you that have the game!

Pockets!

I got just what I needed the other day to knock me out of my funk, an inquiry for a custom order! Once I had a feel what the person was looking for I jumped into my scraps bin and got to work and loved every minute of it. It took me most of Wednesday to finish my final project for my nutrition class and it was hard not spend all afternoon in my studio prepping board and playing in my paper (which was reorganized last week!). Prepping board is all I can really to do get started at this point, as I can't get the cloth colors I want locally. So I just placed a monster order with Talas and it will be like Christmas when the boxes -yes multiple- get here, I ordered the cloth I needed as well as some fun things I've wanted for awhile but didn't have a large enough order to make the shipping worth it.

The project I'm excited about is making custom DVD Folios for U Designs, which is a wedding company. I've been working with Brie who is their head photographer and I am in love with her work! There is one picture of the couple making fists at the camera with their rings on... I just love it!
Anyways back to the project at hand- DVD Folios! I'll be starting by making some 2 pocket folios and some 3 pocket folios, I get to have some artistic freedom as far as matching papers, ribbons, and cloths so I'm thrilled with the arrangement. The 2 pocket folios will work just like a normal portfolio while the 3 pocket folios will be more like my fold up travel albums that will wrap up and then tie closed. I goofed the ribbon placement on the 3 pocket folio but I think it was a good learning experience to remember to watch where the larger "spine" is. I actually really like the 3 pocket folio and am a bit sad to be parting with it... however the samples need to be sent by tomorrow and I really don't have a need to keep one.
I also managed to fling glue everywhere today and have one 2 pocket folio with a glue spot front and center...again... I'm starting to think I need to add a "glue mess" section to my Etsy store.

My local book arts meeting was St. Patties Day and our swap theme this month was luck. Last month I was visiting with one of our members and she was kind enough to give me a few real dried 4 leaf clovers to use to play with on the project. I had been racking my brain for away to use them without glue and then it came to me.... Pockets! I was working on the mock up folio and had to stop part way through and make the pocket for my shamrock! I made a little 3" square portfolio with the a pocket, it was so cute I almost didn't want to give it away. However it was worth it because I received a fantastic blizzard book in return, it is filled with red Chinese New Year envelopes and inside each has a symbol for luck and it's meaning printed on a card. I really enjoy all the creativity the group has and the fun we have each month. Our mini workshop this month was on pop-ups, I'll share that another day.

In non book related news I just finished my last term at school for awhile. It was a tough decision not to enroll in classes for spring term but circumstances as they are we (my husband and I) decided it was for the best. This should give me more time to be a more dedicated book binder and blogger as I'm still only working limited hours at Coconut Bliss. Working there still rocks and I'm really enjoying the new atmosphere and finding my place as I go along.
I'm also going on a mini vacation this weekend across the state to see my Mom, finger crossed it stops snowing at night so we can make a safe trip over the pass on Saturday. I'll be back on Wednesday next week with some pictures of the trip and other news as this post is way too long already!