Pictures of VICTORY

Okay so you guys, it turns out that maybe y'all didn't inadvertently ruin my life and my alum-tawed last night, as previously ranted about. I went in with heavy heart this morning to show it to Don, and he said it was still usable!  It was like magic. So, with light and happy heart, I continued throughout the day doing cool fun stuff.  SUCH AS:

So this is what the alum-tawed book looked like when it was all ready to be covered.  For whatever reason, I am IN LOVE WITH IT.  I was really sad actually to cover it up with stupid mean swine skin.  What also happened is that there are some things you do differently when covering with a-t as opposed to reg'l'r leather, so Don needed to do a demo for us, so he just straight up covered my book for me as an example for everyone else.  Which, in a way, is TOTALLY AWESOME.  I mean it is also sort of less awesome, because it means that I didn't get to do it and get the experience so I a)feel less connected to the book since Don did the big part of it and b)don't know what it's like to cover with jerk swinefleisch.  However, the awesome of not having to do it I think on a day like today outweighed the not awesome of not getting to do it.

So the one of the different things about this book is that since we're trying to go all medieval style, instead of using the band nippers to really define where the cords are, you do what is called 'tying up,' in an aptly named 'tying up press.'  After you finish covering the book, you stick it in the special press that has all these nails stuck in it and then you use thick cord pulled really tightly from nail to nail to define the cords and the head bands.  I didn't get a good picture of what it looks like when you take it out, but I will tell you with words that it is cool because you can kind of see the threading of the cords pressed into the leather.  It's just a really homespun kind of look that you get; I like it a lot.

Here is Pelham!  And behind him, the random book of poetry that I also did! Woo!  I was trying for a shot were you can really see the raised-cord-ness.  I flatter myself that I succeeded!  It's crazy how different the calf and the goat feel when you hold them.  The goat as you can see (it is Pelham in the maroon) is kind of shiny and glossy looking?  It is all light reflect-y?  So it's a really smooth, slick sort of feeling.  The calf on the other hand isn't shiny at all, but it's still incredibly smooth and soft.  I can't decide which I feel I prefer.  The calf looks and feels more solid and historical-ish, to me at least.  When I bring these home we'll have to have a feel-test and see what y'all think.

So, my main job today ended up being all the finishing touches on Pelham and Random Poetry Book.  Which meant that I had to clean up the inside of the covers, trim the leather turn-ins, glue down some card so the surface was smooth, and then glue down the end papers.  This is the inside cover of Pelham.  Something weird is that I wouldn't have thought that this is the kind of marbled paper I would ever choose, but um it IS what I chose, and I really like it and I think it totally fits the book.  It's been kind of tricky though, choosing endpapers for all these different books.  I worry sometimes--it's like, you know when you say a word enough times in a row that it stops meaning anything?  When I look at all the marble papers it starts getting like that--like I"m looking at so many options and crazy things that I no longer know what is good and what is weird and what is ugly.  So, I've just kind of made decisions, and by now I've looked at them and worked with them so much that I'm like in love with them, but I'm kind of worried when I show them to people that they'll be like, You chose That?  What, is it funny?   ...So.  We will see.