quick updates cuz i was too busy watching tv last night to blog

 So what we did first yesterday was line the spines of our single and double raised cords books with SUEDE.  That was pretty wild cuz I've only ever lined spines with layers and layers of paper.  I thought it looked pretty cool.  Also it was fun because I've never done a book on Raised Cords before--usually (which is to say, in my fine binding classes) the whole point is to hide the cords as much as possible, but with these books, since we're trying to approximate historical bindings , we are showing the bands off loud and proud!  I think it looks pretty awesome.

 Here is a picture of my work bench.  It is moderately clean, yeah? 

 I was trying to take a sneaking picture of Don, but he put his face behind the lamp at the last minute.  Drat!  Don is fantastic--he's basically like Mr. Conservation USA so I was intimidated to meet him and have him see my work, but it turns out that he's also Mr. Super Awesome Nice Guy Who Says "Good job, dear" and pats your elbow when you show him how you wove your headbands. 

 Big news: I bought a SPOKE SHAVE.  This is what a spoke shave is:

 this is what the underside of a spoke shave is:

 You hold it by the handles and run it along your leather and that long blade it shaves away at it bit by bit.  Apparently it is also a wood working tool, but they do some little modifications on them to make them better for leather paring.  I"m pretty excited, since a)it will hopefully revolutionize the leather paring process for me and b) it was cheap!  I am currently accepting submissions for what this spoke shave's Name should be--because come now you can't have a tool with THIS MANY sort of faces (seriously with those two screws on top AND the two holes in the handles and the bladey-blade mouth...the possibilities are endless and ADORABLE)  without giving it a name, right?

So here are my five books, stacked up and under weights:

I'm feeling good!  But now I gotta hurry real quick and get to class.