Paper Problem Solved

Having decided to use Michael's roll of Chinese paper, I asked him what I could do with it. I do not want to make a blank book so what could I do? I did point out that using Chinese ink or Chinese watercolour was out. There are only so many minutes/hours/days available. He thought oil pastels or watercolour pencils would work. On thinking it over afterwards, I realised that we could be back to caladiums! How about stencils based on caladium leaves and use oil pastels? I can see the book in my head already. I sometimes wonder if the other patients thinking we are crackers given the topics of conversation between us!

Last night, I scrubbed half the carpet in the newly painted loom room. I covered up the table with its American cloth and lots of newspaper  and boiled up some flour paste ready for this morning when I looked at my glued end-papers for Wednesday afternoon. They have been under weights for the last four days. One set is fine - that is the blue marbled paper. The other set is a disaster - note the  nasty water marks on the central horizontal fold.  In passing the blue marbled paper was made by Michael at West Dean a few years ago. 

The brown paper with gold bamboo foliage was lovely but it was very thin. I am sorry I have wasted it. I chose another paper, also thin but took the precaution of gluing the whole sheet to bank paper to start with and that has worked well. It is yellow-brown with inclusion of leaves and small leaves.

The pieces of silk for the covers of these two books which are made of sewn watercolour paper had already been ironed and backed with fusible lining. I have glued one piece to bank paper and that has worked well. So I will glue the other at lunch time.

The Omar Khayyam endpaper has also been spoilt - there is a smudge on the white endpaper and I will have to redo it. Glueing up at home has advantages.  Plenty of room to spread out and plenty of time to wait. No clock watching.

When I was at the Guild on Saturday, Debbie Fisher (about to relocate to Tripoli!!!) gave me a large box of what she said was silk remnants. I was busy collecting money for courses and did not rummage through this till I got home. Flabbergasted. Beautiful pieces of silk just crying out to be made into book covers.  I will prepare them all and use some of them for a class I am running on Japanese-style bookbinding later this year. (But there is one piece I am too greedy to share!!!). Thank you Debbie, you are making a lot of people happy.