Binding Rainbow

The snow has come in earnest. The road outside our door is a typical Malvern Hills road, Very long and very steep. The snow plough was round once but that does not do much good when the snow is still coming down. So every morning, the road is full of abandoned cars, some of them slewed across the road. By mid-day, they are all gone and then it starts again. I walked round the garden today in glorious sunshine and the snow is mostly eight inches deep. There are long icicles hanging from one of the gutters. One of the jobs on my job-list says ' Clean out gutters'. Clearly they need it.

Better to stay indoors and get on with weaving and binding Rainbow. I have finished two more copies and the last two will be finished tomorrow. I will put up a picture then.

I have been re-reading 500 Handmade Books (chosen by Steve Miller, Lark Books, 2008, ISBN 978-1-57990-877-5). The photos are good. It is mostly one book to a page and they vary between very traditional leather binding and avant-garde bindings where you have to look carefully to see which bit is the book in amongst the piano hinges and the ammonites. The more I read it (I think this may be the fourth careful inspection in a month), the more I see the point of the less traditional bindings. I am beginning to feel/see a new binding project. I did a fold-out book for my last project when doing City and Guilds in Creative Sketch Books. It had Pop-up buildings which I love. This new one will be based on Caladiums - seen in Tampa Bay in June 2008 and loved. I managed to buy three corms in the UK last spring and they behaved well. The nursery is not selling them this year. 'Not enough interest'. I am trying to get mine through the winter. I have hunted through most UK seed catalogues and no-one offers caladiums. This topic needs research!