i made stuff!!

a coworker and i are taking a bookbinding class at the tampa museum of art!

sadly, the education budget was slashed & burned, so this is the last semester they'll be offering such classes (BOO).

bookbinding (along with, you know, every other craft hobby) is one of those things i've always wanted to learn. i even have waxed linen thread and had tried my hand at it a few times before. FAIL. the books turned out wobby and uneven.

during the heyday of girlfriend sweatshop, we even had a mini "class" (with wine, of course) given by one of the members, but it didn't really stick with me. i can't remember if it actually involved stitching...

in any case, so far i've learned stab binding and the coptic stitch!



so rad, right? 3 classes, 2 books. i'm hoping to also bind the book of photos from italy that i started 10 years ago. about time that thing got finished! it's going to involve sewing pages onto canvas bits to form the signatures/pamphlets and then making a cover out of a hardboard. i'm so stoked!



the bottom one is the stab binding.



and this one is the coptic stitch. it's easier in some ways and feels more "like a book" when you're sewing it. the difficult part lies in keeping the stitches tight (which was my problem when i attempted this on my own).

helloooOOooo holiday gifts! ;)