Last Friday I went up to the vendor’s room at the Guild of Bookworker’s standards conference to check out the paper and other bookbinding supplies. I had in mind to buy a piece or 2 of Cave Paper’s beautiful handmade paper. It’s expensive, but I’ve always wanted to use it in a chapbook. So now I have 2 different colors, plus some hand dyed linen thread (from Kinglet Cottage Designs). All I need is the poem!
There were lots of other vendors there as well. One was Talas, with a large array of binding supplies, from calipers to leather hides to glue brushes. Since I’d been thinking only about paper I didn’t look very seriously at their table. But then I spied a steel rule kit — about 5 years ago I took a class from Hedi Kyle where she showed us how to use narrow strips of metal rule to evenly space boards. Nearly every time I do a bookmaking project, I remember those rulers, fleetingly think “I should figure out how to get or make those,” and promptly forget. Now here they were, staring me in the face. What could I do but buy them? They come in 1/8″, 1/4″, 1/2″, 3/4″ and 1″ wide strips, and I’ve already used the 1/4″ one!
I have a set of these I picked up at a hardware store, I can’t imagine binding without them!
I actually need to replace them as they all have a good coat of pva on them now…
I have a set of brass rules that I bought in the drafting section of an art store in Portland, OR. I love them!
Once I had them, I was mad for not having purchased them sooner. They really help to make things more efficient and accurate.
I use strips of bookboard that warp and bend and fall apart. What have I been thinking all these years? I’ll be checking out the Talas site. Thanks. Hmmm… I work in mm not ” but I suppose I could work around that.