Book Binding - Day One

Dear Diary,

An exhausting day.  Six intense hours of creating a drum leaf bound book.  This is a unique book in that the watercolor pages open up and lie flat and there is no break in the middle so you can paint a landscape across the two pages.  I plan to bring this to Scotland with me.  I will use it on Lindisfarne as I will be alone there for two days and I want to paint the beautiful island.

Today's book is a stitched binding and can be used as a journal.  We began it yesterday by folding all the signatures.  Stitching will begin as soon as we get there this morning.  The gentleman I included in my collage was a fascinating fellow, an antiquarian book collector.  We talked a bit about genealogy and his frequent trips to England.  At 85 he is still going strong and learning to make books.   He is an inspiration! I  hope I am still taking classes at 85!  He is from the Eastman family, of Eastman-Kodak fame.  He laughed that he didn’t inherit any of the wealth, just the name. He was a delight to talk to, with a great sense of humor.