One of my favorite pictures is not of a book that I made nor one that one of my friends made. The roses pictured here came from my neighborhood grocery store and were on sale for $1 a bunch, so on a good day, I could buy $5 worth. You can't buy bookcloth that cheap and have it look as pretty or smell as good.I am always pinching a penny, especially now, with barrels of oil costing $138 as of the last NPR report on Friday, June 5, 2008. I make my books and the stuff of coverings from anything handy; anything that looks good or that works. Sometimes I worry about the archival qualities of the paper, fabric, leather, metal, or poster that I cover the davey board with, but most times, I don't. I just enjoy the look.
In these pages I will show you what kind of books I make, how I made them, and what they look like. Some of my teachers have included those from the Smithsonian who taught me in the 1970's how to bind, teachers like Mark Stone and the people in Washington, DC, active in the calligraphy society there as well as Pam Leutz in Dallas, Texas, and David who teaches at the Craft Guild of Dallas. There are other people, too, who have shaped my understanding of bookbinding and have guided my mind and hands to make well-constructed books that are fun, too. Thank you to those named and those remembered.
I've even invented my own structures as I have taught people how to bind and see the problems new binders encounter. Yes, I teach classes and workshops, demo, and make simple repairs on cookbooks and other important family books. You are always welcome to contact me and come visit my new studio, opening next month in Asheville, NC.
