Happy New Year (and Toad Hula)

Happy New Year! I do hope it's a good one! {SMILE}

I hope you had a Merry Christmas if you celebrate it. I also hope you are still having a good Christmas if you celebrate it until January 6th like my church does. {Smile}

I have a video to share, too, or a link to one, at least. I found my favorite hula. The video is old, so it's not the best quality. It's unusual, and very kid-friendly. It's also unique. I've never seen anything else like it. It's about a toad who finds true love.  I did say it was unique. This might be why it's my personal favorite, when I normally can't pick a favorite. {wink, Smile}

https://youtu.be/3IDTGuesHVI

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IDTGuesHVI&feature=youtu.be


Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Binding a book

I asked some of my friends if they’d like to see how I bind a book in one fashion. A few said “yes,” and none said no. So here’s my explanation. {Smile}

Before I bound this book, I got permission from the authors to show it off. Not that it isn’t legal as a set of copies of e-books I own, but that some authors are unhappy with books in different formats than they contracted to release. So thanks to my friend, Veronica Giguere, and her coauthors, Mercedes Lackey, Steve Libbey, Dennis Lee, and Cody Martin for permission to share this hand-bound book of short stories they wrote for the Secret World Chronicles series. That I could use stories in the first series about superheroes to catch my interest made it special. {WARM SMILE}

I collected the stories I included as e-books. (Fortunately, they’re all available in printable format.) Then I arranged them in a reasonable order, added a title page, table of contents, and such, chose the page arrangement that worked for the binding style I wanted to use, printed it out, and folded the pages into groups called “signatures…”

…and discovered that another story had been published before I started the next step. After some debating, I got extra permission, formatted the story, printed it out, and pressed it. During this step, I thought of actually showing how I do this, not just the finished project, so I started taking pictures. Here’s one that shows the added story pressing. I think it also shows the main book folded and collated with its cover-boards (measured and cut during an earlier project) in the upper left corner:
 

 

While here is the entire collection of pages printed, folded, and pressed:

Next, I got out my sewing frame, and strung up some cords to tie the book’s cords onto:
 

 

Then I tied up the book’s cords, and started sewing, poking holes in each signature while I went along. I’d used a saw to cut holes before, but I wanted to try this method. It has the advantage of not needing Dad’s hack saw, and the disadvantage of not getting the signatures quite as neatly lined up. That’s partly lack of practice, I’m sure. {Smile}

Here I am sewing:

And here’s a close-up of the sewing, or the knot binders put at each end of as many signatures as they can, so they don’t have to worry about damaging the paper when they reverse to add the next signature. {Smile}:

Here’s the book just after I finished the sewing, and before I started adding glue:

At approximately the same time, I worked on the cover. Dad had already cut coverboards to the right size. He had a sheet of cardboard to cut for a different project. He was cutting coverboards for another project, and I figured he could do the whole sheet at once, since I can always use coverboards this size, and he was out in the shop with the band-saw going anyway… {Smile}

Anyway, I measured and cut the thin cardboard for the spine at this time, along with the bookcloth to cover it all with. I do like to use bookbinder’s buckram to cover books. It has a waterproof coating, which makes the cover harder to damage when wet, and usually makes ironing unnecessary. Besides, it doesn’t require an extra skill-set like leather. Best of all, few bugs or other tiny critters like to eat buckram, at least fewer than like to eat leather. Since I live in the high tropics, I have no shortage of bugs to be concerned with. We don’t even have a season cool enough to slow them down, so many have settled in. {lop-sided Smile}

Here’s the parts of the cover ready to be assembled:

And here they are, all glued together, and pressed until the glue dried. There are some smudges, but none the endpapers won’t hide:

Next, I needed to finish preparing the textblock (the pages bound to each other but not the cover yet) to be attached to the cover. This involved gluing in the endsheets (the paper right next to and glued onto the cover), gluing the cords to the endsheets, and gluing on a paper that wraps around endsheets and spine, called the “super.” This is normally a none-too-remarkable step, but remember that this is a book about superheroes. Variations on the phrase “putting the ‘super’ into ‘superheroes’” seem to show up not infrequently in talks about superheroes, especially when something makes them particularly admirable. {pause}

So here I am, putting the super into a superhero book, though not the “super” into the same book. The latter is what the folks I thanked up top did. {wink, SMILE}:

Next, I glued the cover to the textblock. Here it is pressing while the glue dries, with wax paper to keep the glue from sticking where it isn’t wanted. (If in the slightest doubt, press while the glue dries. Doing do prevents more bubbles, wavy paper, glue creepage, and other all-too-long-term damage than I want to think about. {wink, Smile}):

 

 

Here’s the book when it’s finished:

Here’s the title page I made for it. I don’t think the “READING COPY: NOT FOR SALE” line is strictly required. However, selling it would make it an illegal copy, so adding it seemed like a nice courtesy. {Smile}:

While here’s the table of contents in two parts:

So that’s how I made this book. I’ve enjoyed reading it since. {Smile}

 

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

 

Today's random thought

I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing the seeing the fire truck go grocery shopping, Yet today wasn't the first time I've seen it.

 

The grocery store we use in place of a convenience store is just one block from the fire station. It's a pretty long block, but not too long to walk. Except that when firemen are on call, the truck goes where they do, in case they get a call while they're out, so they can't just walk. If one of them needs a blood test, they take the fire engine to the medical lab. If they need groceries, they take the fire engine to the grocery store. If you're the grocery store just a long block from the fire station, you leave a spot next to the container trucks for the fire engine to park, especially if they're all out front because a hill is in behind. The firemen just have to walk the length of the store to reach the front door, and it's not a long store. {wink, Smile}

 

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

 

A book is finished being bound. Finally! {BIG SMILE}

The book I've been binding is done. I've finished hand-binding the short stories I found in the Secret World Chronicle series. This includes stories by Mercedes Lackey, Steve Libbey, and Veronica Giguere. (Cody Martin and Dennis Lee have also contributed to the series, but I didn't find any short stories by them.) {Smile}

To the best of my knowledge, this is legal as a copy of ebooks I own. {Smile}

Please don't mind the eraser in some of the pictures. It was the most convenient paperweight to hand. {Smile, wink}

 

This is the front cover. Waterproof buckram, a type of bookcloth, comes in solid colors only; fortunately, I do like red. {Smile}

 

This is the title page. The "READING COPY: NOT FOR SALE" line is technically not required by copyright law. It just seemed like a good way to show respect for the author's work, and also for the limits of what you can do with ebooks. {Smile}

 

 

This is the back of the title page, and the first page of the table of contents. {Smile}

This is the second page of the Table of contents. {Smile}

I hope I found all the stories. I did try. {wink, Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Book Binding Wordplay

I'd like to share a bit of wordplay about a book I've been binding. {Smile}

When preparing a book to have a particular kind of cover attached, one of the last steps is gluing in... a piece of paper that goes from one end paper right over the spine to the other end paper. This paper is called the “super.” {Smile}

The book I’ve been binding is my own collection of the short stories associated with the Secret World Chronicles series, which is about superheroes. (The series has been contributed to by Mercedes Lackey, Steve Libbey, Veronica Giguere, Cody Martin, and Dennis Lee, but I only found stories by the first three to include in my book.) {Smile}

 

So, meaning to offense to anyone who actually worked on the series, here are some pictures of me adding the “super” to my little book of Secret World Chronicles short stories with their superheroes. {wink, Smile}

 

I promise to share the book when it's done. No, it's not done yet, and I've stopped holding my breath for that. It's currently waiting for Dad to finish the cover so I can attach it to the book. Unfortunately, Dad has to finish a more urgent project first, and as usual, Dad's not rushing at all. {lop-sided smile}

 

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin