managing blog consumption

Here is a question to everyone. How do you sort through and review the blogs that you regularly visit? My list of blogs is slowly growing and quickly becoming a cumbersome feat of management. I am currently experimenting with my tried and true RSS Bandit and Sage (thanks Rhonda), a component that works within Mozilla Firefox. These are both basically feed readers that keep track of sites that are published in atom/rss/...formats.

mitered corners

When I learned how to make mitered corners we learned a really involved and contorted way to do it. The corners were perfect, but it was very process intensive. I won't try to describe it. It finally occurred to me that there was a much easier way to do it with identical results. If anything the results are better considering how much less the book has to be handled. Less handling, less mess, fewer accidents. I since ran across this method in print but can't remember where. The sequence of photos are fairly clear. The only critical consideration is to use davey board that is the same thickness as what's being cover. The angle doesn't even have to be a perfect 45 degree angle, and the edges will still meet straight and flush.

Using mitered corners is not a necessity. Folded corners leave more cloth in the corners for wearability. The mitered corner is smoother and less bulky when that matters. The mitered corner is more durable than it may look, because the glue has a chance to impregnate the ends of the cloth fibers locking the edges together, and the end pages have a smooth, flush surface to adhere.

fund-raiser starts today

The Bookbinding Etsy Street Team (BESTbooks) starts an online fund-raiser today. The charity recipient is H.E.L.P. International. Follow and assist the event through the team blog that is linked here. I'll be there along with other book artists you'll want to meet.

sanded edges

Sanding the sides of a book block can be done with as little as a sanding block. For more precision clamping the book block between two boards help to keep the sanding block square and level. The following is how I do it.

The tools (from top to bottom): wood blocks, micro plane, shims, and sanding block. The wood blocks I use are scraps from a canvas stretcher. The micro plane for removing larger amounts of book. Shims for evenly raising wood blocks. Sanding block for sanding edges.


I have several sets of shims of various thicknesses depending on how much paper needs to be removed.


Blocks clamped then inverted in vise of work bench.


Before and after.

center finding ruler

I love rulers, but this one holds a special place in my warm little heart. About one half day of heavy use, and my brain was noticeably mushier. It doesn't take much to figure out how to use it. An example if it isn't readily apparent. Say I have two dots four inches apart and want to find the half way point between them. Place the ruler next to the dots so that one dot is left of the zero and the other dot is to the right. Using a bit of intuition move the ruler in the direction that balances the measurements on either side of the zero. In this example the left dot will be on the left 2" line, and the right dot will be on the right 2" line. The zero is the center point! Plus without doing any math the ruler shows that the center is two inches from either dot!! The ruler really earns its keep when it's 0200 in the morning, and the dots are 4 13/73" apart.

This is another one of my tools from the print studio. I used it mostly when setting the registration marks on paper before printing multiple runs. Paper didn't have to be the exact same size, but I always had a perfect center. Now it is stored with the book tools.

photo adjustment

For the longest time I was frustrated with images that came out discolored. Especially the white ones. That crispy snow scene or drawing on white paper always ended up gray. This is the one click solution for those who can't or don't want to become involved in more complicated photo manipulation gymnastics.

First, to understand what causes the problem. The camera can only make two adjustments--how long the shutter is open and how wide the aperture opens. Of all the metering and measuring of color and brightness of a particular scene, in the end the camera can only accept one setting for shutter speed and one setting for aperture. It ends up being a game of assumptions and averages. The typical decent photo is assumed to have so much light and dark, which averages a certain amount of gray. To properly replicate this "classic" gray there is one setting for shutter and aperture. The computer in the camera is programmed to calculate the proper setting from its sensor readings of a scene. The game goes awry when a scene is not typical in color or light. In the case of much white, the camera only knows to strive for an average gray, which pushes the white scene into grayness. Light sources cause the same problem. Camera sensors read natural light as cool and light bulb light as warm, but the problem is that the camera doesn't know when it is encountering which kind of light. This is the reason there is daylight and tungsten (light bulb) type films, and digital cameras have settings for inside and outside shooting.

Try to use the camera's adjustments first and use photo editing software for clean up. Most photo programs have an auto adjustment feature, and this feature can solve the majority of problems with one or two clicks. In photoshop I think there is an auto levels, auto color, and auto contrast. In paintshop pro it is called one-step photo fix under the adjustment drop down menu. The above images are a before/after example of one click editing. Image on the top is rather warm because of incandescent lighting. The lower image has been edited and is a closer match to the wood's natural color and canvas backdrop. Now try these simple adjustments on your snow scenes, drawings on white, and objects sitting in front of light colored backdrops.

In a real hurry? Try using the camera's built in flash and see if you can live with the front-on lighting. Colors are usually accurate, because the camera is calibrated to the flash, so it knows what to expect.

library call number

I recently found that I have a library call number. Do a google search for this number:

N7433.4.B535 B66 2005

This is pretty cool. It's sort of permanent. This is a reason I am a strong advocate of participation. Get out and be seen.

Side note. They describe the work as "inaccessible." I lean more towards difficult, but accessible--potential.