I am struck by the idea of 'do good work' mainly because I so familiar with my 'bad' work which moves to 'bad' to 'awful' to 'dreadful' and it goes in to the bin. I know why it's 'bad' all to well. The measurements are 'out' by 1 - 2 mm, the cutting out is a bit 'crude' the effect is a bit 'rustic' the colours are 'wrong', the boards are too 'thick' the thread is too 'thin', the paper is 'nasty'.
I am fortunate in that I have done 'good work' the bookbinding gods are smiling down at me. The book is true, the colours are in harmony, the cut outs are smooth, the end papers are amazing, the size is intimate and the book is tactile. I also got paid money.
So leaving the money aside for the past couple of months I have been at my bench and trashing materials and in a really fundamental way I am doing what I usually do. I am making books that WILL FAIL and WILL NOT BE GOOD and this will reinforce the the identified patient.
What I am now going to focus and to recreate the 'good' books and introduce the changes I need to make.
At the start of this I thought that if I make the books with only 'natural' materials and 'dull' colours but that just starts to annoy me.
I ran out of weight and colour of linen thread I was using and I used a waxed polyester braided thread instead and the book practically sewed it's self up, it was a joy to use and pleased me greatly. It was a better book for it.
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