The Vespiary Book Binding & Book Conservation

Fixin’ books in the Wild West

Archive for April, 2009

tête-à-tête, n. - a private conversation or interview between two persons

While my hands may be busy binding books all day, my mind is left to its own devices.  Luckily, the web is sick with fascinating podcasts.  One series that I’ve been addicted to are the great interview podcasts conducted by the folks at the University of Alabama book arts program. It’s been very inspiring for [...]

sea-change, n. - a gradual transformation in which the form is retained but the substance is replaced

This weekend the roof came off.  We found 3 layers of shingles.  On the north facing side, the middle layer was painted white (for what reason, we cannot guess).  Pulling away some of the boards revealed groups of dead yellowjackets, crammed together to try to avoid their inevitable demise from Montana winters. Other removed boards [...]

sugarloaf, n. - a high conical hill

Wool is in the house! Well, at least on the property, now.  This past Saturday, I went to Sugar Loaf Mill in Hall, MT to pick up the wool insulation for the shed remodel. When we arrived, they were having a Spin-in, so not only did we get a chance to watch the carding machine [...]

flipperty-flopperty, adj. - loose, dangling.

The work on the shed is going along swimmingly.  At this point, all four legs of the treated lumber foundation/frame are down and in place.  Next project is to level out the floor and get to work on the roof.  Our contractor was so enamored with the wabi-sabi-ness of the outside eastern wall, that she [...]

bassalian, adj. - pertaining to the deep sea

Sue M. (aka itatemyswaeter) mashed up a WWII era poster recently to amusing effect.

Hmmm, I think I’d love a shirt with this on it…

occult, adj. - hidden from sight; concealed.

I love finding waste paper spine liners.  This one from a Japanese book that crossed my desk.

humus, n. - dark-brown substance which serves as a basis to the vegetable kingdom.

If you’ve been following my Twitter feed, you’ll know that I’m in the process of converting my old shed, previously used for pottery, into the new home of The Vespiary workshop.  We gathered all kinds of materials this past week: shingles, flooring, replacement studs, etc.  We’ll hopefully soon be bringing in some locally grown insulation [...]