Thursday

First, since my computer appears to be cooperating tonight, I thought I'd show you some pictures that will show a little of how my book will look eventually.

The red material is the leather I'm using, and the patterned paper will be the outside of one book that has a leather spine and corners, and the inside endpapers for the book that will have a full leather binding.

Then the other picture shows the edge decoration I've done so far. I've never had any success with anything remotely artistic, but I had a BALL painting these pages. I used a technique the teacher used in her demonstration -- mixing watercolor paint to match the color you wanted, and painting it on the surface, and then using saran wrap to dab other colors of water color on top to make designs.

Then there was a technique you used to burnish the paint, so it was glossy and so pretty. The picture doesn't show it well, but I'm just thrilled. When I got discouraged, I just kept going back and looking at it. :)

And for the discouraging aspect ...

The rounding and backing process I discussed yesterday? Well I had tried doing my second book on my own ... and I bungled it royally. I had a very gracious man step in and undo the damage I'd done, but it was an all day process, and took a great deal of his time. I'm thankful the book was salvageable, but it was certainly a knock to my confidence!

I got to the studio at 6:30 this morning, and got home at 6:00, and I was just worn out. Today and tomorrow are our "weekend" so we had the choice of either going in to work on our own, or taking some time off. I think tomorrow I'm going to take a bit of a break!

Saturday is a U of M football game, and I'm told it will be a zoo both around the hotel and the area of the studio. Should be an interesting (if not entirely pleasant) experience!

We'll see if I end up back at the studio tomorrow after all. While I AM tired, I also LOVE working on this stuff, and I might end up being drawn back tomorrow despite my thoughts tonight. :)