More Mistletoe

The mistletoe, which is abundant in most of the Hawthorn trees in the garden, continues to fascinate me.  The berries have gone from green to a transparent white now.  It is also interesting to see how the branches grow out in pairs and form really interesting patterns.  I really must get round to doing some sketching.

Wildlife in The Dell

Found this little chap near the stream when I was clearing up some of the branches and twigs that DH had lopped off and left.

He seemed unphased by my presence and I had time to go back into the house and get my camera and take some photographs.

He had better watch out or the owls, herons and other predators will make a tasty meal of him!!

These toadstools were a huge surprise one morning when Sox and I were having a little walk in the Dell.  There are quite a lot of them under the Hornbeam tree at the end of the Dell.  I am not going to attempt to eat any of them - they could be poisonous I suppose.  Even the mice have not nibbled them yet.

We do have some mice ... Sox brought his second one into the house recently.  It was tiny and was blind in one eye, which might account for how he managed to catch it.

Squirrels are still plaguing us to death.  Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall reckon you can eat them!!!!

Bookbinding with Fabric

Fabric and Bank Paper pasted to a piece of hardboard

One of the ladies at the bookbinding class I am going to very kindly offered to show me how to use fabric as a cover instead of paper or leather.

You have to use either paste made from flour and water or proper bookbinders paste NOT PVA.

You need a piece of paper larger than your fabric and it should be something like 50 gsm Bank Paper.  I managed to obtain a pad of Layout Paper that was just 45 gsm but it seems to have worked.

You lay the paper on a piece of hardboard which is larger than the paper.  You then paste the paper, going right over the edges onto the board to give it a frame.  Remove the paper and put it somewhere safe.

Now place your fabric face down on the hardboard inside the paste frame.  Paste the fabric well all over the back and again ensure some paste goes onto the board to form a border.  Once the fabric is well covered place the piece of pasted paper, paste side down, over the back of the fabric.  Smooth it out and leave it to dry for at least 24 hours.  The overlap helps to tighten the paper and smooth it out as it dries.  Once the paper and cloth have had time to dry properly, slip a kitchen knife under the edge and lift it off.  You now have a piece of paper backed cloth ready to bind a bookcover.

Bookbinding Class

This is my latest effort.  It is approximately A5 size and is covered with bookcloth in a lovely bright orange.  The end papers are maroon.  I stitched all the signatures together myself to make the inside of the book.  I am still not neat enough but getting there.  As usual with me there was something wrong with the finished book.  I had put too much PVA glue on the end papers and it has seeped through to the surface and marked them.

Bookbinding Class

These photos do not look very exciting, however, they are of the spine of my book.  The book is wedged in the bookbinding press and has got a wooden shaped board on either side of it.  I had been hammering it along the spine to get a rounded mushroom shape.  Its end papers had been glued in place prior to the hammering. Once hammered enough ... a piece of mull was stuck over the spine with about an inch overlap either side, followed by a strip of kraft paper (brown paper to you and me!) glued on top of that.

Next week I get to put the bookboard cover on and the bookcloth, which is a rather bright orange.

Autumn Leaves

Had to pop into Malvern on Friday for some more rings for the roman blinds I am making and the leaves in the park were wonderful.  This view is taken from close the swimming pool side of the lake, looking towards the band stand with the Malvern Hills behind.  The Malvern Theatre is hidden behind the trees to the right.

I woke this morning to find that the young hedgehog (who is currently living in our hedgehog box) had managed to get itself shut in the squirrel trap.  Now released, fed and back in his cosy home for his winter snooze ... Z Z Z z z z z

Worcester Branch Meeting

Had a fantastic talk on Tuesday by Alison Holt.  She specialises in machine embroidery and her work is beautiful.  She is a very talented person. If you want to see some of her work follow this link  www.alisonholt.com

The announcement of a forthcoming competition by the Region has also got me really excited.  It is based on the 'Staffordshire Hoard', something I have a book about somewhere and have also seen in The British Museum.  Can't wait to find out what is required and how long we have got to produce it.

Saturday was the date of the Worcester branch 'Celebrity Lecture' given this year by Maggie Grey. It was really well attended and excellent.  I got such a surprise as I won one of Maggie's publications in the raffle.  Must find time to try out some of the techniques now.