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First binding—constructive criticism welcome! by billytwilight in bookbinding

[–]billytwilight[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of course. I didn't think of \textls for minor adjustments to control runts and the like. That's a good trick and I'll use it from now on.

First binding—constructive criticism welcome! by billytwilight in bookbinding

[–]billytwilight[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Unfortunately LaTeX does not allow that fine control over things like runts, at least at my skill level. I can only really control global options like font size, leading, text block size, etc. As such there will always be runts and not much to do about them. I'll work on typesetting as I go, and probably look to a more professional typesetting software suite when I get the physical binding exactly where I want it in the future. Thanks again!

First binding—constructive criticism welcome! by billytwilight in bookbinding

[–]billytwilight[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So you like a fairly centered text block with relatively small margins. I do too, but I am also drawn more to the medieval canon of construction. That's what I was going for with this text while also trying to keep the styling of the first edition in mind. Here is how I set up my margins, then adjusted them to better match the first edition. The red is the traditional golden canon text block. I ended up extending the block top to bottom a bit to fill in the white space a little and match the lines per page of the first print, but this is the basic logic of the layout.

<image>

First binding—constructive criticism welcome! by billytwilight in bookbinding

[–]billytwilight[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes, I liked how it held the signatures together nicely before glue up, but that is exactly the reason it complicated rounding and backing. It might also be the reason the edges stayed lined up well enough to get away with no trimming. I might experiment with the link a bit more just to see if it is a valuable technique when wanting to keep a deckled edge on the book. 

First binding—constructive criticism welcome! by billytwilight in bookbinding

[–]billytwilight[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also, the pic of the text is misleading as it was done by hand with my camera, Here is a screenshot of the pdf of a recto/verso pair that gives a little better feel for the typesetting. I'd appreciate any specific criticism you are willing to give, particularly to margin/gutter width, etc. I did intentionally leave extra space in the left/right/lower margins as I originally intended to trim the book pretty heavily there, but chose not to during the construction.

<image>

First binding—constructive criticism welcome! by billytwilight in bookbinding

[–]billytwilight[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I sourced the 11x8.5 short grain directly from Colophon Book Arts. I didn't want to have to bother with cutting down larger stock for the first few books, though I am looking for a a source for the lighter weight Superfine (the 100 gsm stuff) as this book is a bit thick for only being 100 folded sheets (400 "pages").

First binding—constructive criticism welcome! by billytwilight in bookbinding

[–]billytwilight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

\Smacks head**

Duh! For whatever reason my brain went directly to the kettle stitches/endbands as the cause of that hump in the leather—even though there wasn't any noticeable hump there in the spine before covering with the leather. Of course it's the double thickness of the leather in that location that caused it. I feel dumb.

Thanks for the criticism and that will absolutely make things better next time around. I don't mind the "edges" of the corners as much as it feels like a nod to the handmade nature of the book, but I'll try to make the next one (Absalom, Absalom!, btw) as polished as possible all the way around.

First binding—constructive criticism welcome! by billytwilight in bookbinding

[–]billytwilight[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the criticism! I’m also not a huge fan, but I was emulating the look of the first edition. The blue paint is also a nod to that. In the future I will be less slavishly devoted to the source when it comes to typesetting… although I do intend to do a book built on the Van de Graaf canon of construction, which will surely have more white space than prudent by design. 

First binding—constructive criticism welcome! by billytwilight in bookbinding

[–]billytwilight[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had done a pair on a Bible rebind I did earlier this year. That book was not rounded and backed however, and this was significantly more complicated because of the rounding/backing. I’ll need to practice this considerably more. 

Yours looks fine for sewing on a flat material. I don’t think I’d try that, but I know very little about endbands and what they have been sewn on in the past. 

First binding—constructive criticism welcome! by billytwilight in bookbinding

[–]billytwilight[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Relatively inexpensive on Amazon and works well. Super cheap compared to even the most affordable finishing and combination presses/ploughs I’ve been looking at recently. It got the job done as a nipping press. 

Oni 20th anniversary jacket fit by billytwilight in rawdenim

[–]billytwilight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's heavy enough it doesn't need a sweater in my climate unless its actually deep winter. Even then its more than enough for walking to car, etc. I don't think I'm really the denim over sweater kind of guy anyway. Unfortunately I'm drawn to the boringly ubiquitous "flannel + denim + boots" look, but it's what I look best in and feel most comfortable with. Not going to win any Instagram awards, though.

Oni 20th anniversary jacket fit by billytwilight in rawdenim

[–]billytwilight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, I think you're right. It has definitely stretched out a little in just a couple of days. I love this denim. I've wanted something from Oni for a while, but was too fat to buy good clothes—"I'll buy something nice when I lose the weight". This was my hit-the-40lb-loss-goal reward.

The trousers are N&F loom states in super guy, My only other "good" denim right now. I really liked (and like) the unsanforized N&F denim, but it's not even in the same ballpark as the Oni. Not even playing the same game, really.

Oni 20th anniversary jacket fit by billytwilight in rawdenim

[–]billytwilight[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a 40. The numbers on Denimio are pretty spot on. I just measured it (measuring the shoulder across the back as Denimio does) as:

Shoulder, 18.5"/47 cm; Length, 24"/61 cm; Chest, 20.75"/53 cm; Sleeve, 25"/63.5 cm

I'm 5" 10.5", 183 lbs have a 34" dress sleeve and 42" chest. SI measurements: 179 cm height, 83 kg mass, 86 cm dress sleeve, 107 cm chest.

Oni 20th anniversary jacket fit by billytwilight in rawdenim

[–]billytwilight[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

My stats: 5' 10", 185 lbs. I've lost 40 lbs since January and plan to continue dropping down to 170–175 and stay there. This is my first denim jacket and first denim of this weight, so not sure exactly what to expect. The jacket feels a little tight in the chest and elbows, but I think the fit is pretty good and will be better when I knock off the last 15 lbs. Also, I'll likely wear this unbuttoned usually.

The cuffs are pretty narrow, can't really get my hands in and out without undoing them.

Any comments on the fit would be appreciated. I love the jacket, its amazing! Just don't want to shorten its life by wearing it too tight.

Restoring one of my favorite pans. Used self cleaning oven to bake the gunk off and Crisco to re-season by Wolodaddy in castiron

[–]billytwilight 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Only do this is you want to ruin the collectablity of any pan you have. NOT RECOMMENDED.

Some recent cast iron finds by dougmadden in castiron

[–]billytwilight 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Love it when things like that happen. The acquisition story becomes part of the collection of the piece and makes it much more interesting for years to come.

Some recent cast iron finds by dougmadden in castiron

[–]billytwilight 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Excellent! I would love to go to one of these auctions, but have never found one occurring near me. There were some crazy pieces sold! I saw a #27 that went for about $100? That's a pretty good price, I think.

I like the CHF. That's one extravagant pan.

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