I made this at PBI!

While at the Paper and Book Intensive at Ox-bow this past May, I took a workshop on the spring-back account book taught by Larry Yerkes. It was one of the best binding workshops I've ever taken. It was timed perfectly within one week, so that we were all able to complete our books, and even the final touch, the blind tooling. If you ever get to take a class with Larry, jump at the chance! He really knows his stuff. 

Our class was full of really amazing people. PBI is just more wonderful than I could ever express. 

This was the first half-leather binding I've ever done (before all of my leather experience had been full-leather). They each provide their own challenges, but in some ways I might say that half-leather is more difficult; particularly in the case of the corners. I was able to try an English paring knife made by Jeff Peachey for the first time, lent to me by Julie Leonard as I was in such a rush when packing (immediately post-finals) that I had left my Swiss knife at home. Surprisingly I really loved using it! Larry also taught me a new method for rounding and backing the spine, which included leaving much more space at the spine to leave room for the rounding. You can see how exaggerated the round is on this book because of the extra space. 

For the blind tooling I used my bone folder and a steel dot tool made by Shanna Leino (I'll post about her class later on). 

This is an image of the index that Larry taught us to make. Barb Korbel from the Newberry had a hand in perfecting the process. I can't wait to label each of these index pages and use them to organize my thoughts! 

The fantastic thing about this particular structure is that despite the thickness and general largeness of this book, the spring-back spine allows the book to open absolutely flat, every time. I am ridiculously in love with it, and the way it pops open is quite the crowd-pleaser. This book has been calling my name, and wants to be filled with my thoughts. I can't wait to fill it to the brim with my thesis notes.