I had the opportunity to learn a 14th century binding style in a workshop Oct 23-26. Using signatures that were sewn over alum-tawed leather thongs, we made a cover for this binding from calfskin vellum. Vellum is a term that is often interchangeable with parchment, but usually parchment refers to goat/sheepskin and vellum to calfskin.... Continue reading “North Bennett Street School” ›
John S. Walker, who volunteered at ZSR from 2000-2003 in Preservation and passed away in 2005, has donated his books on Japan to the Z. Smith Reynolds Library. A few weeks back, I drove to his home and picked up many boxes of books. Charles Bombeld helped sort through and accept approximately 80 of these... Continue reading “John Walker Gift Books” ›
How does one go about sharpening the blade of a board shear? Well it is not a simple matter of pulling out your whetstone, oiling it up, and having at it! The blade of our board shear is 45” long and is curved. Not only that, there is a 4 foot long metal plate that... Continue reading “Board Shear Blade Sharpened” ›
On Saturday (yes, Saturday) March 24, I traveled to the Etherington Conservation Center in Brown Summit, NC for an Advanced Book Repair workshop sponsored by the NC Preservtion Consortium. The workshop was taught by two ECC conservators, Matt Johnson and Sally Key. These two knowledgeable people covered many topics for the 12 participants gathered that... Continue reading “Advanced Book Repair Workshop” ›