This summer I finished this commissioned piece: a binding for a travelogue detailing an American couple's adventures while living in Brussels for a time. The book is housed in a secret Belgian binding, with the boards covered in Belgian flax paper.

In a secret Belgian binding the cover is made by weaving thread over and under discrete spine and cover pieces to join them into a single unit, and then the text block is sewn to the cover. A feature of the secret Belgian binding is that you can open the front cover all the way around to the back (or the back all the way around to the front); it works like a magic wallet.

I'm teaching a section of Bookbinding I at The Center for Book Arts next week (Oct 5-9) and there are some slots available. Come join us and learn or review bookbinding fundamentals! Pictured are the books we create in the class: a pamphlet, an historical structure, an album, a flatback journal and a rounded and backed book. This class is a prerequisite for many of the other bookbinding classes at the Center.

I realized sometime over the last year that I'd outgrown my studio. A famous local storage company has moved in up the street so there's a new home for all those things I don't need on a regular basis. Now I have more room to create!

The other weekend I took a workshop at The Center for Book Arts with Sylvia Alotta, who led us in finishing a trio of bindery tools. Pictured from the left are a piercing cradle, a finishing press and a sewing frame. All the tools were designed by Ms. Alotta, who has a background in industrial design.

I'm most excited about the finishing press, which will make hand sewing endbands a much more comfortable task. I had been making do with a portable nipping press (which you can see behind the sewing frame, with rubber balls at the end of threaded rods) turned on its side.

I have a section of Bookbinding I coming up at The Center for Book Arts here in NYC, meeting Monday nights from April 20 - June 29. Join us and learn or review bookbinding fundamentals this spring.


Come see what this is all about.

Late this summer I had the honor and thrill of lending a bone folder-wielding hand to Sir Paul McCartney's latest project, executing models of various concepts dreamed up by Norman Hathaway for the CD packaging of The Fireman's Electric Arguments, including a binding with an exposed spine and thread tails left long.

The music fan in me is enjoying this album, particularly the tracks "Sing the Changes" and "Don't Stop Running."

The City Quilter, an indispensable partner in my art making, celebrated its 10th anniversary with a commemorative quilt, to which I contributed this log cabin block featuring the storefront - teeny tiny quilts and bolts of fabric and all. The quilt has just been completed and is currently on display in the shop in Manhattan and on The City Quilter's web site.