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.