The Season of Level Spirits

spirit level is a book I've been thinking about since I first started binding three-and-a-half years ago: there's a scribbled note in my thought-binder to do something about Sunshine Village, where I took the photograph that forms the inside spread (below).

If that picture looks familiar, it's because it also showed up previously in this blog entry.



Like much of my work, I am struck by a random concept and a rough idea of what I want the finished project to resemble, and move along from there: this book was no exception.

Contributing to its completion, certainly, was the two weeks I spent in the wilds of northeastern Pennsylvania with Don Rash this past spring: I gained the confidence to experiment with more materials (in this case, using leather for the cover), and the competence to get it right (um, well, mostly and eventually!).



Inside the back cover, with marbled endpapers I made at Don's.

As with most of my projects, once I "finish" them, I see their problems (well, they are my problems) and know if I built another one, what I would change and, at least in my opinion, "do better": this one is no exception, although the alterations would be minimal. The biggest change, and one that I might yet implement, is to make it much wider: I barely used half of the panorama photograph in the interior.

That idea will get some serious consideration over the holiday season, but for now, it's time to clean off the cluttered end of the dining room table, and put the tree up tomorrow. For once, it actually feels like Christmas here this year, with all the snow and ccccccccccccold we've had lately.