New Garden Diary

At long last I've made up my garden diary for the coming season. I start a new diary at the beginning of September, the onset of our Spring. I use a couple of school exercise books. At first I was writing on loose pages, until I got around to stitching the sections together. In that form (upper left) I've been using it ever since. The stitching is loose to allow room for masses of photos and cuttings, but glue holds it firmly together.

As today started with a drizzly morning I decided to complete the job. First I finished the spine. Next I made up the case (upper right). Then the tricky job of casing in. This takes a bit of skill and I haven't been doing much bookbinding lately. You've got to get it straight the first time because once it is glued there's no going back. To make matters worse I'd already written in it so getting it up the right way was an extra thing to watch out for.

With the case glued to the endpapers the next step involves the press, which has to be as tight as possible. I need to use both hands and a foot to achieve this.

Finally, the book is removed and carefully opened to free any stuck pages and to get it moving freely. Whew! It's all straight and it opens flat.

For the covers I used a photo taken in my herb garden when the giant rhubarb and angelica were in flower, and on the back is a shot of the wildflower bed at the height of its blooming.

The bonefolder is a treasure. It was given to me by a friend whose brother had spent his working life working in a publisher's bindery in the days when all the books were handmade. The bone is very smooth and is etched with the name or initials of four different people. It looks pretty rough, but it feels good in the hand and it is very useful.