Episode 136: Handy Yotsume Toji

My hardy computer crashed and I was forced... Forced, mind you... to case in some books. Which I didn't do. However, I did make two yotsume tori (四つ目綴じ) aka Japanese stab binding books of about 20 pages each. Actually, they were the same book slightly different. Both were photos of hands. Hands of artists, engineers, students, and company employees with a bit about each person. The first one was in black and white while the second one had some color added. The first one was also printed on nice, thick paper so the image didn't bleed through to the other side. Just as it should be. The second one, the color-enhanced one, was printed on less than quality paper but it was more for practice than producing a real book. Real?

This is a bit of the book ~ a bookbinder's hand with, of course, a bookbinder's hand holding the book open. It has about 18 other photos of 18 other peoples' hands. Some good shots, some not so good but sufficient. All taken with my handy iPad mini in, usually, the artist's studio. Very interesting artists, too. And engineers. 

The only problem was getting the photos on the page so that the binding didn't overlap on the photos. Successfully arranged. And putting in the corner pieces which were too big but we learn as we go, eh? And getting the photos in the first place. Actually, that wasn't so hard. I just had to meet the artists and ask if I could take their hands. Hmm. They were all happy to oblige.