In addition to full-time work, full-time study and a busy social calendar, I’ve spent the last several Thursday evenings doing a bookbinding class at our local TAFE. Last Thursday was the final class, meaning I could finally finish my projects and take them home (and to work, to show off a little bit). I was inspired to take the class by the falling-apart books I handle every day at work; I badly wanted to know how to fix them but realised that bookbinding and book repair is ideally taught in person, not on the internet. (I also felt I could do with some kind of practical hobby.) I enrolled in the class off my own bat and was pleasantly surprised to find I was not the youngest person there!
I found the class fascinating, but very difficult. I am not naturally a ‘crafty’ person and found the teacher’s style of instruction at odds with my ideal methods of learning (i.e. she preferred to explain verbally whereas I learn much better from a book). I was a very slow learner and struggled to keep up, but managed to finish all three of the books we had set out to bind at the start of the term. Our teacher had a seemingly inexhaustible supply of patience (but I know I used up a fair bit!). I’m undecided as to whether I’ll re-enrol—it depends on a few other things that are up in the air at the moment. I’d like to think I would be a bit better as a returning student.
Later this week I’ll post more about the kinds of binding we did and the techniques we used—at this point I’m happy just to have finished!