Pilgrim Notebooks

14/12/2024

The Book of Tea, by Okakura Kakuzō, 1906. An aesthetic essay centred upon the art of preparing and serving tea — and the refinement of the many art forms that go into that practice.

These colours are sold out; but a new batch is coming off of the workbench in a few days time. Please message if you are interested in securing a copy from this final batch of 2024.

16/02/2023

It had been a while since a clean run of books had been possible, so I decided to film one of the processes.

Filming one's own work is always awkward - I seem to forget actions I've done a hundred times before. In this particular video, I was more concerned about the integrity of the process itself. This is the first part of building up a stiff end-paper - it is simply tipping on the end-paper with Ph neutral PVA. After working with wheat paste for several months, it felt like this process should require more careful positioning. But this is how I used to tip on card with PVA and it was never an issue. And that trust proved right. By the time the books were weighted for an hour I could see that each end paper had sealed up far better than I thought possible. That said, it helps to have a few things like the heavy blocks in the workshop. These ones were made especially from spotted gum by MS Wood.

16/02/2023

An evening at the craft. Learn to make your own notebooks using time-honoured techniques at our 90 minute workshop, hosted by Karma and Crow (https://karmaandcrow.com/pages/hard-gnoc-life).

Friday 24th February, 6 pm,
Karma and Crow, 251 Richmond Road, Richmond SA 5033

Book through the website at pilgrimnotebooks.com.au

23/09/2020

For those interested in notebooks, bullet-journaling, or digital minimalism.

https://www.pilgrimnotebooks.com.au/post/bullet-journaling-with-an-artisan

Phoebe Hunter is an artisan - practicing as Huntermade by Phoebe - and a recent collaborator in discussing the bullet-journal method and digitial miniamlism. She invited my answer some questions in an interview about that topic. You can also read Phoebe's questions and my answers below. The intervie...

23/08/2020

22/05/2020

The Lesser Pilgrim is a rare species. Almost aggressively simple, and close in design to my very first books. The covers are thick marine ply, the spine and end paper joints have linings of fabric, and the casing work is only a strip of unfinished denim.

This notebook remains one of my sentimental favourites for it’s two design ideas. The first is that it is direct in answering the challenge of being functional away from a desk. It actually exists to be used on the walking trails around the Cleland area, and the eyrie-like rocky spurs of the steeper hillsides there. The boards are expected to be banged and scuffed as they are placed down, until they are polished raw like old work tables. This usage will destroy many spines, so this one is sacrificial denim which can be replaced by scrap fabric whenever needed.

The second idea is that the pages are replaceable. The page block eventually fills up, but can then be cut out and either safely stored or covered in its own right. The spine of the page block remains in good condition, having been protected from abrasion and UV light by the denim. The boards can be re-bound into new books many times. The most well-used original Pilgrim is on its fourth generation, and still a long way from its last.

03/02/2020

I re-wrote this post on squared spines to better reflect the techniques used in bookbinding. Any aspect of bookbinding is an opportunity to delve into how the craft actually works, and the sorts of things a bookbinder must think about.

"In craft, it is difficult to conceive of - and harder to justify - processes which do not wholistcally add to the object."

Squared spines are common in publishing, often found on large books (think coffee-table books). This is because publishers like to use squared spines to title t

28/09/2019

A while back I tried a method of using bone folders as tensioning sticks, to tightly work the thread along the book as I sewed it up. I had just gotten the extra folders for running workshops, and was also looking for a way to stop the thread from tangling up as I sewed (that is where the thread has a tendency to twist, raveling around itself, and the twist can literally tie itself in knots as it's pulled through the holes).

Binder's note: I went on sewing like this, and was equally tight on the kettle stitch. The book wound up with too much tension, so much that achieving even the minimal rounding and backing of the spine was difficult. The tension was not evident on the pages as they opened up though, a testament to the balance of all-along sewing on cords. I went back to sewing with the sections held open as I go, and doing a tight job without obsessing over tightness.

27/08/2019

Planning the sewing positions for a new book size.

I draw up diagrams using my Waterman hemisphere fountain pen, filled with Robert Oster ink. For the vast majority of my writing I use the same 70 gsm recycled paper that fills my standard notebooks. It's one of the best low-gsm papers I know of for fountain pens. A small proporting of my work uses 118 gsm Mohawk paper, which is inside my regular bullet journal in the foreground. My other regular instrument is the steadler mechanical pencil, which I consider to be one of the best commodity products in stationery. I enjoy good quality wooden pencils, but prefer these refillable instruments to power out most of my work.

26/06/2019

Getting to know the materials is a strong current in any craft. One of my recent blog posts is about the narrative of materials entering into the making process. I believe that the interaction with materials is one of the main virtues handmade practices bring to us today, in a time where we are materially wealthy, yet also have diluted tactile interactions with objects.

Bookbinding is a craft rich in process and materials, grounded in ancient techniques done with the hands. The great bookbinder Douglas Cockerell emphasised that

08/04/2019

Why do we desire handmade things? Why do we seek the work of artisans even through the ages of industrialisation and technology? There is indeed a unique quality to handmade things that cannot be replicated. Book-craft was matured well before the industrial era, and that ancient core is still the basis of the bookbinder’s technique. But that is an esoteric view, and it is not why I make things by hand.

It is the craving for the genuine that drives us to look for handmade things. Just as we are less connected to the earth and natural cycles, we feel less connected to certain ways of doing things. There is a process: feeling and knowing each material, acknowledging their unique characteristics and origins in the living world, and then slowly, considerately bringing them together to make an object of integrity. It is a sincere experience. We cannot do this for everything right now, and perhaps we never will - I myself do not shy away from industrially made materials. But it is good that we still value handmade things as much as possible. I believe it is a mindful way of thinking, which guides us towards a meaningful and engaged world.

05/04/2019

From the development of the Georgian common place book to the pilgrim crew's notes on Middle-Earth family trees - few things go together like literature and notebooks.

In honour of the connection we are posting a feature book on weekends. This week's feature is 'In Praise of Shadows', by Junichiro Tanizaki.

Tanizaki's essay on Japanese aesthetics is essential reading for craftsmen, designers, architects, and anyone who pays heed to the objects and living places in their life. In Praise of Shadows is unmistakably the work of a writer, drifting with intellectual grace between personal experience and historical analysis; between critique and celebration. It is a credit to writer and also the English translators that such a distinctive style is captured so consistently.