This first photo is mostly for my friend B. Haro, whose kind comments and support of my bookbinding has been a great inspiration to me. Here we are running some tests on the Kwikprint Model 86. I kid you not, I did a sort of hopping/flailing happy dance after getting an impression right. Temperature and pressure are the kings of hot foil stamping, but you may as well give it up if you haven’t got the right machine. The Model 86 is a relic of the days when American goods were made to last. This thing probably hadn’t been fired up in a decade. We turned it on and it worked. The Model 86 is so good that the design has never been changed. And no, I am not being paid by Kwikprint to say these things. They are just that good and I am so very glad to have this one in my kitchen.

I love how you can just about see the brass plate reflected in the silver foil. Sadly, in this photo you can’t very well see the imprint that plate made. 350 degrees fahrenheit seemed to do it for the leather. On paper (we stamped book plates as well) it took at about 200. The result of all of this stamping and dancing was the final touch on The Book of Paramazda, a full leather bound edition made entirely by hand. Okay so I didn’t make the paper, but I cut and folded every sheet with scalpel and bone and that counts.

This is one of the best modern fairy tales I have read in a long time. I finished it over the weekend–I didn’t mean to, but I was pulled in so deeply that I couldn’t stop until the very last word. I wept through the latter half of this book, here at the kitchen table with a tissue in my hand, and all the while I sat in awe of Hoffman’s skills. I’ve always been in awe of her skill as a storyteller, but this book blows all the others away. I suppose part of that is because of how easily I found myself in the story. It was unsettling, how close it hit to home. But mostly it is because of the way Hoffman tells the tale. Not one extraneous word, not one unnecessary description, and woven all throughout, the fairy tale. I can’t say it any better than the reviewers already have. Please Alice, write another.

On the passing of Isaac Bonewits, 1949–2010, by his request.

Another stunning example of my inability to take a decent photo! It’s good enough for this purpose, as this is merely the first draft of Hal Duncan’s The Lucifer Cantos.

There is one structural change to be made in the final edition, and one cosmetic. I’m in the slow process of covering the boards now. This copy you’re looking at has passed the ‘fling against the wall’ test and is now resting quietly on the desk, where all it has to do is provide me with inspiration. I wanted these to be finished this month, but I think it’s going to be early next month because I’ve got some other deadlines to meet that can’t be missed.

Still, it’s something to look at in the meantime, and overall I’m very happy with the way these are turning out. More books is always a good thing.