Yehuda Miklaf - Bookbinder

I gave a short intro on marblling to the conservation staff at the National Library and they ran with it. Here are some of the results:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.303072816405763.67525.125113754201671&type=1

It is more than 25 years since I did any serious marbling but last week I got back into it. I have given a couple of demos, but nothing worked well and I suspect that my materials were too old. So… I bought new colours and carageenan, turned off my phone and took a week off to try and marble again. It took a few days to get back into it but finally everything worked and I was very pleased.

I got a five-volume set to bind and had to make one slipcase for all five. They were the same height but not the same width or thickness, and the client wanted to be able to take them from the slipcase easily without damaging the top of the spine. He suggested a flap at the top, but I didn’t think that would work, so I made a case with five separate compartments and a gap on the foreedge but that didn’t work either.
I finally came up with this idea, which worked and which the client really liked. I made a platform that fit into the bottom of the slipcase and attached small blocks at the end to stop each book at the proper distance from the foreedge. There is a tab at the front of the platform to pull it out, bringing all the five volumes with it.
Does anyone have a better idea? I’d like to hear it.
Don’t comment on this blog. If you have a suggestion or comment, please send it directly to my e-mail address.

Last week I gave a demonstration of paper marbling in conjunction with the exhibition of my collection at our synagogue gallery. From my point of view it was a total flop. The colours woundn’t float and when they finally did they were all grainy. The paper I was using (which I bought locally) wouldn’t hold the colour although the Classic Laid that I got from Iris Nevins did much better. However, the crowd loved it! There were many WOWs every time I lifted a sheet.
After the demo I screened the Schleicher movie and everyone sat with eyes glued to the screen.
There were more than 60 people at the demo and many of them expressed an interest in taking a workshop.
I invited Zushia Dudin, the only person in Israel who marbles for a living, to display and sell his papers and he did a brisk business.

A first ever in Israel exhibition of marbled papers was mounted at Kehilat Yedidia synagogue. See details at http://yehudamiklaf.com/galleries/exhibits/

Hanan the magnificent appeared two and a half weeks ago of Friday evening at 9 pm. That means he was born on Shabbat and as they say “The righteous are born on the Sabbath Day”. We are very happy with him and hope that his parents will keep him. He is eating, sleeping, pooping and peeing (sometimes on me!); all the things that he is supposed to be doing. Tonight at her 4th birthday party, his sister Resheet baked a cake (imaginary) in his honour, which we thought was a wonderful gesture.

I think this was my fifth SoB conference and it was a very special event. First of all I was doing a presentation about the K118 binding structure, and this was the first time I had given a presentation. I was very nervous - couldn’t sleep the night before or eat on the day - but once it started and I saw all those friendly faces before me, I calmed down and it went very well. At least I had a lot of very positive comments both afterward and during the rest of the conference. I had agreat time hanging out with old friends and met some wonderful new ones. I was asked to write up the presentation for the journal, but someone beat me to it (bless her heart!) and wrote a detailed description of my presentation which will appear in the next issue of The Bookbinder. Hopefully it will someday make it onto the web and I won’t have to write that up either!

If you have never been to a bookbinding conference, I urge you to make the effort and come to a SoB conference. The people are lovely, the organization is tops, the places are always wonderful and I’ll buy you a drink.

The third highlight. After Wigan I visited my friend Simon Prais in Birmingham. When Simon visited me last year, his daughter Ronit came along and asked me, if she wrote a book, would I bind it. I agreed of course. This year they came again, and Ronit brought three copies of her book for me to bind, which I did.
When Simon heard that I was going to the SoB conference at Warwick University, he kindly invited me to visit him in Birmingham to see some of the wonderful samples of Hebrew printing that he has. I had a chance to see Ronit again and to meet the rest of his family and I spent a very pleasant evening with them. However, when it was time to retire, I found the most lovely ‘Thank You’ card next to my bed. It has a photo of Ronit holding one of my bindings of her book and a sweet message inside, complete with drawings of Ronit and her friends admiring my work.
The next morning Simon drove me over to the University and left me with the bookbinders.

When I mention to Brits that I’m going to Wigan, they usually say “For what?” Well, my eldest sister Kay lives there, with a number of her 11 children. But, to be honest, I have grown to like Wigan. I know it quite well - where the shops are and such.

This time I had a wonderful visit. My niece Marie and her husband Dave have taken over Kay’s house and are looking after her. They made some great improvements on the house (which are on-going) and the situation there is ideal. Of course, the amazing collection of wine which they have smuggled in from Spain is not to be sneezed at. We ate out (Indian) and Dave took me to St Helen’s to buy some materials for our beer-making club. Basically, it was a very nice visit. A pity that Adam was not with me - he loves Wigan and the relatives there love him.

People are asking me: “What was the highlight of your trip to England?” and the only answer I can give is that there were six highlights.
Here is the first: London.
I had the great pleasure of staying with my friends the Guthartzes (Gutharcoj in Esperanto). They are (in)famous for putting up out-of-town guests. Someone refered to their home as the Guthartz Arms. Unfortunately for me, Lindsey and Rachel were in Cornwall with Lindsey’s Mom so I didn’t see them, but I had a great time with Norm and Sarah. Norm and I tried to out-talk each other and I’m not sure who won. There’s nothing like being with another reconteur to keep you on your toes.

Which reminds me… my brother Ed once told a joke at his office:
“Did you hear that the Pope raised all the urinals in the Vatican?”
“Why?”
“Because he wanted to keep all the cardinals on their toes.”
Everyone chuckled but one woman, so Ed asked:
“I suppose that you don’t know what a urinal is.”
She replied: “How should I know - I’m not a Catholic!”

Back to the topic.
Norm, Sarah and I went out to a vegetarian Indian restaurant where we ate so much that Norm and I could barely move. We were invited out for Shabbat which was great - firstly to the neighbours next door Friday night and then to others for luch.
My niece Annette came up from Brighton for a visit and spent Shabbat afternoon with me.

I met up with our friend Aviela Barclay (http://www.soferet.com) and we went to the British Library together in search of the Great Omar. We didn’t locate it but had a good time and a two-pint lunch. Then I visited their new house.

I visited the V&A museum on my own and saw many wonderful things, including a marvellous hammered silver binding by James and Stuart Brockman.

I also had dinner with Dina Newman, the esperantist who wrote the report about Esperanto in Israel in which I appeared (see previous message). Dina is a LIVE esperantist and it is a pleasure talking, laughing and joking with her.

Then I was off to Wigan…