Rejoice, exult!

One of my most interesting projects lately was the repair of a copy of Bach's Christmas Oratorio. The full score belongs to my Mom, and has so for about 30 years now. And since every self-respecting church choir performs the Christmas Oratorio once a year, this piece of sheet music had definitely seen better times.

Purchasing a new copy was pretty much out of the question: After 30 years of singing Bach's tunes, my Mom had recorded such a wealth of notes and comments in the book, that it had become a nearly irreplaceable document.

So I gathered book loads of information on book repair and conservation, and got to work. After removing the old case and all glue residue with the help of wheat paste, I was able to separate the signatures.

The outer fold of each signature was torn or severely weakened in most of the gatherings; the rest of the signatures was in fairly good condition. I guarded the folds with strips of japanese paper. The strips aren't being cut, but torn wet, as the frayed edges blend into the pages better than a hard cut edge would.

After repairing all signatures I re-sewed the text block and made a new, stronger case for the precious piece.

I added new cream-colored endsheets to the text blook and cased in the book. Done! Rejoice! Exult!

More Before, During, and After pictures here.

Cozy in Geneva

We got stranded in Geneva on our way out to Germany, which actually turned out to be quite nice. Sure, it was cold and we didn't have our luggage, but we wandered the streets and drank vin chaude and enjoyed the adventure.

I saw these lovely knitted cup warmers in a store window. Such a cute idea, and the timing couldn't have been better: Just a few weeks ago I had decided to finally learn how to knit socks — in blatant defiance of my poor knitting skills and lack of patience. But see? Even if I never learn how to do more than the upper part of the sock, I can still turn it into one of these!

Happy New Year, may it be a cozy and creative one!