Measure twice…..

Many years ago, while living in Canada, I was fortunate to be introduced to the 

Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild. 

(CBBAG - lovingly pronounced Cabbage)

I'm reminded as I work today of the many courses I took there during the five years
I called Toronto home.

I recall at the core, CBBAG was a very serious group. I often sat with librarians, who were there to learn book structure, not really the craft. Sometimes I found it tedious to sit through the lessons, which were detailed and academic.  At the time there were a prescribed set of courses a student had to take in order to advance through the levels.  At the outset of my instruction, I remember that all I really ever wanted to do was learn to make a 'box', best covered in leather.  If I remember correctly, back then, a student had to advance to level 3 before they could enroll in the 'box' class. What I learned by eventually taking the class, was that it was really was a book 'enclosure' class. I learned a lot as I progressed. I'm not sure how much I retained about book structure, but the discipline, patience and appreciation for precision I gained in those courses has stayed with me.

What I learned about the tools and process used in bookbinding has been invaluable. I duplicated the provided tool kit and developed expertise using them over the years.  I found the principles that were taught, not only apply to bookbinding, but to many other creative disciplines. 

Today I was thinking of one final class I took with Betsy Palmer Eldridge, in the basement of her grand old home in downtown Toronto.  I had finally accrued enough credit to enroll in her Leather Bindings course just before I moved back to Michigan.  Betsy is an esteemed Master Bookbinder, in the German Tradition, and VERY serious about teaching her craft.
 I felt, once again, over my head, as I was just there to learn a few things about working with leather…….
and was more than a bit intimidated by her VERY thorough and academic approach to tooling leather for bookbinding.   

But the one thing I learned from Betsy that I recall today as I set about hand stitching the second of two drapery panels for my front window…….

…..that I hold as a cheerful nugget of wisdom….

And I paraphrase……

"50% is about making it perfect 

and

50% is learning how to fix your mistakes"

What a relief!

to know that

(even) she made mistakes, 

(therefore mine were OK)

and that

(in fact)

 mistakes are part of the process