Well, yes I giftwrapped 2 bricks, but before I get to that let me say that despite my long silence on this blog I have not dropped off the face of the earth, nor have I been sick. I’ve just been “chasing squirrels.” I did a lot of paintings before the art show in March and then I worked on a practice box with a puffin inlay. I’m about to start the real box which I’m going to donate to Adventure Canada for their onboard auction this fall. Next, I got interested in book binding again and everything else went out the window. After all these years I’ve come to accept that’s the way I roll: all in on one thing and then all in on the next. Another reason for the lack of posts is that I plan to blog about our holidays this year and I know that will give me plenty of content; therefore I haven’t worried about not meeting my self-imposed quota of 24 posts this year.
So, here I am writing about gift wrapping bricks. The bricks have sentimental value because they came from the high school I attended. During the winter ,as the high school was being demolished, workers made a pile of bricks for people to take. I took a few, for me and others who wanted them. So what does one do with bricks?
One of the challenges with bookbinding is keeping things flat while they dry. Boards and papers tend to warp when you put glue on them. Seldom do I leave the cardboard covers in their original state. Some covers I make from book board which is an uninteresting grey, and others I repurpose from things like cereal boxes which may be colourful but not in the way I want. I usually glue decorative paper or cloth to the boards that will be the covers using, white glue or flour and water paste.
Regardless of which sticky stuff I use, there’s a lot of moisture involved so to keep the covers somewhat flat (some have minds of their own and refuse to stay flat no matter what) I put pieces of waxed paper on either side of them, followed by layers of newspaper to absorb some of the moisture. Then I place the book covers between a couple of pieces of shelving from our old kitchen. These are great because they have melamine on them so if glue gets on them it doesn’t stick. In order to weigh them down I use the bricks. I let them sit overnight and in the morning they should be dry. If they aren’t I remove the waxed paper and replace the damp newspaper with dry stuff. By then enough moisture has come out that they will no longer stick to the newsprint. Then back they go under the bricks.
The bricks have a few dings on the corners and edges and they tend to leave dust and sand behind them. This weekend I finally got around to doing something about that. I cut up a gift bag and wrapped the bricks. Now when I put them down they won’t leave grit behind. I’d like to say I came up with the idea but I didn’t. It’s been around for a long time as far as I can determine. Now I have better bookbinding tools and keepsakes all wrapped into one. I always like it when objects can serve more than one purpose.
