Printing and Cutting and Everything Else: An Update

June 30th is now a mere 15 days away and I, admittedly am no where near prepared for the launch of my website. Between trigeminal neuralgia flare ups, babysitting, working, and just dealing with the general wares and tears of life I am quite behind. Here's the dealio:

I have destroyed two prints of TWO WHOLE BOOKS that failed due to my inability to get a flush cut on all sides. I've become really meticulous about this to the point where I have bought 6 paper cutters in search of THE ONE, that is going to cut me a beautiful book. I think I might've found it. It was a whopping 270 dollars and, ninety-nine cents and is scheduled to come some time this week, hopefully before my birthday so I can get to work while I'm still on vacation. But let me tell you, this paper cutter is beautiful! Or at least so I hope, I have watched countless videos on it and everyone has had such lovely things to say about it! And, I'm crossing my fingers too, because I'm tired of my book looking like this:

That said, I finally got the beautiful flush, fresh cuts that I've been pining for. I'll upload a picture tomorrow of the finished cuts so that I can show you what I mean once my finger is feeling a little better. It's currently throbbing right now....

Like I was saying before it is challenging to maneuver, and very difficult to gauge where to cut, but I'm finally developing a system that has proved fruitful, until I cut my finger that is....Here's a quick snippet of what it's like to work this thing:

But, I've come a long way though since that first blog post back in October when I was still figuring out what paper to use, and there's still a bit of a ways to go as I near the end of this project. Should everything go well, I'll be able to add two books to my inventory, and that folks is pretty exciting stuff.

Until tomorrow!!

June 17, 2025

Hello Again Peoples! So as promised today is the day I show you guys what the book looks like in it's perfected form! Or semi perfected form. As you'll see in the video, there's one piece that's a little imperfect but overall I'm super proud of it! And so without further delay here is the video I promised from yesterday!

June 16, 2025

It came! My HFS paper cutter finally came and it cuts wonderfully!! It does come with a bit of a learning curve though as it is very difficult to assess where to align my pages to the blade in order to get the cut that I want so we'll have to keep working on that. Also, I was a little too hyper focused and managed to slice through my finger in the process. So I've been cut off for the night (literally and figuratively) as I've been put on a time out sorts until tomorrow. You see what had happened was in my quest for perfect alignment, I neglected to push the blade all the way back and the thing kinda just sliced me. Rude. But, this thing is a whopping 24x26 inch gadget so I really do need to be a little bit more careful.

So as it turns out the problem area we saw in the video was not the glue but indeed a piece of paper that is sticking out so I just sanded it down. SHHHHHH! It's fine, it's fine, we're good. I'm beginning to think that my blade is not aligned which is what I'm assuming is causing some of the trouble I've been experiencing. That, or I am not compatible with sharp objects, clearly. I've bought 6 paper cutters already and have yet to find "the one" if you know what I mean. It is a little daunting though especially since the process to adjust the blades is an incredibly involved process and despite having watched the tutorial on youtube video, I was still very much confused as to how to follow along. I didn't even attempt it. I think I ended up taking a nap or something...or eating cookies.

Nonetheless, that's one book down, and nine more to go. I learned a lot from this first go at bookbinding and bookmaking. For one thing, I learned just how important the bleeds are, and will be sure to heed those rules when making my next book. Though frustrating now, all of these hiccups will serve as learning tools and reminders for next time.

June 18, 2025

Okay, so I have had enough. I said I wasn't going to do it, but I cracked open the fence, and I am going to realign the blade. I don't even have the proper tools to loosen the bolts but, through sheer determination I used some of the larger boxer wrenches that were hanging about the place and managed to loosen the top bolt.

And just with that minor adjustment the blade is already proving to be a bit easier to manage. Remember how I told you that it was difficult to gauge where the blade was going to line up with the trim lines I printed on my pages? Well, I was able to half implement the technique that I learned from another youtube video I watched instructing viewers to measure the area they'd like to keep on the text block and then transferring those measurements to the paper cutter, to cut the text block accurately. The measurement I got on my test piece of paper was about 6 and 7/16 inches; I then set the width on the paper cutter to the same length and with the blade semi adjusted, after having toggled with the top bolt, I succeeded in getting the blade to line up more accurately!! The only thing that remains is to loosen the bottom bolt now. However, to do so, I have to head to the hardware store to purchase some sort of wrench that goes over the bolt so that I can twist it. Apparently a boxer wrench will not suffice for this sort of operation and so off to the hardware store I go. Then of course, today is my birthday so maybe I shouldn't spend the whole day working? But, I'M A NAJWA! So to heck with it!

Hmm.... I have to think about that though as it currently 12:26am on the eve of my birthday and instead of sleeping I'm here typing this blog post. But fret not!! One day, I really will treat myself for my birthday but right now I got dreams and if I want to make those dreams happen I really have to work at this like ants trying to bring a large piece of a donut back to the colony. Okay okay so it's not my best metaphor. Cut me some slack. it's late and I have been working at this all day, and it's MY BIRTHDAY!!

More to the point though, through my efforts, I've succeeded in printing yet another book! Looking forward to cutting it, with more ease, tomorrow or the day after that since you know today is my birthday. But I kinda know myself and I most likely will be back at it again later today, on my birthday, with those purple house slippers.

Until next time!