My second visit to the American Academy of Bookbinding took place on July 3, 2022, just three weeks after the first.

The second course, Fundamentals of Half Leather Binding, was twice as long as the first. The days were much longer (usually 12+ hours) and the investment higher. During the plane ride home, I thought back to everything I learned from my instructor (Peter Geraty), my classmates and the binding process itself.

While there are many things I will share with you in future posts, this one lesson was more impactful for me than everything else combined:

Nearly all of your bookbinding mistakes are fixable

Peter Geraty is an incredible instructor. His patience and kindness in dealing with mistakes will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Growing up, I faced a lot of adversity for various reasons. It was hard, but it made me stronger. It also made me a “type A” self-critical perfectionist. I’m pretty sure Peter said “Hey…don’t be so hard on yourself” at least a dozen times over two weeks.

Can you relate?

My mistake

While I made a ton of errors throughout the class, one mistake was particularly bad.

In a half leather binding, the spine and four corners are covered with scraps of leather. These scraps need to be pared feather-thin on the edges. I was really nervous, because until this moment, I’d never touched a paring knife.

Truthfully, I’ve been scared to work with leather. I’m afraid I’ll ruin the hide and waste the animal’s sacrifice. It might sound dumb to some, but I cannot forget this leather hide was once a living, breathing animal.

Eventually, I took the plunge and started paring. I was careful, but those thin edges are difficult for even the most seasoned binder. To my utter horror, the sharp corner of the blade caught the thin hide and tore a hole about 2mm wide. I stared at the wound in disbelief, feeling the panic start in my belly and work its way up to my chest. I knew I couldn’t start over (not enough leather or time), so I totally freaked out.

After spinning in circles for five minutes wringing my hands, I decided to own the mistake and confess to Peter. I was prepared for him to scold me. His response was to shrug his shoulders and say, “It’s okay. Put it on anyway and we’ll deal with it.”

Wait, what?

The perfectionist in me recoiled at the thought. I gulped audibly and asked if I was about to be the “class example” of what not to do when paring leather. He just smiled and said, “We all make mistakes. The good news is 98% of those mistakes are fixable.”

Finding a fix

Maybe it was his calm demeanor or the knowing look in his eyes, but I decided to trust him. I covered the spine and the hole stretched larger, but Peter was true to his word. We dealt with it by cutting the leather back a little further than originally planned. My “half leather binding” quickly went from 50% to 35%.

The “new” cut line was not as thin as the original feathered edge, so I used a surgical scalpel to pare it down (on both sides) before the cover paper was added.

paring a half leather binding using a scalpel

Was it hard work? Yes.

Did it take extra time to do it? Yes.

Am I sad it happened? Nope.

Here is my final book in all its imperfect glory. As I run my hand over the cover, I feel only a smooth, flawless transition from leather to paper. To my utter surprise, we fixed it.

quarter or half leather bound binding book by misty mcintosh at the american academy of bookbinding

This mistake felt like the end of the world to me and yet it was somehow…fixable.

I now have a sense of confidence I’ve never felt before. My fear of making a mistake has greatly diminished because I know – and trust – that 98% of whatever I manage to muck up can be fixed. And if I do make one of those 2% “unfixable” mistakes, I’ll pat myself on the back because messing up that bad is its own kind of accomplishment!

Closing thought

Over the past two months, I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside fellow bookbinders who love this art form as much as I do. We are constantly surprised, excited and humbled by this art form’s uncanny ability to remind us that we only know a fraction of what is possible.

It can be as intimidating as it is inspiring, so I encourage you to keep moving forward anyway. Make mistakes as often as you can because there’s no ground to be gained in standing still.

Thanks so much for letting me share this with you today. I hope it was entertaining, if not helpful.

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Thank you for taking me along on your book making journey!

Misty