Raw materials — elk bone & needles — (left) shaped into bone folders (right)Last month Conservation Technician Bill Voss served as a Studio Assistant to instructor Shanna Leino, during a two week class at the Penland School of Crafts on Tool Making for Book Arts. Shanna is a well known tool maker and alumna of the UI Center for the Book, whose tools and binding models are featured in the Model Bookbinding Collection housed in the Conservation Lab. Projects covered during the class included making bone folders, awls, punches, leather pairing knives and bamboo tools.Awl and punch using Ipe wood, steel rod, brass tubeLeather pairing knives from hacksaw bladesHeras — Japanese paper mending tools from bamboo (left)Tweezers from bamboo
Giselle taught me how to use a Japanese hole punch when I worked in Preservation. I’m not ashamed to admit my crush on that hole punch…