Eliza

Two labels adhered in the lower right corner of a scrapbook cover. The yellow label on top is the manufacturer. The cream label on the bottom is directions for gluing items into the scrapbook

How to operate a Scrap Book. #scrapbooking #bookconservation #conservationispy

A woman with long gray hair wearing a navy polka dot dress standing next to the Philly Phanatic

Going to see if he’ll share his paste recipe🤣#conservationispy

The front cover of a 19th century ledger. The leather is suede with blind tooled lines. Two repairs to the cover are visible.

My toned tissue & paste mend on the corner and an original mend top center. I can tell the original mend is contemporary with the binding because the tooling lines go across the break in the leather. #conservationispy #bookconservation #bookbinding #blindtooling

I’m not entirely satisfied with how my latest book treatment turned out. But I just looked at the before treatment photos and damn it was a mess. #bookconservationfeels #bookconservation #bookbinding #hoorayforprogress #halfleatherbinding

A brass hand tool used for gold tooling on leather. The shank is stamped Cooper & Fry Philadelphia.

Using a historic tool from the city where the book was printed! #goldtooling #finishingtool #phillyhistory #conservationispy

A handwritten recipe for iron gall ink written inside the back cover of a vellum bound book.

A recipe for iron gall ink. Written in the back of a commonplace book sometime between 1695-1720. #bookconservation #limpvellumbinding #conservationispy #irongallink

A woman’s head sitting at the edge of a table with a towel around the neck. Arranged to look like a detached head. The woman is making a silly face.

So many days of tape removal! #bookconservation #tapeisevil #conservationispy

Brass tools for hand lettering and gold tooling. They are on a bench next to practice leather with blind tooled title panels

Practice, practice, practice! #bookbinding #bookconservation #goldtooling #titlelabel

Work cocktail #glaire #goldtooling #bookbinding #bookconservation

When the Twin Rocker order comes in #bone #iykyk 🤣

A bound volume in the process of getting a new leather spine

Wish me luck. #conservationbinding #bookconservation #halfleather

In case you do not know yet, dear #skystorians, there's an online anthology called "Material Histories of Paper", with lots of open access texts and resources around the topic of the history of paper. Enjoy this:

www.livingbooksabouthistory.ch/en/book/hist...

#PaperHistory #BookHistory

Red leather goat hide being cut into rectangles with a scalpel and self healing cutting mat in the picture

Going right to the edge of the hide. #bookarts #offcuts #nowaste #conservationIspy

The Philadelphia Museum of Art lit with green floodlights in honor of the Eagles football team.

The Philadelphia Art Museum lit in honor of the Eagles! #gobirds #goEagles #superbowl2025 #SuperBowlLIX

A t-square aligned on a piece of binders board next to the tail of an unbound book.

When your book isn’t square. #conservationISpy #bookbinding #bookconservation #bigsigh

The Complete 'Round About Midnight At The Cafe Bohemia (Live)

Kenny Dorham is worth a listen open.spotify.com/album/5Ebfr9...

@sarahtaber.bsky.social eavesdropping on a conversation in a coffeeshop. Young man making some sort of pitch about apple picking machines. He dove into the process and discovered how complicated it is. And OMG the issues around stems!

I love the colors!😍 Are those crochet toys on the blanket next to him?

Did you say Frightened Rabbit? Love them!! Only saw them once, alas. Are you part of the FB groups?

Two skeins of embroidery floss. Two scraps of hemp twine. A piece of linen with a two-color, sewn-on endband. Two threaded needles

Usually #endbands are sewn directly onto a book at the head and tail. The book on my bench is mostly single plates- there’s no fold to sew through and anchor the thread. I’m sewing a “dummy” band on linen around a hemp core. I’ll glue the linen to the spine #bookconservation #conservationispy

A painting in a gold frame. The painting depicts a small green houseboat on a narrow river with trees close in on either side.

At the Barnes. The greens in this Monet make me think of Cy Twombly’s works at the Menil. Similar colors. Squiggly verticals?? Maybe if you squint? #barnesfoundation #barnescollection #monet #cytwombly

What is the first sweater? The pink one with the Lacey bit?

That is gorgeous!!!

Started a hat and didn’t love the cast on edge. Also, struggled with dandelion stitch that doesn’t really work with mohair. Time to frog. Any suggestions for a hat pattern with light fingering yarn? #frogit #frogging #hatpattern #lightfingeringyarn #manoscabrito

Green handled Fiskar scissors with a notation that reads Fabric Only followed by a drawing of a skull and crossed bones

Serious rule!☠️✂️ #fabricscissors #fabriconly

An oversized book block on a white workbench. Bar clamps are placed at the head and tail to create a sewing frame. The sewing is almost complete.

Bar clamps make a really handy sewing frame. #oversized #philadelphiamaps #citymaps #fireinsurance #wearegoingtoneedabiggerframe

A pile of circular knitting needles and a pink case of interchangeable needles lying on a multicolored rug.

I’ve been knitting for 20+ years. I have piles of 0,1,1.5,2 and 4 sized needles. But no 3’s. 🤣🤣🤣Because that is how crafting works #knittersrule #knitting #nosuchthingasafreepattern

I still drive a manual transmission! Remember how there used to be pre-sets on the radio in your car? you spun the dial to the station you wanted and pulled out the button to “set” it to that particular spot. You could get to know a person’s taste by going through the pre-sets on their car radio

A wood cut illustration of a crab and below it, two hermit crabs. Made by Matthiolo

Hermit crabs were also a popular crustacean back in the day. Matthioli 1544