And who, you ask, has been given the task of guiding me through training process? A Bodhisattva named Leslie Long. Quite possibly the gentlest soul I've ever encountered. Although, from what I've gathered, she's a thrill-seeking trouble-maker, too [I kid]. Why, oh, why don't I have a picture of us together?? It was a whirlwind couple of weeks.
Here are some before/after photos of my work:
LINED RECASE
NEW CASE
GROUP SHOT!
We had an excellent time together, running through the manual for general collections care/treatments. I learned a couple of entirely new repairs, and many new approaches to familiar processes such as recasing. I also had the chance to catch the AIC presentations of a few LC folks during the last week. We even cooked up some susu together!
Susu is a Japanese word I've heard/seen translated variously as "dirty water" or "soot". If you're not familiar with it, it's a thick goo made by boiling old acidic paper and boards. Once the water turns a mucky-tea brown, strain out the paper and board bits and reserve the liquid. Slowly simmer and reduce. If you've ever made soap, you know about the term "trace". Once the liquid is nearly gone, just a layer at the bottom, it will thicken. It's critical to watch the pot at this time and keep running the spatula along the bottom until it reaches a "trace" of sorts. Basically, it will be gooey enough that it won't just swish around. You can see the bottom of the pot for a few moments before it recombines. That's when it's ready! Cool it off for a short while--not too long or you can't get it out of the pot. Then pour it into whatever you're going to keep it in. Empty watercolor trays or little glass vials work well. It lasts for ages, so you might only ever make it once [for yourself, anyway].
As with many professions, conservators tend to be taught certain dogma about what they do and they hold fast to it with the conviction of any ordained priest of the cloth. One such set of beliefs concerns the proper preparation of paste. Paste is just wheat starch and water, but, my, what a glut of ideologies surround its manufacture. Proportion, cooking implements, consistency--all variations upon a theme. But we may as well argue the merits of the many branches of Protestantism. Mention microwave cooking to some conservators and they may very well recoil in horror and declare you a blasphemer!
I hold no such hard and fast convictions, as yet. Perhaps, someday, I will be converted to one edict or another. I will stand outside the escalators of metro stations with a hand painted board proclaiming the evils of Paste-Made-by-Unclean-Hands or whatever. Honestly, I'm more interested in eating it.
In Tunisia, there's a snack-cum-breakfast food called aseeda. It's basically flour and water. But there are many varieties made throughout the Maghreb region, the Gulf, even Sudan has it's own take on it. My omi makes it almost exactly how paste is made. It's just a stiff wheat paste-porridge. We scoop some on a spoon, dip it in melted butter and then into a dish of sugar. Yum!!
Maybe that's why I'm hungry all the time when I'm binding books?
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