I spent Saturday sorting out the stash

 Continuing on from yesterday's effort with the paper stash, today I got stuck into the rest of the contents of the drawers on my work desk: all paper stash, sorted into various sub categories including books, magazines, movie posters, plate designs, tiles and pictures in various sizes from super big to teeny tiny.

I finished the day with one fewer set of drawers up there (down from 3 to 2), a lot of recycling, a studio floor that looks like this:

and a rather large feeling of accomplishment, not just because of the culling of the stash but because I have now touched, assessed and dealt with every bit of paper that was in there (plus several art auction catalogues that I'd been given ages ago, and a folder full of more pictures, now integrated into the drawers as well).

One of the treasures I fold was a bright blue envelope marked 'books':

And when I opened it, it brought back memories of how we used to create miniature books in the days before we had the internet, scanners or printers at home.

We'd pin book jackets from our collection to a notice board (or sometimes just blu tack them to a wall) then work out how far from the notice board we needed to stand to get a photo that contained the size book covers we needed, taking a couple of extra photos a step or 2 back and forward from the original spot just to be safe.

Then once the film was complete, we'd take it in for processing, and once we picked up the prints we'd check the measurements, chose the best option and cut the cover out to make the books.

Based on the flat this is, I guess these were taken in the very late 80s or early 90s. How much easier is it these days to create miniature books? A quick google search (or scan), some resizing in Word and bang you're done!

Which meant that once I documented the contents, the whole lot went in the bin.