(And no it wasn't Introduction to surgery without anesthetic...) Pictures to follow.
After he examined it and commented on how it was made I said "You know. I've looked at this book but never actually seen it". I then asked what the yellow bit at the end of the spine was.
He then told me about headbands. And what they were for. He showed me that this bible had a false headband, that looked like a headband but didn't actually do anything.Which is what he suspected my Peter Rabbit had.
(The latent embroiderer in me became a little bit entranced at this stage...)The David showed me a recent book he'd bound with headbands:
(note cover of 19th century bible in the background...)
I heard the story of his first press (and was sidetracked by the beautiful shelving above it!)
And then we started talking miniature (while drinking tea and eating Almond Fingers)
My trusty mini composition note book tells me that the blue book is a quarter bound with paper covers, 3 cm high. The green is full bound in book cloth and the red is full bound in book cloth with gold tooling.
(Please tell me that that is as meaningless to you as it is to me?)
(I blame the sugar high)
then he presses it on some goldleaf and then into the book:
He has other designs he could use, but they're all too big for this task...
(Pity, I really like this one!)
Which had the button jar lover in me raring to sort out.
(* Alas, for me now, only in full sunlight with eyes slightly crossed. When I recently gave up and visited an Optometrist he said my sight was 2% down from perfect. And I knew that that was the difference between reading teeny tiny script with ease and having to do the crossed-eyes-angle-towards-the-light-dance)
I've had the same swap partner for two recent swaps and knew she loved licorice. The first time I sent a package it was a range of black and white treasure and a single bag of licorice. Well that got such rave reviews that this past swap I just sent her a box of whatever brands of licorice I could find that I thought she might like (lots of black, no white: so technically I failed at my own swap parameters.)
(Which they'll even cut to length for me!) Unexpected flooring options:
(I think I like the first one better, after originally getting excited about the second option)
3. A studio visit to David Hodges who is shrinking to the challenge of getting his books down to miniature size:
(more photos soon)
I suspect it'll take about a year before I pluck up the courage to take it off the auto setting and ten years before I really know how to use it.
And the winner is Rebecca! Forgive me for not posting the usual image of the random generator result, but I haven't worked out how to convert it to an image without Photoshop on this computer. I saved a screen dump to word, though, if anyone needs proof ;-)
(don't they look like delicious berries you could just pop into your mouth?) 
Meanwhile, back in my creative space, I've cleaned off the workbench and visited Eckersley's for some heavyweight screenboard and a roll of cloth tape. May the building begin!
Of course it makes me wonder how kids "play libraries" these days. Can you get little toy scanning tools that make beeping noises when you press a button?
maybe I should make some more of these...
As I suspected, removing the petrol pumps from the front was an easy job
and I removed the horrible, clunky, over scaled stairs with a little more persuasion (involving a kitchen knife and a hefty, well placed, kick!)
I wiped the house down and cleaned the mess and sticker off the balcony
then removed the heart stickers from the side (they came off easily so I thought I might keep them for a future project...)
Next I enlisted the ever helpful Wendy to check scale
I already knew the doorways would have to be enlarged to bring them to scale
and I'll either have to cover up the side windows or turn them into a feature by cutting another identical one above this one.
I suspected I had some corrugated iron buried somewhere, but had forgotten about the fretwork bookmarks I'd picked up in Singapore: 
I was tempted to buy commercial french doors for the doorway to the balcony but am thinking it'd be more fun to do the whole thing on a shoestring to match the cost of the building...
Which Wendy decided looked like giant popcorn, and could be quite fun.
She was more impressed with some work Jo had done on laminate samples, and started waxing eloquently about one of the pieces...
We sent Jo home with a copy of The Secrets of the Dolls' House Makers for inspiration and look forward to seeing what she comes up with...
(good to see boys have stashes too..)
then turns it into a cylindrical shape.
He starts shaping the bowl, outside...
and inside...
Then it's time to shape the base of the bowl:
(back to the inside)
before checking for depth:
A final polish of the outside,
and he releases the almost finished bowl from the original block.
(Well almost!)
Before the bowl is completely released it has to be polished. For this Robert uses automotive products. He told me what they are but I can only remember that at one stage he uses Turtle Wax.... (sorry!). And cotton swabs.
He then uses one of his many Dremels to buff the bottom of the bowl flat. 
And it's done.
Now, if you think this is the most wonderful thing you've ever seen:
and would like to own it...
this may be your lucky day, as Robert has offered to give this bowl away!
