NaCraMaMo day 1-6
Oct. 6th, 2019 11:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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nacramamoHi!
So here's my first week of doing this challenge. I really enjoyed it and got quite a lot done this week!
Day 1: bookbinding
I'm enrolled in a bookbinding programme. The classes are once a week, for a few years, and at the end you are officially a professional bookbinder. I've only just started this programme; last week was the third class. In the second class we practised sewing the bookblocks, and the homework was to finish it, so I did.
Day 2: bookbinding
This day I had the third bookbinding class. We glued the endpapers onto the bookblocks, aligned the signatures perfectly and glued the spine to make the signatures stay in place. I only managed to do one bookblock in class and did the second one at home. Here is the first one drying in my (also self-made!) book press.
Day 3: bookbinding
I glued the spine of the second bookblock once the first was dry. I took both bookblocks out of the press earlier today, so here they are! Next week in class I'll give them a cover.
Day 4: making laundry detergent
Last year I heard it's possible to make your own laundry detergent out of conkers/ horse chestnuts, so I was really curious and wanted to try it this year. I collected 160 conkers and set to work. To make the laundry detergent, you have to cut the conkers into small pieces and dehydrate them. Unfortunately, my oven is very small, so I could only do a handful of conkers at a time, which meant this work took absolutely forever. I did a batch almost every day this week and was heartily sick of it near the end.
Conkers are very hard, so the best way to get them into smaller pieces was to smash them with a hammer and put them in the blender. When that was done, I put them in the oven at a very low temperature for about 2,5 hours. They came out looking like the picture below.
Day 5: cooking
On day 5 I made vegetable broth. I've been making my own regularly for almost a year now and really like it! It's easy to do, just a bit time-consuming, and it's very satisfying to be using self-made broth in your cooking. For this batch, I used only leeks, onion, celery and carrot. I'll season it later, when I use it in a dish.
When the broth was finished, I filtered out the vegetables, separated the liquid into smaller batches and put those in the freezer. So whenever I need vegetable broth in the future, it will be right there.
Day 6: making laundry detergent
I did another batch of conkers and then my jar was full, so I was finally finished! I haven't tried the laundry detergent yet, but I will soon. To use it, you have to put a spoonful of the conker bits into water until it turns into a white, soapy liquid. Then you have to filter the conkers out and throw the liquid in your washing machine. Other people who've tried it said it worked really well, especially on lighter coloured clothes. I'm very curious!
So here's my first week of doing this challenge. I really enjoyed it and got quite a lot done this week!
Day 1: bookbinding
I'm enrolled in a bookbinding programme. The classes are once a week, for a few years, and at the end you are officially a professional bookbinder. I've only just started this programme; last week was the third class. In the second class we practised sewing the bookblocks, and the homework was to finish it, so I did.
Day 2: bookbinding
This day I had the third bookbinding class. We glued the endpapers onto the bookblocks, aligned the signatures perfectly and glued the spine to make the signatures stay in place. I only managed to do one bookblock in class and did the second one at home. Here is the first one drying in my (also self-made!) book press.
Day 3: bookbinding
I glued the spine of the second bookblock once the first was dry. I took both bookblocks out of the press earlier today, so here they are! Next week in class I'll give them a cover.
Day 4: making laundry detergent
Last year I heard it's possible to make your own laundry detergent out of conkers/ horse chestnuts, so I was really curious and wanted to try it this year. I collected 160 conkers and set to work. To make the laundry detergent, you have to cut the conkers into small pieces and dehydrate them. Unfortunately, my oven is very small, so I could only do a handful of conkers at a time, which meant this work took absolutely forever. I did a batch almost every day this week and was heartily sick of it near the end.
Conkers are very hard, so the best way to get them into smaller pieces was to smash them with a hammer and put them in the blender. When that was done, I put them in the oven at a very low temperature for about 2,5 hours. They came out looking like the picture below.
Day 5: cooking
On day 5 I made vegetable broth. I've been making my own regularly for almost a year now and really like it! It's easy to do, just a bit time-consuming, and it's very satisfying to be using self-made broth in your cooking. For this batch, I used only leeks, onion, celery and carrot. I'll season it later, when I use it in a dish.
When the broth was finished, I filtered out the vegetables, separated the liquid into smaller batches and put those in the freezer. So whenever I need vegetable broth in the future, it will be right there.
Day 6: making laundry detergent
I did another batch of conkers and then my jar was full, so I was finally finished! I haven't tried the laundry detergent yet, but I will soon. To use it, you have to put a spoonful of the conker bits into water until it turns into a white, soapy liquid. Then you have to filter the conkers out and throw the liquid in your washing machine. Other people who've tried it said it worked really well, especially on lighter coloured clothes. I'm very curious!
no subject
Date: 2019-10-06 11:36 pm (UTC)The bookbinding class sounds really intense, but it seems like the sort of thing people would apprentice at for many years.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-07 09:36 am (UTC)The bookbinding class is only one evening a week, so it's not super intense. Though it helps that I've already been bookbinding for several years, so a lot of the information isn't new to me. I really wish I could do an apprenticeshop though, but that isn't offered where I live. If you want to become a professional, this programme I'm doing is the only way to get there.