Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 13 · column 1 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
ine work Nancy does is not ■easily learned. While Nancy knew she wanted to do this when she was still in high school, she found it impossible to find a school that taught these techniques. So, she went to college and tried to take the ■ courses that she thought would < be most useful. She majored in .‘art history and had enough course work in English literature to get a minor. She’s since added general and organic chemistry courses. After college, 'Still unable to find a school to train her in these techniques, she elected to apprentice with a woman in Winchester who was the sole practitioner of this craft in the Commonwealth of Virginia. She spent five years as an apprentice and another five years there gaining additional experience before she decided she was ready to go out on her own.
Nancy was gracious enough to show me around her workshop and explain the process to ine. It was fascinating to see that most of the tools she uses • are from another century! I loved looking at the loom used 'for hand sewing the pages -together. And the backer used to make the rounded spine on the books is an amazing tool that looks every bit of its 200 years.
Some of the people who find their way to Nancy with their books don’t fully understand that this is a very manual process. “They ask if they can pick up the book the next day,” she says laughing. “They think there’s a machine and I put the book in one end and the finished product comes out the other end!” But we’re talking hand
85.4%