The thing nobody tells you about bookbinding is that the actual sewing is the quick part. It's the pressing, the drying, the waiting overnight with a stack of bricks on top of your work, and then discovering in the morning that the grain direction was wrong and the whole board has bowed like a banana. You learn grain direction once. You learn it the hard way. You never, ever forget it again, and you become insufferable about it to anyone who will listen. Every time. #bookbinding #patience