“How exciting,” Whitney said.

Gina nodded vigorously. “I’m totally psyched.”

“Good.” I smiled at them, appreciating their fresh view of things. It would be a good motivator for everyone else, including me.

“This week, we’ll construct a textblock of ten sections of sheets sewn through the fold onto three linen tapes and cased in cloth-covered binder’s board. Any questions?”

“Uh, yeah,” Whitney said. “Will you be speaking English anytime soon?”

We all laughed. I did tend to get caught up in the jargon sometimes. “I’ll try to remember to explain things, but just in case, I’ve included a glossary of terms in each of your packets. You’ll probably want to keep it close by for easy reference. Especially when I blather on about the lapped-component case binding, or when we discuss double-folio colored endsheets and half-cloth bindings. All that fun stuff.”

Amid more scattered laughter (for which I was pathetically grateful), I began to go over the tools I’d given them, explaining how each one fit in the process of creating a book. Grabbing an essential tool, I held it up to show them. It was lightweight, about eight inches long, flat and white, and looked like a fancy tongue depressor.

“Okay, I’ll just say this right out,” I said. “This is called a bone folder.”

There were the predictable giggles and snickers.

“Go ahead and laugh, get it out of your systems,” I said, waiting for the reactions to die down. “It’s a stupid name, but it makes sense. The tool is often made of bone, which makes it lightweight and durable. And it’s used to crease a fold. Bone. Folder. Get it? If you all say it a few times, it won’t sound funny anymore.”

After the laughter faded, I went on to discuss the advantage of metal-edge rulers over wooden ones, and then I began my riveting discussion of the hazards of glue and the importance of recognizing paper fibers and grain direction. The grain should always run parallel to the spine of the book, I explained. Otherwise, the folds would appear ragged and uneven instead of smooth and rounded.