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Flattening the paper
The paper, which is Arnhem 1618 Printmaking Paper, is 100% rag, acid-free, and arrives in rolled sheets of 22" X 30". It has two deckle edges, which my modern sensibilities wanted to keep....

Determining the best size for pages
I ended up taking a rough mean of the two song books. The page size of MS 1790 (Mary Tudor Song Book) is 8.7" X 5.7", MS 5465 (Fayrfax MS) page size is 11.7" x 8.46", and MS 1070 (Anne Boleyn Song Book) has pages that are 11" x 7.5". I decided that a good mean was 10.25" x 7" - smaller than my primary exemplar (MS 1790), but (hopefully) not so large that I would feel ovewhelmed filling it with music.

Measuring the paper to cut
...a nerve-wracking process! Each page would need to be 10.25" x 7", and I needed to make sure that the grain would end up top to bottom on every page, and leave enough room. for binding and trimming. I left the deckle edge to be trimmed off later
, but, in retrospect, I should have trimmed it off at this point.
, but, in retrospect, I should have trimmed it off at this point.

Folding the cut folios

Folds with deckle edge remaining
The deckle edge helped me remember which way the grain was going as I was cutting.

Folios
Several folios folded with the grain to make a smooth fold.

Four finished folios

Quaternions
I decided to use four folios per quaternion. With four quaternions for the text block, and two pages for endpapers, this gave me 60 pages for writing.

Text block ready to decorate

Calligraphed quaternions ready for illumination

First two pages of finished text block

Hand-made wooden press
My wonderful husband made this press for me from pictures of book presses!

Book press, ready to press folios
Look at how beautiful that thing is!!!

Text block marked for holes

Holes marked to cut
I decided to go with the spacing of holes mentioned on page 181 of the Archaeology of Bookbinding

Sawing my manuscript!

Clamping the text block for sawing and trimming

Trimming the saw cuts

Text block ready for binding

Holes in each folio

Jute cord threaded in sewing frame
The sewing frame was also hand-made by my amazing husband!

Tightening for cord for bands
The "buttons" are twisted to ply the cords together for the bands.

Sewing frame threaded

Setting first quaternion in place to sew

Sewing bands to first quaternion
...and hoping that I have not gotten my pages out of order!
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