Note --- Oak Street Bootmakers

I visited an American Vintage Store in Taipei to

buy a pair of jean and check the quality of the products

produced by the Oak Street Bootmakers.


I knew this brand from some online forums.

Their products are pretty and seem to have high quality based on

online photos.

Of course, these pretty products come at cost of $$ :P
(the price almost equals to that of WESCO, VIBERG, WHITES...)
 


According to the information offered by its website,

its products are made by Horween leathers, that is,

the company uses high quality leathers to make shoes.


Somehow,

the quality of these products exhibited in the store surprised me

especially on the craft aspect.

IMHO,  the prices of those shoes displayed in the store are less than fair to them,

according to the stitching quality and the craft of these joint/overlapping regions.
  

There are obviously differences between what I saw online and

the material objects. (do not have any idea about it!)

[Notes] How to make your Animal Glue?

You can find more details in "The Traditional Bowyers' Bible Vol 1 (Google Book)"
There are some samples can be free downloaded, just google it :)
or you can just make orders from Amazon.com

I think the information is not secret in the Western world any more,
but in the Eastern, lots of beginners(like me) have no idea about it.
So, I will just post some of my notes form a section of the book in Chinese.


以下是基本的 牛筋膠(sinew glue) 和 魚鰾膠(fish air-bladder glue) 的製作流程
和注意事項：


1.0) 把牛筋放在鍋中。
       note: 牛筋最好先蒸或燙一下，然後儘可能的切成小片；如此可加速熬膠的過程。

2.0) 倒入水，蓋過牛筋。

3.0) 文火(不超過 77度C)燉 24 小時或更久，偶爾要攪拌一下。
3.1) 煮越久，膠會越黑，黏性會越差。前 10 hr 的膠是最好最黏稠的。
3.2) 把前 10 hr 的膠收起來後，剩下的牛筋可以繼續煮到 24 hr 或更久；
       或熬煮到鍋子裡的牛筋質量不再變少為止。

4.0) 關火前 1 hr 開始把浮在水面的脂肪, 泡沫 與 雜質撈掉。
       note: 把脂肪去除很不容易，但很重要! 否則膠會容易腐敗。
4.1) 在撈去雜質時要確保鍋內的溫度足夠，不要有一層膜在表面
       (黏性越強的膠會越早形成膜)。

5.0) 關火前 10 min 讓溶液保持在微微冒泡的狀態
       (目地讓一些雜值浮出水面好將其撈掉)。

6.0) 關火，掀開改子，讓水氣蒸發，待膠液變得比清水稠一點。

7.0) 用濾布(豆漿布)過濾熬出來的膠，並倒入盤子裡(約 1.25 cm 厚)，
      待其結凍與乾燥。
      note: 1.25 cm 厚是個很不錯的數值；太薄會造成結成凍的膠不易與容器分離；
               太厚，乾燥的過程會變得緩慢，增加了腐敗的風險。

8.0) 為了避免細菌孳生，要加速乾燥的過程：
     > 將盤子裡的凍塊切成 約1.25 cm 之立方體並置放於乾淨, 乾燥的表面；
     > 電風扇可幫助乾燥；
     > 乾燥過程要 保持涼爽 與 避免陽光照射，避免融化。
     note: 整個過程要涼爽且低濕度，這在台灣不易達成，特別是在夏季。
              空調似乎是個不錯的控制環境因素的方法。
   


用法：
1) 將乾燥的膠塊用乾淨的冷水覆蓋，讓其吸水數小時至澎大變成果凍狀。
2) 加溫到 71C 並攪拌成均勻膠狀。
3) 等它降至工作溫度(44~60C)。



A Clip of how to make hide glue:

作者直接把乾燥後的皮加點水丟進鍋內熬煮，沒有其他預先處理。

Kindle 3 --- The selected item could not be opened.

"The selected item could not be opened. 
If you purchased this item from Amazon, 
delete this item and redownload it from Archived Items"


我的 kindle 3 今天中午出現了這個問題了 = =a
當我讀著下載來的 Sample: A Moveable Feast <- 讀到正精彩的時候 冏~
想說先開另一本來看好了..... "Tuesdays with Morrie" Orz 一模一樣的情形發生了耶!!!!!!


google 了一下 (我參考的網頁),
原來 restart 就好了，以下是 restart 的步驟:
Home -> Menu -> Setting -> Menu -> Restart


^^ 果然 restart 後就恢復正常了~

Photo --- How to Write a Reading-Note

I made a cup of coffee for myself and wrote
a summary of a Wallace Academic Writing article,
after hearing a shitty news....


Title: Make a Note
I. Make a List of relating questions:
1. Revise what you have known: lectures, notes, ...
2. Outlining answers you're going to find out
3. Choose a interested point, and make out drafts for the point.
4. Looking for relating references. 


II. Do not transcribe overly:
1. Only write the main concepts and conclusions (by your words).
2. Do not use highlight, and post-in excessively.
3. Elaborate & precise description is not essential unless you   
   would use it in your essay/paper.. 


III. Label your notes:
1. Label your notes with authors' names, #pages, ..
2. Organize your notes & cards separately, for rearranging all of 
   your notes one day. 
3. Leave blanks between each line, for adding your comments, .. in  
   the future.


Tip:
Reading paragraph by paragraph -> 
close your book ->
write a conclusion for each paragraph.


Now, feel better~

Sample --- Notes, "Publish, Don't Perish" in Traditional Chinese

I. 迷思(這邊我只寫下該段的重點)
-01. 教學是學術研究的重要形式，也是綜合與支是延伸的方法。
-02. 對出版社來說，必需出版一般讀者想看的內容。
-03. 作家必須有創作欲望經驗；遇到瓶頸時，需堅持到底。
-04. 不喜歡寫作可能與學習過程中常遭遇老師的批評有關。
-05. 規律寫作有助於提升創造力:學術人士會要求自己一週五天每天寫作半小時，來挑戰自己。
-06. 草擬初稿階段不需著墨如何改善文章架構與文法。
-07. "I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I have to say."
-08. 學術著作本來就是一種社交活動；要孰悉本身學術領域的重要議題，
        才有機會加入同儕的談話。
-09. 許多工作上的重要創新突破都是發生於工作和娛樂之間的閒暇時間；
        所以最好平時能攜帶記事本或錄音機。
-10. 修改文章並非糾正錯誤，而是一個發展和發現自我想法的過程。
-11. 思考是連續的過程，需隨世界變化而變通。
-12. 長久以來名作家們都一直弔念第一人稱已不復存在的事實。
        (不用第一人稱寫作不一定是好的寫法)
-13. 投稿前先徵求同事們的批評意見。"內定菁英制度"
-14. 每個人的寫作方式會略有不同。

II. 如何草擬並組織學樹計畫
III.製定寫作與研究筆記的準則
IV. 如何提交與推銷作品