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Colin Urbina

@lowmountain.bsky.social

31 followers 84 following 156 posts

Bookbinder, Indie RPG collector

Posts Replies Media

Colin Urbina @lowmountain.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Sometimes Boston little free libraries deliver interesting things! These are all likely to go the students @nbssboston.bsky.social for repair prajects.

Three books, all with boards detached. All are likely from the 19th century. One is half bound in leather with marbled paper on the cover with a gold tooled line separating the paper from the leather. One is full bound in tree calf with marbled paper on the inside flyleaf.

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Colin Urbina @lowmountain.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

I didn’t realize I had so many plaquettes.

A scattering of plaquettes, rectangular board covered in leather with a variety of decorative techniques.

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Colin Urbina @lowmountain.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Made a tiny box to keep all the business card games I have together.

A small clamshell box stood upright that says “business card games” on its spine.

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Colin Urbina @lowmountain.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

So goodbye Jim, and thank you. I don't think I'll ever meet someone quite like you again. The bookbinding community will be poorer without you.

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Colin Urbina @lowmountain.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

Jim would keep his books for years and sometimes he would just undo a bunch of his work, make it a little better, and put it back together. It's something I think about all the time when I'm less than satisfied with how something has turned out.

A plastic bottle on a table that reads "rendered bear fat not for human consumption".

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Colin Urbina @lowmountain.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

Jim was always happy to not only teach others but was also incredibly eager to learn from anyone. While toolmaking was the main reason I went to learn from him the biggest lesson I took away was that it's okay to go back in and fix a book that you weren't happy with.

A workspace crammed with a table in the center, more by the windows, and a basketball hoop.

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Colin Urbina @lowmountain.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

Jim also made paper from old firehoses by bleaching the fibers in the sun for years. He fermented hemp underneath his house to later make into paper. As a 27 year old at the time I wasn't used to the idea of just leaving some things for a few years before you could use them.

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Colin Urbina @lowmountain.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

Part of that was making bone tools which are frequently used in bookbinding. Jim lived in northern Idaho, known for its elk and moose and he get bones from local hunters or pick up road kill to amass a frankly startling amount of bones. Jim made the finest bone folders in the world.

A pot full of water with elk bones in it.

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Colin Urbina @lowmountain.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

A titan of the bookbinding community died this past week: Jim Croft. I went to learn from him at his homestead in Idaho way back in 2011. It was a two week course making all part of the book, from making the paper, tanning the leather, splitting the wooden boards, everything.

An old pickup truck that says "Traditional Hand craft study group" on the side

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Colin Urbina @lowmountain.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

He makes the paper, hews the wood to make the covers, he would make the thread except his wife Melody is a far better spinner than he is. He tans the leather himself. Jim is relentlessly curious and has an abundance of energy.

a little medieval style book with a single brass clasp on a strap.

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Colin Urbina @lowmountain.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

He grows the hemp and cotton for the paper, the linen for the thread, the wood for the covers. He made a stamp mill powered by the stream on his property to beat the fibers. He uses bones from elk that local hunters hunt to make traditional bone bookbinding tools.

a medieval style book with brass clasps across the foreedge. The pages of the book still have their deckle and are an off white and light blue.

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Colin Urbina @lowmountain.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

Jim Croft is an incredible binder, an amazing teacher, and a wonderful man. He lives off grid in northern Idaho but after many years some friends have finally put up a site for him. Jim specializes in medieval style bindings and even goes beyond that. He makes as many aspects of the book as he can.

A medieval style bookbinding with leather spine and a carved wooden cover. Brass clasps cover the foreedge.

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Colin Urbina @lowmountain.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

Among the cataloged today: Rosenstrasse, Transgender Deathmatch Legend 2, The Stygian Library, and Going for Broke.

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