More Tablets!

With the last Textile Forum focusing on tablet weaving, I was preparing for running empty (or almost empty) of tablets due to that... which didn't happen, because most participants brought their own.

But still, stocks were running low, so I started on the quest of getting more. For this, you need a) something to punch them, b) someone to do the punching, and c) something to use the punching tool on. The first two were comparatively simple, but finding a good source for the right material... wasn't.

The old ones I had were made of some special kind of cardboard with a very good stability in both directions, and quite firm if you press on the sides, and a not-horrible colour (brownish).  It took a bit of looking around before I found out that it's indeed a special kind of cardboard, and then it took a while longer to realise that bookbinding and other paper-workery stuff are only a side use of the material, and that it's mainly used for isolation in electronics. 

Then it took a while to sort out the possibilities of sourcing it there. And finally, I could get the stuff for not as horrendously a price as it would have been through bookbinding suppliers. 

The punching tool, by the way, looks like this:

I also learned that there's a specific lingo to all the punching stuff, too, which was fun - as was the tour of the local printing press who ended up doing the punching step, and who were really lovely and nice all along.

The tablets are looking just like the old ones - so that was a success, I'd say. And now I have stock again for a good, long while!