Longhand: essays and the weekly letterLonghand is a weekly newsletter and a small archive of essays about craft, slow work and making things by hand: woodwork, bookbinding, printing, cooking from scratch and repair.https://themes.furybee.org/enNo. 8: Saved for laterhttps://themes.furybee.org/longhand/newsletter/no-8/https://themes.furybee.org/longhand/newsletter/no-8/What went into the drawer this month: a finished book, an essay on stones, and a short list of small questions.Fri, 16 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTSlow workWritingletters@longhand.example (Nell Hartigan)Sharpen Firsthttps://themes.furybee.org/longhand/essays/sharpen-first/https://themes.furybee.org/longhand/essays/sharpen-first/Every woodworking teacher says it, and every beginner skips it. A long morning with a chisel and a stone, and why the first hour of any job belongs to the tool.Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTWoodworkToolsSlow workletters@longhand.example (Nell Hartigan)No. 7: A plane in Octoberhttps://themes.furybee.org/longhand/newsletter/no-7/https://themes.furybee.org/longhand/newsletter/no-7/An hour with an old plane and a board of ash, an announcement about what is coming, and a very small confession about a stool.Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTWoodworkToolsletters@longhand.example (Nell Hartigan)Bread Without a Timerhttps://themes.furybee.org/longhand/essays/bread-without-a-timer/https://themes.furybee.org/longhand/essays/bread-without-a-timer/A year of baking one loaf a week taught me that dough is not a recipe but a conversation, and that the clock on the oven is the least informative thing in the kitchen.Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTCookingSlow workletters@longhand.example (Nell Hartigan)No. 6: Flour, againhttps://themes.furybee.org/longhand/newsletter/no-6/https://themes.furybee.org/longhand/newsletter/no-6/Feeding a starter that does not care about your schedule, a loaf with a lopsided crust, and the finger test.Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTCookingSlow workletters@longhand.example (Nell Hartigan)Imposition, by Scripthttps://themes.furybee.org/longhand/essays/imposition-by-script/https://themes.furybee.org/longhand/essays/imposition-by-script/Printing a small booklet at home means putting the pages in a strange order. A dozen lines of code can do it, and the exercise explains why a folded book reads the way it does.Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTPrintingBookbindingToolsletters@longhand.example (Nell Hartigan)No. 5: Notes from the book presshttps://themes.furybee.org/longhand/newsletter/no-5/https://themes.furybee.org/longhand/newsletter/no-5/The cased book comes out of the press, what the spine remembers, and a small defence of the thing you cannot unmake.Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTBookbindingPaperletters@longhand.example (Nell Hartigan)Casing Inhttps://themes.furybee.org/longhand/essays/casing-in/https://themes.furybee.org/longhand/essays/casing-in/Glue, board and cloth, a night under a weight, and the moment a pile of thread and paper becomes a book.Mon, 21 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTBookbindingPaperletters@longhand.example (Nell Hartigan)No. 4: What I would mend firsthttps://themes.furybee.org/longhand/newsletter/no-4/https://themes.furybee.org/longhand/newsletter/no-4/The inventory of a mending drawer, why visible repair beats invisible, and a note about buttons.Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTRepairSlow workletters@longhand.example (Nell Hartigan)No. 3: Ink on the thumbhttps://themes.furybee.org/longhand/newsletter/no-3/https://themes.furybee.org/longhand/newsletter/no-3/A visit to a letterpress shop in a former dairy, a drawer of spaces, and the one thing the printer asked me not to say.Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTPrintingWritingletters@longhand.example (Nell Hartigan)Sewing the Text Blockhttps://themes.furybee.org/longhand/essays/sewing-the-text-block/https://themes.furybee.org/longhand/essays/sewing-the-text-block/Linen thread, a needle, and the quiet discovery that every stitch has to be right before the next one can begin.Mon, 07 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTBookbindingSlow workletters@longhand.example (Nell Hartigan)No. 2: The sound of a stitchhttps://themes.furybee.org/longhand/newsletter/no-2/https://themes.furybee.org/longhand/newsletter/no-2/Sewing signatures by ear, the first folded sheets, and a surprising amount of correspondence about paper grain.Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTBookbindingPaperletters@longhand.example (Nell Hartigan)No. 1: A first letter, in pencilhttps://themes.furybee.org/longhand/newsletter/no-1/https://themes.furybee.org/longhand/newsletter/no-1/Why a weekly letter, what it will and will not be, and a ream of paper that has been sitting on the table for a week.Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTSlow workPaperletters@longhand.example (Nell Hartigan)Folding the Signatureshttps://themes.furybee.org/longhand/essays/folding-the-signatures/https://themes.furybee.org/longhand/essays/folding-the-signatures/Grain, folds and a bone folder, and the discovery that a crease is a decision you make once.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTBookbindingPaperletters@longhand.example (Nell Hartigan)The Weight of a Linehttps://themes.furybee.org/longhand/essays/the-weight-of-a-line/https://themes.furybee.org/longhand/essays/the-weight-of-a-line/A guest essay from a letterpress printer on why setting a sentence in metal type makes you write it differently, and what a line of lead knows that a screen does not.Tue, 18 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTPrintingWritingletters@longhand.example (Tomasz Wieland)Mending in Plain Sighthttps://themes.furybee.org/longhand/essays/mending-in-plain-sight/https://themes.furybee.org/longhand/essays/mending-in-plain-sight/A guest essay from a textile mender on why visible repair is not a trend but a plain statement of fact, and how to darn a hole in a wool sock in four honest steps.Tue, 09 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTRepairSlow workletters@longhand.example (Ines Okafor)