More book progress. I didn't have a proper book press so I took some clamps and some 2x6 and pressed that across the spine. It took a while to align everything properly since my stitching was a little loose and I don't think there's anyway to avoid that. Once pressed, I applied two coats of PVA glue (white craft glue). There's special pH neutral PVA glue for book binding but it's 15 dollars a bottle, and I went and downloaded the MSDS sheet for it and the pH for it is NOT 7, and it's the same pH range as crayola craft glue. So obviously just relabelled and sold for more money. I went with crayola.
After the two coats of glue were dried, I added two pieces of ribbon to the spine for bookmarks. Easy enough.
Once that was dry, I cut some acid free construction paper, and because I couldn't get a piece 22" long, I just folded an end over and glued about an inch to the top and bottom covers of the book and then added back into the press.
To reinforce the spine, I re-purposed a linen napkin and cut it to fit, then put it back in the press. Using a bone knife I made sure this was adhered well to the spine before putting it in the press.
Next up, the cover.
I'm really enjoying your updates on this project! It's making me want to try binding a small sketch book, but I've not been brave enough yet! :)
ReplyDeleteSorry thought I'd replied to this. The youtube tutorial I linked basically is a sketch book and it uses very cheap materials (only paper and glue for the most part). You should try it out for sure. With some of the crafty things I've seen on your blog, you'd have no problem.
DeleteThanks John - just seen your final book post - it's fantastic! :)
DeleteThanks :) Just in time for me to find out that Kingdom Death is going to release a hard bound version with the erratted contents rending my book obsolete :) At least I have some time before that happens haha
Delete