#bookcloth

[il-castagno-press]

I made some homemade bookcloth 🌸

I bought these lovely textiles from a cute little store in Evanston, IL. Things went much smoother this time around ahah. I made bookcloth last year and it did not go well….

Anyways, I have a new collection on the way! Yay! Get ready for my Valentine’s Day/Spring books.

[sublecturas]

"Oreja madre", de Dani Zelko en la Línea D

[conservethis]

Three green books I found at work. Many years ago we apparently paid extra for the library bindery to use the fancy patterned buckram instead of the boring solid color stuff. I love finding these in the stacks, and so far I’ve never found two of the same pattern and color!

[arctic-hands]

Can I use a pure beeswax candle and a hair dryer to wax a cotton bedsheet to make it more durable as a bookcloth?

[aley-nag]

Making my own bookcloth

Back in february I went to a convention for all kinds of crafts and found a lot of cool materials I wanted to try in lieu of bookcloth. This was my first foray:

Finished book!

In a workshop back in 2023 I learned how to back normal cloth with silk paper so that it can function as bookcloth. I was taught, that this is necessary because otherwise the glue would press through the cloth and be visible on the front. With this dragon scale styled cloth I wasn't afraid that would happen. It is very thick and has kind of a plasticky coat. So I disregarded all of that advise and just tried to do it like I would with regular bookcloth:

I noticed very quickly that the cloth kinda soaked up the glue and I needed a lot to get it wet and sticky enough. Than I ran into the problem, that my newly fashioned edge cutter was a little to narrow for such thick material. I had little holes at the corner where the cloth didn't quite overlap. It also would not really stick to the carton. First I tried pressing it down with my fingers, than with a vise. Nothing worked, it just wouldn't stick. That's how I learned there's a second reason for backing the cloth: So that it will fucking stick. The glue is not suitable for things that are not paper. So you have to adhere paper first to the cloth and then you can connect that paper to the carton.

This is how I learned to do it:

Iron the cloth until all the creases are gone. Otherwise they will stay permanently. Leave the iron on. Dilute your glue with wallpaper paste (I used the regular one for paper from a hardware store and used the strongest water/paste ratio; the paste/glue ratio I kinda eyeballed approx. 1:3). Then put it in a laquer dish like in the picture and use a roller without this really fuzzy stuff (this one is more like foam). This will help you put the glue on very quickly and evenly. Lay out the silk paper (normally you should measure the cloth larger than you need it and the silk paper a little smaller than the cloth so that you don't have glue remnants everywhere. I already cut mine so the silk paper is larger here). Roll on your glue (very quickly but make it thin and even). Then wait. Test it with your fingertips. It should still stick but not be really wet anymore. Otherwise it will press through your cloth and you will have stains. If it gets to dry it will not stick. Then carefully stretch out all the creases. If you think it is right, put on the cloth, flip it and go over the silk paper with an iron. Be careful not to rip the paper (this will happen if it was still to wet). Check that the cloth isn't creasing. Try to get it as flat as possible. After the paper is dry, flip it again and go over the cloth side.

After I did that I had less problems. The cloth still needed to be pressed with a vise because it was so thick, but it held.

I mismeasured the back of the bookblock though and had to do it all over again... Well, you learn through practise and the second attempt was much prettier as well.

I used marbled paper I got from that retailer from hell and then I again fucked up with the Cricut (forgot to mirror the letters). Otherwise I am very pleased with the result and my cousin (the recipient) was also quite happy.

Binding Details

Bookblock was premade from schmedt.de

Endpapers from the retailer from hell (that I'm not gonna link)

Cloth from taschen-zubehoer.de

[getfuckedblr]

fic: blackpool by TheDivineComedian

ok so like i tried a bradel bind on accident. i was trying to use laminated paper to make a case and couldn’t get the spine right so i just slashed right through the middle after glueing the paper to the boards, so this isn’t the most stable connection from the spine to the boards :( but i think it’s a pretty good first attempt:)))

and then omg my sister is home on break🥺💓 and she’s a production major so she can like take real photos!! which is what ur seeing here LMAO bc i have many talents, but photography is sadly not one of them:(

and i am also trying out a new printer so there’s a fuck ton of misprints as the background.

so yeah! this fic is such a creepy crawly little ghost story that has absolutely no right being so emotionally devastating! i don’t normally take tiktok recs but this creator convinced me like 3 years ago, and it’s been sitting in my fic drive for like a year just waiting for me to finish it. and finish it i have!!!

bound in laminated paper, with gold htv words. the spine is bookcloth (i also don’t think the spine color looks great with my covers but not mad enough to trash it either). no bookmark on this one bc i got lazy😔

if i had set out to do a bradel bind instead of accidentally stumbling into it, i would have glued the spine to the covers, then folded the cover over the connection. but alas, i will keep it in mind for next time instead:)

(((i’m so sorry my sister took marvelous photos but also completely disregarded the things i asked her to shoot lmao. love her but she missed all of the htv details so plz check out my shittier photos below for those deets🥲)))

[zhalfirin-binds]

Selfmade bookcloth

Another badge. This time the pretty blue fabric worked out just fine. The greens are both cotton and give me trouble at all. The other stripey fabric is yet another synthetic fiber and it curled up like hell when I pried it loose from the table. I think it’s still workable, but the tension there is certainly something to consider.

[bigriverbindery]

This week we’ve been working on clamshell boxes. We were surprised to see all of them would be wrapped in @colophonbookarts Dubletta Grays book cloth. #clamshellbox #bookbinding #bookarts #bookcloth #preservationenclosure #atlantabookarts (at Big River Bindery) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cafx_FZJ_le/?utm_medium=tumblr