WIP making a clamshell box
(more pictures and desctiption under the cut)
I noticed for a black clothbinding that an open shelf probably isn’t the best place to be. It might get light damage and bleach out, but at the very least it will look dusty all the time. (I noticed when I tried to take clean pictures of it -_-) So part of today went into making a simple clamshell box that will protect it from both as well as from shelfwear. For the box I need two 3 sided boxes one slightly larger than the book the other slightly larger than the first one (actually it should be only that much larger to allow for the boxes to fit inside one another when they are covered with whatever material is used). When gluing the sideparts against the bottom, fixing them with with some adhesive tape in place and checking for the angle with some small weights.
To preven the excess glue from leaving ugly ridges and taking up the space In want my paper in later on, I just take it off carefully with a bonefolder or a scrap piece of cardboard
I covered the sides in one go, measuring out the width needed to cover inside and outside as well as an overlap to the bottom on the inside and outside.
After moisturing the paper (I used Efalin) I started rolling it around the outside. Doing this in one go is a bit challenging because the glue is drying and you’ve got to work quick (hence only a couple of fotos here). The easier, though more time-consuming way is to make it in 3 parts.
I fold in the bottom side first so I can put the box down and have that part safely dealt with. (No threat of messing up or getting glue all over the place from that side of the box anymore).
Next are the sides.I want the short sides in first because there’s more going on there. I have the fronts to cut to shape and tug in as well as the inner corner. Which I want to overlapp a little to reinfroce the connection of the corner there as well as cover the inside corner and keep the cardboard from showing through in the finished box. (Inside bottom corners are always a mess for me though. I need more practice for those again)
Least ist he backside which is merely a flap to fold in by that time.
The front folds are a bit messed up. Usually I’d aim for a lesser angle so the fold in is not that obvious.
By the way, when working with sturdy papers like Efalin, Wibalin, elephanthide paper or Tsumugi (those are only the ones I know of) I always moisture them before adding any glue. It makes them going from this:
to this...
There are a couple of reasons though. - they curl up horribly when moisturized on one side and quite likely ruin the surface by getting glue there (if that’s the first moisture the paper is getting). - they stretch. A LOT! Which can create air pockets where there were none only a moment before and rubbing the in will probably result in wrinkles. - it also gives you way more time to work with your glue. Depending on the watercontent of the glue it will dry more or less quickly. Wheat paste glue for example has a high watercontent and can be worked rather long compared to other glues. PVA mostly does not have that much water and thus dries rather quickly. By moisturing the paper means it doesn’t absorb the water from the PVA that quickly and thus results in a longer ‘open time’ to work with the glue.