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Bookbinding and Repair |
Methylcel | Scalpel | Japanese Screw Punch | Volcano Ergo Teflon Folder
Brass Rules | Hole Punching Cradle | Potter's Rib
Metal Punch Sets | Book Cloth | Book Board | Weaver's Knot
Waxed Linen Thread
| Methylcel (Methyl cellulose) | |
| Bookbinding Pour 1/2 c. water into a bowl with a tight fitting lid. Slowly sprinkle 2 teaspoons of methylcel (do not just dump it in -- sprinkle, sprinkle) onto the surface of the water and mix briskly and thoroughly. I like to use a whisk but clean it right away after you're done. It's ready to use in 15 minutes or so. Decant into a separate bowl as needed -- pour it, don't dip your brush in. Lasts for months and months when made with distilled water and stored with a tight lid. Adjust consistency by adding more or less water. Our methylcel can also be mixed with pigments for making paste papers. |
Marbling I've never tried methylcel for marbling (I've always used Carrageenan) but am told that it makes a great size. Here is a recipe I found on the web:
Stir every 15 minutes for first hour, then let sit for another hour before using. This yields a very thick solution. If someone has tried this and has a better recipe or recommendations, please click the "contact us" link and let me know. |
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Which Adhesive When There are so many opinions about which adhesive to use for a particular task in the bookbinding process that it isn’t possible to make a definite list. The chart below was put together from several sources and is weighted with my opinion. Most bookbinders tend to use a mixture of 2 adhesives, a favorite is PVA mixed with methyl cellulose to slow its drying time. Be sure to plan projects ahead of time because some adhesives need time for preparation. Animal glues are not included in chart. |
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Methyl Cellulose
(wood
or cotton) Flexible, reversible, slow drying, doesn't stain, good shelf life |
PVA
(synthetic, adhesive) Flexible, not reversible, quick drying, stains, good shelf life |
Wheat Starch Paste
(grain) Flexible, reversible, slow drying, doesn't stain, stretches paper, poor shelf life |
Use |
| - | - | 100% | Lightweight paper on paper or book board, backing fabric, leather to board, slows drying time of PVA |
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100% Can be thinned with water |
- | Heavy, board to board, cloth to board, heavy papers, wood to paper/board |
| 100% | - | - | Size paper, clean spines, collage, paper to paper, “paste paper,” add to PVA to increase strength, flexibility and adhesion |
| 1 part | 2 parts | - | Good general bookbinding adhesive, batting to book board |
| 1 part | 1 part | - | Good general bookbinding adhesive |
| - | 3 parts | 2 parts | Good general bookbinding adhesive |
| - | 1 part | 1 part | Paper to paper, paper to board, book cloth to board |
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100% (See recipe) |
- | - | Marbling paper (size) |
| What is PVA? |
Polyvinyl Acetate: A general purpose, resin based, internally plasticized polyvinyl acetate emulsion that contains no solvents. It is fast drying, very long lasting and forms a transparent, flexible film. It is thermoplastic and can be also used to form a heat set adhesive. Used for tightening books in their cases, adhering paper to paper, cloth to wood, filling in cracks in art canvases and repairing ceramic objects. Holds firmly to plastic materials. Can be used on vellum. Very useful for patching tears in paintings and reinforcing the bend at edges of paintings. In very dilute form can secure fraying threads. Good wash-up properties; pH neutral. |
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What is book board? Book Board is a heavy, dense cardboard-type product. For bookbinding you'll want to use acid-free board. It is sometimes called "binders board" or "Davey board."
In your words:
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What is Davey Board? Davey board is a brand name of book board and is considered the industry standard. |
How
do I cut book board? Book board is very dense so it can be difficult to
cut. The best way is to mark a line with a ruler and then to use a mat cutter
or heavy knife to score a line. The board is really too dense to cut all at
once. It usually takes about 4 or 5 passes to cut all the way through.
Making several passes like this also helps keep your cutting line straight.
The number one thing you can do to make this job easier on yourself is to
use a sharp blade. If you aren't sure of the last time you sharpened your
blade, do it now.
We now have the instructions for making this
book in The Muse. |
| Waxed Linen Thread | ||
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Nancy Parker
8/05 Fabricated Metal Cover/Braided Stitch There are more pictures of this book and others 
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Camille
Purpura 8/05 Wood Book/Greek Stitch There are more pictures of this book
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Christine Cox 8/05 Cedar and Copper "Peter Pan" There are lots more pictures of this book.
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| Just look at this unbelievable book by Fran Kovac! It's made from mahogany and the stitch is the 'caterpillar stitch' featured in Keith Smith's book Non-Adhesive Bindings, Volume III; Exposed Spine Sewings. Fran learned it from Dan Essig. Being the experimenter that Fran is, she then developed the little spider on the side from a similar stitch! She also used a wood burning tool to burn in a spider web on the inside of the back cover. This book is in the collection of Christine Cox (yeah!). | ||
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Weaver's Knot When sewing a book you may run out of thread. Binders use a weaver's knot to tie a new thread to the old. This goes on the inside of a signature unless you are sewing a cased in book in which case the knot is started on the outside of a signature. I carry these drawings in my wallet because I know that some day I'll need the directions and I don't tie these knots often enough to feel comfortable doing it from memory. |
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| Step 1 On the inside of a signature (on the outside if the book will be cased in) make 2 loops in the old piece of thread. Note in the drawing where the thread falls in front and where it falls behind. |
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| Step 2 Bring the right loop up through the left loop from behind. |
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| Step 3 Pull the thread end coming from what was previously the left loop and tighten just that loop. |
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| Step 4 Insert the new piece of thread into the remaining loop (formerly the right loop) and pull everything tight. Trim the old thread to about 1/4" and separate the plies of thread to make it harder for the knot to come undone. |
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These books (4 1/2" X 11 1/4") were made using our Moiré Fabric and Book Cloth. You'll also need a Japanese Screw Punch with a 1mm tip to punch the holes. A drill will work but you won't get this precision without spending a lot of time. Above are detail shots of the stitching (a complex variation on Keith Smith's Braided Sewing). Below is the cover from the plum and royal colored Book Kit.
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Book Cloth All book cloth is not created equal! We've even seen some that looked like a picnic table cloth. Yuck! You'll never get that kind of cloth from Volcano Arts. We carry fine Japanese book cloth because it looks great, wears well and comes in fantastic colors.
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| Scalpel | |
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A scalpel loaded with a Curved Blade is wonderful for thinning leather. Click the image for a larger view. |
How to Install and Remove Blades from Scalpel Handle (click any image for a larger view) Carefully unwrap the blade from its foil package. Caution, the blades are unbelievably sharp! Hold the blade in one hand and the handle in the other and look at their orientation (figure 2). You want to make sure that the slope where the handle meets the skinny little shaft and the slope at the bottom of the blade is the same. You'll also note that the skinny shaft has a groove cut all around the sides. The hole in the center of the blade slides along those grooves. Now, hold the scalpel handle so that the skinny shaft is pointing away from you. Hold the blade (oriented correctly to the slope in the handle) in your other hand. Starting at the tip of the skinny shaft, slide the blade along the grooves until it is seated solidly (see figure 3). To remove the blade, simply flex it a little so that it clears the bump in the skinny shaft that holds it on and then slip it off the tip (see figure 5). Note: Scalpel blades are incredibly sharp. They are custom made to cut flesh. Some people hold the blade in a pair of pliers when changing the blades. That could be a good way for a beginner to get comfortable with the process. |
 Figure 1: Blade and handle, ready to go
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Volcano Ergo Teflon Folder Potter's love our Ergonomic Teflon Folder as much as book artists do.
I made the covers of this book by fusing the glass and then screen printing the stars (from a NASA photo) with PMC onto the top cover and firing it again. It's sewn with a Coptic stitch using our 4-Ply Waxed Linen Thread. |
Using my Ergo Teflon Folder I'm able to fold an entire signature of up to 6 folios at once with very little telescoping at the fore-edge. That's a real time saver. |
| Japanese Screw Punch
Removing Debris from Tip We don't recommend the Japanese Screw Punch for book board but lots of people do. Please be aware that cutting through book board may diminish the life of your tool. |
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Brass
Rules
Our brass rules have a million uses. They save so
many steps when doing standard measuring tasks. Get precise measurements without
measuring!
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Traditional clay, polymer clay
and silver clay artists love our brass rules for rolling out their clay to a perfectly even layer! Just lay one down on either side of your clay and roll. |
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 When you first buy brass rules you might have a little trouble telling them apart (this passes quickly). Use our Metal Punch Sets to mark the brass rules with their widths. Don't try it on the 1/8" brass rule (it's just too narrow) but tap lightly and the rest will be fine. Hint: Unless you've used your metal punch set before, practice on a piece of scrap metal. This is also a great way to mark your rules with your initials so that they don't get mixed up in a class. Cork Backed Brass Rules Being solid brass, the rules are normally too slick to hold steady while cutting glass. To remedy this I use spray adhesive to glue a strip of sheet cork to one side of a brass rule. In the case of the samples at right I glued cork to one side of my 3/4" and 1" brass rules. You can use E6000 rather than the spray adhesive but E6000 has to dry overnight before being functional whereas spray adhesive is ready to use almost instantly. Another benefit of using spray adhesive is that it has a light tack so it can be considered temporary. The tack is strong enough to hold the pieces together without being a mess if you remove the cork from the rules some day. Goo Gone will easily take off any residual stickiness. After you've glued the cork to your brass rule you'll still be able to use it in all the ways you've learned to love. Simply turn the rule over and it's flat again.
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Let's say that you want to trim the turn-ins
of a book to 1". The old way would be to use a ruler to measure 1" at either
end of the cover material, then line up the ruler along the 2 marks and use a
knife to cut along the ruler. With brass rules you save steps because you just
lay the 1" rule down next to the book board and cut. No measuring!
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What is a hole punching cradle used for? A Hole Punching Cradle holds the sections of your book as you punch holes in each section. Other methods may leave your holes misaligned which will leave your book structure weak or unsightly. By using a book cradle the work goes fast and is very accurate. Hint 1: Number the top of each section of pages. This will help you keep your sections in order and oriented the same way. It will also make your holes line up perfectly, if you used the book cradle. Hint 2: Jog each section up against one of the supports when it's in the cradle. Also jog the template up against the same support. Having everything tightly jogged against the support is what makes the holes line up.
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 Nathan Wilts
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Wooden Potter's
Rib The potter's rib is an incredibly useful tool. Each rib is made from different (non-endangered) woods. Please let us select for you. When using your rib, hold it so that the pointed tip is toward you. When your rib is shipped to you it will probably need some
'tuning up.' |
If your potter's rib ever leaves any kind of a mark on your paper it probably needs to be touched up. If that's not the problem, chances are you are pushing down too hard while creasing your paper. The
Tune Up When sanded and beveled correctly it should feel smooth to the touch and while folding paper it should provide enough drag for you to feel the tooth of the paper without it feeling rough. We also sell our folding ribs in Teflon,
which does not need to be tuned up. |
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