While waiting for my folks to come online yesterday for our weekly chat, I finished the new sketchbook I’ve been working on:
For the first time, I used book cloth I made myself! I’d always had to buy it when I was in Canada or elsewhere, and since it comes in a roll and has crinkle-able paper backing, it usually got a little wrecked in transit. But plain cloth doesn’t work (I discovered) because if you try to fix plain cloth to a book block, the glue oozes through (which looks gross) and doesn’t bind strongly enough with itself to hold on.
I recently found this video, which shows how to give any cloth a paper backing using an iron-on fixative called Heat’n’Bond. So I ordered some on eBay (the local sewing shop hadn’t heard of it), tried it out yesterday, and it worked!
I used some light paper””almost crêpe paper””that a gift came wrapped in, which was the right weight, except it was a bit too wrinkly (and stayed so when it came in contact with the glue, despite being ironed). The fabric could be lighter, too, but at least it’ll be durable!
Now I just hope the paper inside will be good to draw on. I rescued it from a sketchbook I found in my junk boxes under my parents’ eaves, so it must be about twenty years old. Craig liked the end result and said I should sell it, but this year I’m more interested in creating than selling.
EDIT: Drat! The paper in this book feels lush, but I tested out my pens on a spare sheet and it’s just not right for the drawing work I want to do in my sketchbook.
Oh well, I found another drawing pad, and this time I tested the paper first, so here’s my excuse for binding another book. Perhaps I’ll sell the other one after all…