I was in my living room last night trying to stain the edges of a paperback with coffee and the pages curled up so bad I couldn't close the book for 2 hours, has anyone found a way to keep them flat?
I started staining pages on old thrift store books about a year ago just for fun. Last night I finished staining the edges on a copy of The Hobbit I picked up for a dollar. I counted back through my photos and realized I hit exactly 50 books stained. That feels like a lot for just messing around with tea and coffee in my kitchen. I use cheap black tea for a vintage yellow look and instant coffee for a darker brown tone. The trick is letting each book dry completely between coats or the pages get wavy. Has anyone else kept track of how many books they've modded? Mine was way higher than I thought.
Soaked the edges of a cheap paperback in cold brew for 2 hours and the color came out way more even than the $12 bottle of edge stain I used last month. Had to let it dry flat for a full day though or the pages would warp. Has anyone else tried this with tea or something else?
For months I was using straight craft paint to color the page edges on my paperbacks. The results were always streaky and the pages would stick together after drying. Last week I tried mixing the paint with like 30% water before applying it in thin coats. It took three passes but the coverage is smooth and the pages still flip normally. Has anyone else had better luck with watered down paint versus the straight stuff?
I was two hours into rebinding a 600 page fantasy novel on my kitchen table when I realized my glue was bubbling up and turning white. Turns out that Elmer's school glue I grabbed from the kids' craft bin has too much water in it. Had to peel all the pages apart and start over with proper bookbinding PVA from a local art shop. Anyone else ruin a project by grabbing the wrong glue off the shelf?
I was trying to rebind a thick fantasy novel and about 20 pages in my $12 gun just stopped pushing glue out. Clogged up solid over the heating element. Now I'm stuck with half a loose cover and I gotta buy something better maybe a dual temp one from the craft store near my work. Anyone else deal with cheap glue guns ruining a book mod project?
I was at the Friends of the Library sale last Saturday and picked up a beat up copy of a mystery novel for 50 cents. The spine was already loose so I figured I could practice some rebinding on it. When I got home I realized the glue was this old yellow hide glue that came off in sheets. That got me thinking about how I prep books before any modding. Now I always check the binding type and glue before I even think about adding a hidden pocket or staining pages. It saved me from ruining a nice vintage cookbook I found at a thrift store the week after. Has anyone else found a specific glue or binding that just does not cooperate with your projects?
I tried painting over a cheap paperback cover for a rebind project and the old cover art literally bled through after two coats of gesso. Has anyone else run into weird ink reactions from old mass market books?
She saw the books I did with tea and turmeric dye on my porch last Sunday and asked if I'd dropped my mug on them. Made me wonder if my color choices are too muddy. Anyone else get comments that make you second guess your mod style?
I was at Powell's Books last weekend digging through the horror section. Found a copy of House of Leaves where someone had glued in a tiny envelope on the inside back cover. Inside was a hand written note that looked like it was part of the story. It gave me the idea to try something similar on my own books. Has anyone else hidden little messages or objects in their mods to make them more interactive?
I used to use Elmer's school glue for all my rebinds since it was cheap and easy to find. Then about six months ago I picked up a bottle of Lineco PVA from a local craft store in Portland and noticed the pages laid flatter and the spine held up way better after 3 months of use. Anyone else seen a big difference switching glue types for rebinding projects?
I thought dark edges were just a gimmick for booktok, but I tried a cold brew soak on a cheap paperback and the uneven vintage look was way better than I expected. The smell is still there after 3 months too. Has anyone else had luck with tea instead?
I had this old paperback where the pages were all wavy from humidity, and I tried running a warm iron over a parchment sheet on top of them. It actually flattened about 80% of the ripples in like 2 minutes. Anyone else try this or got a better method?
I posted photos of my first rebind in the Bookbinding subreddit and someone pointed out my hinge joints were way too wide and visible. They said it looked like the cover was wearing a belt. I went back and trimmed 3mm off each side of the paper hinges on my next attempt using a steel ruler and x-acto knife, and now the spine sits flush against the text block. Has anyone else gotten harsh feedback that actually made their work way better?
I was working on turning an old hardcover into a hidden storage book (you know, like a secret stash), and I got stuck between using spray adhesive or double-sided tape for attaching the fabric pocket inside. I went with the spray adhesive after watching a few tutorials, and honestly it was a mess at first because I oversprayed onto about 3 pages I didn't want glued. Once I masked everything off with paper, it held way better than tape ever would though. The fabric stays flat and doesn't bubble up near the spine, which tape always did for me on previous projects. Just make sure you let it cure for a full 12 hours before closing the book, or you'll peel your pocket right off. Has anyone else had trouble with adhesive bleeding through thin pages in their builds?
I dropped $60 on this pre-made bookbinding kit from a shop called CraftyBindings on Etsy, figured it would have everything I needed for my first rebind. Opened it up and the glue was half dried out, the needle was bent, and the thread snapped on my second stitch. Had to run to Michaels and spend another $20 on real supplies just to finish the job. Anyone else get burned by one of these fancy kits that look great in photos but fall apart when you actually try to use them?
Has anyone else wasted a whole afternoon on a simple step just because you skipped checking your blade?
I thought I'd be fancy and try staining the page edges of an old copy of Moby Dick my buddy gave me. Grabbed a cheap heat gun from Harbor Freight for $40 to speed up the drying between coats. Thing got way too hot way too fast and I set it down on my table for two seconds. Now there's a perfect gun-shaped burn mark in the wood and the book edges look like a muddy mess. Anyone else ruin furniture trying to DIY a book project?
Last Tuesday I tried staining the edges of a paperback with coffee and it turned into a soggy mess. The pages stuck together and the cover warped so bad I had to toss the whole thing. Later that week, I rushed a rebinding job on a cheap novel and glued the spine crooked. Made me realize I need to test materials on old books first and give each step a full day to dry. Has anyone else ruined a few books before getting a technique right?
I was REAL skeptical when my buddy Mark suggested using beet juice to stain pages for an antique look, but I had a copy of 'The Secret Garden' from a thrift store that was already trashed. I mixed about a cup of beet juice with half a cup of water and brushed it on the edges, let it dry overnight. The color came out this deep burgundy that honestly matched the cover perfectly, not pink at all. Has anyone else tried natural dyes like turmeric or coffee that actually worked?
I tried it on a 1978 encyclopedia set I found at a goodwill in Akron last month and the pages fell apart after three opens. Why not just do a proper spine detach with a scalpel and save the original signatures?
Was at the Portland Book Festival last month and watched a vendor drill a perfect 1-inch hole through a stack of old paperbacks to make a hidden storage box. He said he uses a cheap Ryobi press drill and clamps the pages tight with rubber bands first. Been afraid to try drilling into books for years but that demo made me buy a used press off Facebook for 40 bucks. Anyone else ever done this kind of mod or am I asking for a ruined book?
I was in my kitchen last Saturday trying to do that coffee-stained page thing for a fantasy novel I'm rebinding. Followed three different youtube guides, used a cheap mass market paperback first. Pages just came out splotchy and some stuck together. Ended up with a weird brown line down the middle of like 50 pages that looks like a dirty watermark lol. had to toss the whole thing. Anyone else mess this up bad? Got a better method for even staining?
Everyone online says never use superglue on book spines because it gets brittle, but I had a 20 year old paperback splitting apart and PVA just wasn't holding it after 3 tries. I dabbed a tiny amount of gel superglue along the inside crease and clamped it for 10 minutes, and that spine has survived being thrown in my delivery bag for two months now. Has anyone else actually gotten good results breaking the 'rules' on glue types?