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My $40 bookbinding glue was a total disaster, here is what happened
I spent $40 on a fancy brand of PVA glue last month from a specialty art store. The label said it was pH neutral and archival quality, which sounded perfect for my projects. But when I used it on a cloth cover, the glue soaked right through and left ugly dark stains. I even waited 24 hours to dry like the instructions said, but it still made the cloth stiff and wavy. I ended up having to scrap the whole cover and start over, so that was $40 down the drain plus the cost of materials. Has anyone else had trouble with specialty glues being too watery for book cloth?
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the_phoenix2d ago
Yeah, zara_hunt is right about the priming thing. I had the same problem with a pricey PVA that was supposed to be the best, and it turned my book cloth into a mess. What worked for me was using a thin layer of wheat paste as a size on the cloth first. Let it dry, then apply your PVA. That stopped the soak-through dead in its tracks and kept the cloth flexible. Have you tried anything like that yet?
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zara_hunt2d ago
Honestly, that "archival quality" claim on the label is usually just marketing hype for most bookbinding glues. The real problem might be you used it on cloth that wasn't primed or sealed first, which makes it soak in like a sponge. Try a stiffer PVA glue next time, or better yet, mix a tiny bit of methyl cellulose into your glue to thicken it up and stop the bleeding.
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