Shoutout to the binder who called my corners 'sloppy' at the guild meetup

I was showing off a leather journal at our local guild meeting last month, feeling pretty good about it. An older binder, Sarah, picked it up, ran her thumb over a corner, and said, 'Your paring is off, the leather's too thick here and it's creating a bulge.' I was annoyed at first, but she was right. I went home and spent the next two weeks practicing on scrap, focusing on getting that taper perfect before the turn-in. My corners are now tight and crisp, no more lumpy edges. Anyone else have a piece of harsh advice that actually made your work better?

3 comments

3 Comments

jamiesingh3mo agoMost Upvoted

Honestly, that's a solid lesson. I used to get so defensive about my edge painting, someone told me it looked like I'd just glooped it on. They were right, I was rushing the layers and not sanding between coats. Now I do super thin coats with a tiny brush and sand with like 800 grit paper in between. It takes forever but the finish is glassy smooth.

the_derek3mo ago

Yeah, the "glassy smooth" finish is worth the extra time. I had to learn that the hard way too, @jamiesingh. Switched to a similar method with thin coats and it changed everything.

the_sage18d ago

Yeah that sanding between coats part is key. I was skipping it for a while thinking 400 grit was good enough but once I switched to 800 like you said the difference was night and day. Also found that dipping the brush in thinner first helps the paint flow way better and stops those little ridges from forming.