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Shoutout to the old bookbinder at the Seattle Art Fair

Ngl, I used to think using a bone folder was just for scoring paper and that was it. But I was at the Seattle Art Fair last month watching this older bookbinder work on a leather journal. He showed me how he uses the bone folder to smooth out every single layer of the spine after gluing. I always skipped that step because I figured it was extra work for no reason. Turns out, doing that makes the cover lay flat way better and stops bubbles from forming later. I tried it on my last project and the difference was night and day. The spine on my latest bound book has zero wrinkles for the first time ever. Has anyone else picked up a trick like that from watching someone in person?

2 comments

2 Comments

troy_owens1mo ago

Man that bone folder trick you mentioned about smoothing every layer after gluing is gold. I saw this old timer at a ren faire do the same thing with a river rock he found. Night and day difference on my last journal spine too. Little details like that get skipped all the time but theyre the ones that matter.

spencer1991mo ago

That old timer with the river rock is exactly right. My buddy ben tried using a flat piece of deer antler he found out hiking and it worked way better than anything i've seen in a store. He swore by it for months on end, saying it somehow adds a smoother finish compared to a bone folder. He said the texture and weight of it just presses things down really evenly without crushing the paper fibers. It's funny how something so simple and random can make such a big difference, just like your ren faire story.