Just realized my bookcloth choice was making me hate flatback spines

I spent six months fighting with rounded spines until i tried a stiff bookcloth from Talas on a whim. Has anyone else found that a simple material swap fixes a structural issue you thought was your technique?

2 comments

2 Comments

matthewmartin13d ago

That stiff bookcloth from Talas" really jumped out at me. I had a similar thing happen but with endpapers - I was using this thin japanese tissue that was making my text blocks all wavy and loose. Switched to a standard 80lb drawing paper and suddenly my hinges were tight and everything laid flat. Funny how we blame our hands first before even thinking about the materials.

anthony12913d ago

Tore through about a dozen text blocks before I figured out it was my press board not the paper... switched from that cheap MDF to a proper piece of plywood and everything lined up perfect. Sometimes it's the stuff we don't even think about that's screwing us up... the tools just sitting there on the bench. Makes me wonder what else I've been blaming myself for when it was just bad gear the whole time.