I made this book by mounting a diamondback snakeskin to a marbled paper. I used straight PVA glue because the marbled paper is thin and expands a lot when wet. It helped to put wax paper on both sides of the paper before pressing it overnight in a nip press. The end result was a snakeskin overlayed onto a marbled paper with very little wrinkling. The skin actually came thin enough that it didn't need to be shaved before casing in and was able to be turned in over the foredge. On the sides where it was turned in (covering the rounded foredge) I did have to glue down the scales individually because they popped up. Otherwise a surprisingly easy book to do. The blue and gold marbled paper was meant to have a snake in the water vibe. The only problem I encountered was in getting the fabric of the quarter binding to lay evenly against the snakeskin/marbled paper piece I jutted up. What I ended up doing was layering a piece of plain paper beneath the marbled paper and then cutting out the outline of the skin so that both the thinner marbled paper and the skin glued to the top were flush with the fabric. You can see my instructions on how to do a quarter binding to learn the rest.
I've become a little spoiled getting to use the plough to even off the edges of books. It's a little intimidating at first but once you get the hang of it the smooth edge is addictive, and takes some of the pressure off of binding it perfectly. Basically you just have to mark what side you want trimmed, put the text block between boards that are ever so slightly bigger with the margin to be trimmed exposed on the side facing you, and line it up in the press with the spine side facing you to begin. (Trim the foredge last.) The hardest part is getting it in the press with the margin to be trimmed evenly exposed/not tilted at all, etc. Though I will admit, I still can only plough in one direction, unlike Gavin who zips back and forth and at twice my speed. Someday!
I made this book by mounting a diamondback snakeskin to a marbled paper. I used straight PVA glue because the marbled paper is thin and expands a lot when wet. It helped to put wax paper on both sides of the paper before pressing it overnight in a nip press. The end result was a snakeskin overlayed onto a marbled paper with very little wrinkling. The skin actually came thin enough that it didn't need to be shaved before casing in and was able to be turned in over the foredge. On the sides where it was turned in (covering the rounded foredge) I did have to glue down the scales individually because they popped up. Otherwise a surprisingly easy book to do. The blue and gold marbled paper was meant to have a snake in the water vibe. The only problem I encountered was in getting the fabric of the quarter binding to lay evenly against the snakeskin/marbled paper piece I jutted up. What I ended up doing was layering a piece of plain paper beneath the marbled paper and then cutting out the outline of the skin so that both the thinner marbled paper and the skin glued to the top were flush with the fabric. You can see my instructions on how to do a quarter binding to learn the rest.
