We were a small group of six learning to make bookcloth yesterday – everyone very lovely. Bookbinders are always excellent people!

It was an all day class. Fabric was provided, some people brought their own – which was really quite brave!

The process was fairly simple, glue rice paper to the back of fabric pieces and on to a large sheet of perspex. Let dry in the sun, cut the freshly made bookcloth off the perspex and you’re done!

drying cloth

We made as many pieces as we could fit into the time. I made seven, some people more.

My very underwhelming results photos – it’s really quite hard to capture the colours.

The glue is made from cornflour, water and pva glue. There’s definitely some skill involved in the application – I have a couple of wobbly and rippled pieces where I either glued incorrectly or removed the cloth from the perspex before it was entirely dry.

I’m very pleased with some of them, some not. I’m not sure if I’ll ever use any of it, but it was fun and interesting to learn.

I’ve no more crafty classes in the calendar, though I am on the wait-list for some book-related ones in the second half of the year. Must cast about for other items of interest!

♥