Re: Book cloth

[Maggie Young <myoung@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Maureen M Carey <mcarey@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> asks:

<snip>

>>  I'd also appreciate any advice on backing your own cloth - just in case
>>I can't find a commercial cloth suitable for this binding. Does anyone
>>have experience with linen or silk and preparing them for binding cloth?

  What I've done to back my own cloth is:

  Apply a light, even coat of PVA to a suitable piece of paper about 1-2
  inches larger in all dimensions than the cloth I wish to back, and let it
  air dry.

  Place the cloth on the adhesive-coated side of the paper, and fuse them
  using an iron on the appropriate fabric setting.  PVA is somewhat
  thermoplastic, and this softens it enough to allow the two materials
  to be fused.

  This seems to produce a durable fabric/paper bond without any
  strikethrough, even on fairly thin cloth.

  I've never tried this with silk or linen, just cotton muslin, but I
  suspect it would also work with those materials. I can't remember the
  glass transition temperature of PVA off the top of my head, but I
  seem to remember it being low enough that the "silk" setting on
  an iron should be sufficient for fusion.

  (it occurs to me also that my experience has been with even-textured
  fabrics. I'm not certain whether more textured cloths would be more
  problematic in terms of strength of bond and/or "force needed to achieve
  good bond crushes the texture of the fabric".  I speculate that this
  might be remedied by ironing thicker/textured fabrics paper side up,
  with a padded/yielding surface underneath to preserve the texture of
  the cloth. Sounds like I'll want to experiment...)(oooh, don't throw
  me in that briar patch! <grin>)

Maggie Young