The Book Arts ListServe recently served up a nice course of instructions by way of a link to the Guild of Book Workers: The National Organization for All the Book Arts. Members of the group are professionals who have been working in the field, many for decades, and have vast technical knowledge. After perusing the list of handouts available as pdfs I found two in particular that you might be interested in.—Karen Zukor, a conservationist, on Adhesives
—Hedi Kyle, with a trove of book structures and boxes, Preservation Enclosures & Architectural Book Environments
In Hedi Kyle's handout I found a reference to creating "tongues" when covering a box. A student in my studio years ago attempted to show me these, at the time calling them "legs," but I was teaching a different technique. Tongues or legs, whatever they are called, they are a good alternative to what I have been doing and teaching. A small detail, but they can make wrapping a box a little easier, eliminating the bunched-up material that can form inside the box if you don't make a series of strategic cuts. Here's what it looks like in photo form. Complete, detailed instructions (minus the legs) can be found on pages 226-228 in Making Handmade Books.
Wrap the sides, as usual.
Cut triangles at the corners at the base.
Glue down the flaps/turn ins.
At the corners, using a knife against a ruler,
cut two slits (tongues/legs), one on either side of the corner.
This will allow the large flaps to fit perfectly inside.
Glue down the tongues/legs at all four corners.
Apply glue to the flaps, one at a time,
and smooth down with a bone folder,
first making sure the top edge is flat.
I cut my book cloth extra wide, but you may need a rectangle
of book cloth to cover any exposed board inside.
I also glued a rectangle of black book cloth on the underside.
That's it!
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