Useful tools

One of the great benefits of a long workshop is seeing what tools your colleagues love and use. I made a short list of items to add to my toolbox when I came home from Penland:
* a small plastic jar for PVA. I have a large container of PVA, but it's much easier to use in small amounts. I often use a small dish to hold an hour or two's worth of PVA, but it's often either not enough or too much and I end up letting it dry up. A small jar with a lid is the perfect solution.
*a bead caliper. Julie Chen used the caliper to measure covering materials and book board for the fold gaps in our wrap cases, but I like it as well for measuring the depth of a book block to make a spine.
*a "magic" eraser. Ok, it's not really magic, but it is absolutely necessary to keep on hand when you're using book cloth and glue. There's always a tiny spot that shows up on the fabric, no matter how careful you are and a rubber cement pick-up eraser does a good job of taking care of it.
*more key stock. I have no idea what the original use of key stock is, but if you go into any hardware or hobby store, you'll find a display of brass stock in different widths. The flat pieces in 1/4", 1/2", 3/4" and 1" measures are invaluable for quick measurements. Generally the price is less than $5, though Michael's has now figured out the value and are selling a packaged 1/2" measure for $10! The hobby store display also offers stock that is "cubed" (my word for equal measurements on all four sides) and is great for measuring the gap in your case wrapped boxes.

We used magnets in many of our boxes and I really liked the supply I brought along with me from K&J magnets...so wonderfully tiny and powerful. Instead of trying to match up magnets and polarities on each side of a closure as I had tried previously, Julie suggested using tiny, flat pieces of steel on one side of a closure (covered by paper or cloth) and a magnet on the other side (also covered). That way the closure always works, even if your box measurements are off by a hair. The same company that provides brass stock also sells very thin steel sheets. I understand it can be difficult to cut...the clerk recommended a metal blade in a jig saw; Julie uses a slug cutter in her typesetting shop. Good old super glue is all that's needed to glue the metal or magnet to your book board.

Magnetic attraction

Several years ago, a colleague in a book arts class showed me how she used magnets on the closures of her boxes. It was one of those things that I never followed up on but at the same time never forgot about either.
We'll be working with magnets at Penland in a few weeks, but I decided to get a jump on the technique a bit and work some things out myself. I ordered two sizes of disc magnets and two sizes of block magnets to try out from K&J Magnetics.
It's been fun to work with these little guys (and they are little). And then there are times when they are just fun to play with. It's like 3rd grade science class all over again. They spin across your work mat to attach to the most surprising things (like the camera). And because they are so incredibly thin, it's relatively hard to pry them off.

I used the 4.5 mm drill bit in my Japanese push drill to create a pair of holes that fit the 3/16" disc magnet. The disc is only 1/32" deep, so you don't need to drill very far into your book board. In order to keep the same measurements for the other piece of board and the pair of magnets it would need, I cut through a piece of scrap paper as well. Then I used the scrap paper jig for markings on the other board.
One of the things that came back to me from 3rd grade was the fact that magnets have poles and they only attract on the opposite sides. If I had embedded the magnets with the same pole facing each other, there would be no closure. So I marked the magnets with a Sharpie ink dot on the corresponding sides before I glued them in. With a tight fit and a little PVA, the magnets are virtually invisible when covered with paper or glue. And they hold incredibly well. I really only needed one magnet on each board, but it seemed more balanced to have two.


The magnets are so tiny that I've started thinking about other fun ways to use them. It will be great to have full days and a sharp board shear (for cutting book board) at Penland for two weeks to play!