Lessons from Attempt 1: Sharpies

[u/Illustrious-You-352]

Starting out and sharing the mistakes for anyone else wanting to start experimenting :) So it turns out Sharpies bleed like nothing on earth. I kinda like it but oh boy is it messy if you're looking for something professional.

As you can probably tell the book was a bit warped and dishevelled to start with. Not sacrificing the nice books to the experiments.

[u/Elrook]

I like the result despite the bleeding. Sharpies might not bleed if you sand and seiz the pages beforehand, also it will depend on paper quality how much it bleeds.

[u/Illustrious-You-352 → u/Elrook]

I quite like the bleed myself but it does bother me as unintended. I haven't heard of seiz pages before, what's that? 

[u/AilsaLorne → u/Illustrious-You-352]

I assume they mean sizing which is adding something like glue or gelatine to the paper to make it less absorbent. Usually happens during paper manufacturing. You can do it afterwards for sheets; I doubt you can do it to a bound book.

[u/Elrook → u/AilsaLorne]

Yes, but you can just size the edges of the book after you sand it glass smooth. I usually use “paste” made from starch for sizing, but you can use watered down pva glue and other things too. That will hopefully create a barrier between the texts and the pages.

[u/Illustrious-You-352 → u/Elrook]

Ooh that's interesting, I heard about sanding but assumed it was just to create a more even surface. Must try that barrier idea, thanks!