Bookbinding

It's been over a quarter-century since I took graphic arts in college, where the final project of the semester was to build a set of post-bound cover boards for the class notebook, and bind it, but it seems I'm going to be putting that long-dormant skill to work, building my own photo album covers, starting this year.

But I'm wondering. Back then, assuming we used buckram and cover stock instead of taking the easy way out (i.e. using "Contact paper" instead), the recommended adhesives were either paste or 3M 77 spray. I opted for paste.

What's the "gold standard" for adhesives these days, when you're applying cloth to cover boards? I'm probably going to be using either Dover or Arrestox, over regular cover boards, probably with a picture (most likely a color laser print) mounted on the front cover board, visible through a window cut in the cloth, so I would need either (a) something that wipes off a color laser print without a trace, (b) something that wouldn't ooze in the first place, or (c) a way to protect the picture, without compromising the bond holding the cloth down.

Any suggestions?

I'd suggest a mixture, actually. When covering with cloth (any kind) I will put a layer of PVA on my boards and then a thin layer of paste. PVA by itself "grabs" to quickly and gives you very little time to move your boards into the proper position if they land just a little off. Paste by itself takes too long to dry. The two layers give you just enough time to get it into position but don't may you sit there with weights on it all day.

Thanks for getting back to me.

This evening, I had one of those lightbulb moments, and realized that if I matted the picture to the cloth first, using the Pioneer acid-free double-sided mounting tape that's become an old friend, and taking care to seal it on all four sides, then there should be no need to worry about whether the casing-in adhesive will (1) ooze out onto the picture and permanently deface it, or (2) fail to permanently join the cloth to the picture.

The Pioneer tape is one of the very few pressure-sensitive adhesives I've come to trust, and I've now got pieces of scratch paper attached with it to the backs of a sample of Arrestox, and a sample of Dover, and once it's had a chance to develop full strength, I'll see how well it holds.