




Made my own Swatch Book
So I handbound a 120+ pages A6 swatch book with coptic stich and PVA glue. I used unwaxed linen thread (due to longevity I was worried about the acidity) and it was kinda loose until I glued everything with 2 coats. I used a pressing set up from Amazon and one of my 10Ib hand weights lol.
The first swatch did wonderful and everything dried quickly until I did the drops. Those took an extra 20 minutes to dry, surprisingly the ink wanted to stay in its bubble, same with second swatch, but it lead to an interesting result with Hubble clearly showing the green-bronze undertones! I need to go back and do chromatography!
That one is done on the backside of the first! The paper is Mix media Fabraino 108Ib, 160gsm and is surprisingly fountain pen friendly and smooth enough for writing. It is a bit chunky due to the gsm but the ghosting is almost impossible to see unless holding one page up to the light and even then barely imperceivable.
My stamps use Ranger white to create that faint outline, I do have clear, gold, black embossing powder but I want something low profile to focus on the actual ink. Might just try Versa watermark after letting the ink dry! Anyway, I really enjoyed making this and have plenty of paper left over to do so since I bought the 150 pad. Not sure if I want to trim the edges or cut and daub each side of the card to make it quicker to flip through.