Now all your book charms are glued, beautiful, and spectacularly easy to ruin if you touch them too much. It’s time to change that last part and make them even better.
The glazing/lacquering part takes 6 days if done entirely with DuraGloss. That is most certainly the way to ensure the most consistent quality, prevent oops’s and so on. There is another method that will shave off two days using the Rangers Inkssentials Glossy stuff you used for the glue, but there is more futzing about and risk involved. I’ll go through both methods so you can decide for yourself.
As always, if you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to comment here. Most people write me directly, but I’m noticing that most people ask the same questions. Your comment (and the answer) might help someone else. Also…someone smarter than me might have a better answer!
What You’ll Need:
- –DuraClear Gloss
- –Ranger Inkssentials Gloss (If you’re going to try a few using the cheat method)
- -Small flat edge paint brushes (I like a 1/4 inch and a 3/8-1/2 inch with Taklon)
- -Your marble pieces
- -Your clamps
- -A cookie sheet or two
- -Wax paper
- -Paper towels
- -A few toothpicks, some sharp straight pins
- -A few small plastic cups (like those marketed for mouthwash)
How it works:
Because there are six sides to one of your mini-books, you’ll need 6 days to do it. Each of those days (unless you use the cheat* method for the edges) you’ll be putting about four “brush” coats and one to two “dome” coats of DuraClear Gloss Varnish. The first four coats go quickly, with a half hour between coats. The two dome coats need several hours between applications, and that last coat should rest for at least 12 hours. For efficiency, it’s best to set this up and start in the morning, finishing with that last dome coat in the evening and letting it set overnight.
*For the cheat method, you’ll be sealing the skinny sides (top, bottom, and page side) with a single, very thick helping of Rangers Inkssentials. That shaves a couple of days off the process, but it can lead to a higher failure rate. Every single bubble that appears will need to be popped with a pin (which can be frustrating since they tend to just scoot away from the pin) or else it will leave that side a mess or even create brittle gaps. I do it, but I do have to make extra books because some will wind up going into the Big Box of Fail. For instructions with the Cheater method, go to the second half of the post.
Protective Coats:
- -Put wax paper on a cookie sheet and set out your marble pieces so that you have room to pick up the books you’ll put on them without causing others to fall.
- -Check all your books and be sure they are well glued. DuraClear is a very liquid varnish, which is why it works so well for this, so it will make any paper edges that aren’t well glued to the sculpey interiors lift.
- -Choose your side. It’s easier to keep things straight if you do all the same side. I always do the back first so that the front, which is the most critical, has less chance of being messed up.
- -Put some DuraClear into your small plastic cup, but not much. For about 40 books I usually put a teaspoon or less in it.
- -Dip your brush into it, but scrape off almost all of the gloss so the brush is just barely damp.
- -Brush it on one side of the book. It should almost be a dry brush and it will look textured when you’re done and not glossy. What you should see is a bit of deepening of the color on your cover. These thin coats are really to create a barrier between your paper and the dome coat to protect it. If the ink runs, then you’re likely using too much gloss. (The only other time I’ve heard of it running is older printers that don’t have great ink.)
- -Let it sit on the marble piece while you do the others. Apply the next coat after 30 minutes. Same procedure.
- -Do this for four thin coats in total.
Dome Coats:
- -After your first four coats are done, check out your books closely. They should have a little bit of shine and the texture of the paper should have diminished a bit. If it doesn’t seem like there’s enough, do another coat or two, but once you’re done with those thin coats, let the books sit for at least two hours so that the varnish gets nice and hard.
- -Dome Coats are a bit tricky, but once you’ve got it down, it’s not hard. What you’re going to do is plop the varnish on until it makes a milky dome over the top of the side you’re doing. That’s what will create that dimensional, but very smooth and shiny, appearance. You’ll need a lot more DuraClear for this one…a lot more. To do this, load your brush and then dab the majority of it onto the center of your mini-book. Then use your brush to dab (and spread) that blob around all the way to the edges. Tap the edges of your chosen side super carefully, because you don’t want it to run over the sides and make the book stick to your marble pieces. When you’re done, carefully put your mini-book onto the marble piece, with all the edges of the book hanging over the marble. It should look a bit like this.
Wait, Rinse, Repeat:
Waiting is the next step. You want to wait for many hours for this dome coat to dry. Even when it seems dry, the slightest pressure can deform the coating. I usually wait eight hours. Once that’s done, do it again if you need to. Sometimes you may not need a second dome coat, depending on a whole slew of factors like the paper, the colors on your book, the size of the text…etc. Give a second coat a try on a few of them and see if you love it.
Second and remaining sides:
- -For the other side, do the same thing but be cautious of getting any varnish-covered finger marks on your completed side (#LFMF there). Be sure to wait at least 12 hours after your second dome coat (eight after your first dome coat) before starting on the other side.
- -For the edge sides, you’re going to do the same, but the easiest way to work with them is to wedge the books between the pieces of marble or use your clamps like this:
For all you cheaters:
- -To shave off a couple of days in waiting time (and perhaps reclaim your kitchen), you can use the Rangers Inkssentials Glossy Accents. I’ve tried many other things, and the rangers (though it still gets bubbles like mad) is the best one for this particular usage.
- -In the picture above, the clamped books are actually my cheater books. You really do need clamps to use this method because there is only one coat, perhaps two and it dries quickly. Clamps allow you to keep the edges of the books level, so you don’t get a raised mound of it at the lower edge.
- -First, clamp all your books, so that you know they’ll be level when you put them back on the cookie sheet to dry.
- -Then turn your rangers over so that all the air inside the bottle is squeezed up and away from the tip. Very slowly cover the edge of the book until you have a dome coat. Then inspect it under the magnifier to see if there are any bubbles under there. Tiny bubbles seem to grow as it dries and it looks awful. If you can, use a pin to pop any bubbles. If they seem to slide away from your pin, then scoop them out without mercy.
- -It should take only a couple of hours to dry fairly hard. Not final hard, but hard enough for you to turn it over and do another edge.
- -NOTE: I tried to use Rangers on all six sides of some book charms and every single one of them went into the Big Box of Fail. Even if one side came out okay, there was always some huge bubble somewhere. I recommend only doing this cheat method on the skinny sides (top, bottom, page end).
Now, you have this! A lovely box of book charms just waiting for you to swag away with. You may feel greedy right now, might want to clutch them close and scream, “Mine!” I understand, I really do. Just let them sit in the box for a few days. Look at them frequently. Maybe whisper the word, “Precious,” to them now and again. Soon, though, it will be time to send them on their way. I’ll be putting more posts up to show you how to make uber cool bracelets like the one at the top of this post, book charm bookmarks, necklace rings and all sorts of loveliness. Till then, congrats!
