I finally taught my cousin to make a journal, and it was a total blast from the past

We were at my kitchen table, and she kept getting glue all over the pages instead of the spine. It was honestly pretty funny, watching her struggle with the needle and thread. That whole mess took me right back to learning in my mentor's basement workshop, where we used old, heavy presses. He'd have us fold paper for what felt like forever, just by hand. Now, I've got all these quick-dry adhesives and pre-cut boards, but the basics haven't changed. It was cool to see her face light up when she finally got it, even with the sticky fingers.

3 comments

3 Comments

avery321mo ago

Quick-dry adhesives make the spine work totally different now.

evan6841mo ago

Yeah because nothing says comfort like a spine that sets in 30 seconds. Wait til you try to actually read the thing and it just falls apart.

anthony_fox1mo ago

I used to be right there with evan684 about the quick stuff being worse. But watching my cousin mess up with the glue actually made me get it. The new adhesives set up so fast that you really have to know how to put it on right the first time, there's no fixing it. It's not easier, it's just a different kind of hard. So maybe the problem isn't the glue, but needing to learn the new way to do it.