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TIL the rare book librarian in Des Moines showed me how she repairs torn pages with wheat paste, and my whole approach was wrong
I was at the state library archive last Tuesday for a tour and she pulled out a 1912 atlas with a torn page. She mixed wheat paste right there in a little jar, about 2 tablespoons, and used it instead of my usual PVA on the tear. I tried it on a book from my shelf at home and it dried flat with no shine, which PVA never does for me. Now I'm wondering if anyone else keeps wheat paste on hand for repairs or if it's just too much hassle.
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the_jordan7d ago
My grandma used to make her own paste from flour and water for papier mache and I still remember the smell of it going sour in the jar after a couple days. She kept it in the fridge and it lasted maybe a week before it got gross. There was this one summer I tried using it to patch a water damaged paperback and the page turned out fine but the whole room smelled like old soup for days. These days I just buy the pre mixed stuff online because I can't deal with the mixing and the smell.
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