Spent 6 hours on a rounded spine, then my glue chose violence

I was in my kitchen last Tuesday, building a rounded spine on a leather journal and the PVA just beaded up on the mull, no grip at all. Tore the whole thing apart at 11pm and rewrapped it with a heavier paste, which fixed it the next morning. Does anyone else keep a backup glue mix nearby for when the humidity suddenly shifts, or am I just cursed?

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1 Comment

derek_ramirez1mo ago

That line about your glue "choosing violence" hit me hard because I used to think humidity was overblown in bookbinding talk. I figured any decent PVA would just do its job, no matter what the weather was doing outside. Then I had a batch of mull act exactly like yours did last fall, bead up and slide right off, and I spent the whole night redoing a text block I was furious about. It completely changed my mind, now I keep two different paste mixes in sealed jars and check the hygrometer before I even open my glue pot. You are not cursed, you just learned the same lesson I did the painful way.