That trick with bone folders and wet paper I keep seeing wrong

I was at a workshop last month and watched three people try to crease text weight paper with a bone folder on the wet glue side and it just shredded every sheet. The whole point of bone folders is they don't leave marks, but if the paper is damp from paste it will tear every time no matter how smooth the tool is. Has anyone else noticed this is like a huge blind spot in beginner tutorials or am I just seeing the wrong ones?

3 comments

3 Comments

mia70025d ago

Wait were you watching people use a brand new bone folder or one thats been broken in? I find fresh ones have that weird slick coating that somehow makes everything worse on damp paper. Did the instructor say anything about letting the paste set for like 30 seconds before creasing or did they just go straight in while it was still wet?

the_thea25d ago

Oh man, that's such a good question! I didn't even think about the bone folder being new or broken in but now I'm wondering too. The instructor was using one that looked pretty beat up and dark, so I bet it was well-used. But the big thing is they totally went straight in while the paste was wet, no waiting at all! Would that 30 second wait really make that big of a difference for keeping the paper from tearing?

joel_clark3725d ago

Respectfully, I don't think the break-in period matters as much as people claim. @mia700 I get what you're saying about the slick coating on new folders, but I've seen old beat-up ones shred damp paper just as fast. The real issue is the paper itself. Text weight paper isn't made for wet creasing at all. Bone folders are designed for dry paper or just mildly damp materials. If you paste it, wait for it to dry completely, then crease, it works fine. Throwing a bone folder at wet paste is asking for trouble no matter how smooth the tool is. The beginners in that workshop were set up to fail from the start with that paper choice.