Just realized my wheat paste recipe was overcomplicating things this whole time

I was at a guild meetup last Saturday in Portland and this older binder mentioned she just uses plain flour and water, no cooked paste, no preservatives, for most of her cloth work. I've been doing the whole cooked wheat paste routine with a pinch of salt and glycerin for years, thinking it was the only way to get a strong hold. She said she's been doing the cold mix method for 12 years and only loses about 1 in 20 spines to adhesive failure. I tried it on a small journal yesterday and the tack felt totally different, but after 24 hours the bond seems just as solid. Has anyone else ditched the cooked method and stuck with the simple version long term, or is there a catch with humid climates I should worry about?

2 comments

2 Comments

paul_taylor211mo agoMost Upvoted

Honestly, that cold mix trick is what a lot of the old timers swear by, and the math makes sense. The cooked stuff is great for heavy board work, but for cloth, the raw flour gets enough grab as it dries without the extra steps. Tbh, I'd just keep an eye on it in humid spots, that's the only time I've seen plain paste get lazy, so maybe add a tiny pinch of salt if you're in a wet climate.

murray.jana1mo ago

No way I'm with you on this one. "Raw flour gets enough grab" maybe in a perfect world, but I've seen that stuff peel right off cloth after a week, especially if the fabric has any sizing or finish on it. Cooked paste actually gelatinizes and bonds with the fibers, that's just chemistry, not old timer superstition. And salt? That's a band-aid, not a fix, it can even leave weird stains on lighter materials. I'm not saying cold mix is useless, but for anything that needs to hold up past a weekend, I'll take the extra 10 minutes and do it right.