We make all the bookcloth we use on our cloth books and conservation repairs, by hand in house. This ensures that the quality is the highest possible while avoiding the inevitable clinical machined look of commercial cloths. We only use high quality pure linen or cotton, with a weave and weight to suit the requirements. Because of our experience making cloths, we are able to offer them for sale to people who wish to purchased bookcloth made in the traditional victorian style.
Our cloths are washed, stretched, sized, pigmented, calendered and more, all by hand. Giving them a wonderful feel that cannot be replicated by commercially available machined cloths. Victorian bookcloth, absent of the plastic which fills modern cloths, gives a wonderful tactile feel in the hand and makes the book a pleasure to hold for extended reading sessions.
We are able to use modern plastics if you require in the creation of the cloth in order to aid the adhesion of heat set gold foil for instance.
Our pre-made cloths are all a standard size which will do a very large and thick book, or several ordinary books.
We will only use the highest lightfast rated pigments so that our cloths will not fade in the sun.
Please get in touch if you wish us to make something to specification. We can usually make something to your required thickness, weight, stiffness and colour at only marginal cost beyond our prefabricated cloths.
All our cloths come with our signature on the reverse (which will not show through when placed on a book at all) to confirm we are proud of the item.
For all our bookcloth used on commissioned work, we will endeavour to colour match as precisely as we can what already exists. However this can only be done because we have the article in our hands from which to make constant comparisons and corrections. If you require a cloth of a specific colour we will of course be happy to make sure we get as close to that as possible, but colours shown through digital screens and printers are always different from screen to screen and printer to printer so it is impossible for us to match colour with any degree of precision remotely. We can work of of a hex code or RBG colour code, but again, how that looks on our technology will be different to how it looks on yours.
We aim to post all our marbled paper orders out within 24 hours of receipt of PAYMENT for pre fabricated cloth. Custom orders can take up to a week for shipment.
If you only require a very small amount for a single book project, then please let us know and we can usually sort something out at a reduced rate.
Please note that handmade materials are just that: handmade. They will not be perfectly machined with a flawless finish. Think of it almost like a piece of leather which, even being of the highest quality, still bears the marks of the animal from whence it came. You will not be disappointed with our cloths, but please expect the character of a handmade item. See pictures of our pre made cloths for details.
