The day I stopped fighting my thread and let the book tell me where to go
Tbh I've been binding for about 5 years now, mostly coptic and stab bindings, and I always had this habit of forcing the needle through the signatures in a real rigid pattern. Last month I was working on a little notebook for my sister in Portland, using some thick cotton paper she picked up at a flea market, and the grain was just off. I kept getting puckering and the thread kept catching, so after three tries I finally slowed down and actually looked at how the paper wanted to fold. I stopped trying to punch perfect holes and just followed the natural curve of the folded sections, letting the needle find its own path through the existing stitch holes. The difference was night and day, the spine opened flat, no bumps, and it took half the time. Has anyone else had that moment where you realize you were overcontrolling the process and the materials were trying to tell you something the whole time?