My old teacher said to always use PVA glue for endpapers and I finally get why

Mrs. Carter at the Seattle workshop swore by it, saying hide glue would warp thin paper. I ignored her for a year, using my usual mix, and kept getting ripples on my 120gsm sheets. Switched to straight PVA for my last three projects and the lay is perfect. Anyone else have a glue rule they fought but now follow?

3 comments

3 Comments

nathanbennett2mo ago

Wait, you were using hide glue on 120gsm? That's wild. That stuff is way too wet for paper that thin. No wonder it was buckling.

seth_green852mo ago

My 90gsm sketchbook warped like crazy, lol.

alexlewis1mo ago

Yeah, that weight is basically asking for trouble with any wet media. It's not just about the glue, even heavy washes of watercolor will make it pucker up. Thicker paper, like 300gsm, has way more fibers to soak up the moisture without changing shape so much. It's a bummer when a whole sketchbook gets ruined like that.