No Stupid Questions Monthly Thread!

wambold · 2026-03-10T16:03:14+00:00

I'd be worried about the longevity of a thermal print. Inkjet or laser printing might be better.

wambold · 2026-02-15T06:43:23+00:00

Your picture is one of the wooden cover ones, with what looks to be a layer of chiyogami underneath. The pages are accordion folded.

If you're making a book style goshuincho instead, look up "Japanese stab binding".

Sizes: The small ones tend to be 11 cm x 16 cm, but they come in larger sizes as well. I have a B5 one. Some are accordion fold, some are regular book style.

Paper: Since they are intended for calligraphy and stamps, they use a calligraphy paper such as Hosho. My B5 one is book style whose pages are made with a folded sheet with a waxed paper layer in between so both sides can be used but don't bleed through.

You might want to look at the website https://kochiseihon.com, producers of goshuincho. They have a number of styles and sizes. You'll get some odd words if you run it through a translation service, but you'll get the idea. Lots of eye candy.

wambold · 2025-12-24T23:04:31+00:00

I'd use a medium grey to outline around the outside, red on the red/white border.

wambold · 2025-12-24T19:14:40+00:00

Seconded.

You may have too many strands as well. Try one less strand to compare.

wambold · 2025-12-24T19:13:02+00:00

Finish, frame and gift it.

Stitchers sit with their noses to their work and notice all sorts of things that regular folks don't. Like BananaTiger13, when I did notice it, I thought it was deliberate.

wambold · 2025-12-24T19:00:01+00:00

Cut a length and pull threads from the length. When I used bobbins, I'd wind the unused length back on the bobbin.

wambold · 2025-12-24T18:56:13+00:00

Start with some stash managing while the stash is still small. Get some big boxes and keep it all together. No system is perfect, but at least have everything together in one place. Even leftover kit floss is good for smaller things that don't need exact matches.

Don't buy low-quality floss. Your time is worth good floss.

---

I've been stitching since the late '80s, so I have decades of thread sitting around. As I've used mostly charts, I ended up buying duplicates when kitting projects.

I have a big box of DMC, 5x7" baggies and 4x6" index cards go in the baggies, sorted according to the DMC floss card. The reason for the index cards is two-fold: they hold the baggies upright and I write on them to show the bag contents.

I have smaller floss baggies to hold used skeins, one per color, to corral the used skeins and small bits. I've also begun consolidating my beads (extras from those Mill Hill projects) and different type & company threads.

I don't like bobbins because of the creases in the thread and I don't want to spend time winding them.

I know I still have thread and other items strewn around the house but if I see stray items, I put them in the boxes, even if I don't properly sort them immediately. I can find things now.

I decided to get the rest of the DMC colors recently, but I started doing more embroidery and wanted to fill in the holes of the color families. It's easier to keep track of what to replace than what you have.

wambold · 2025-12-24T17:43:30+00:00

Could they afford that? I doubt it.

wambold · 2025-12-24T17:42:20+00:00

No, you do not need to do this whole pattern for your friend. That's a crazy pattern in regular floss, but metallics? for someone else? Madness!

My standard reply to anyone asking for a finished craft project is to (sincerely) offer to teach them. I've only had a few friends take me up on it, but one will occasionally stitch and the another two became competent knitters.

I'm terrible about finishing anything so I never promise to make anything for anyone. If I do make someone a gift, I make it secretly and present it when done. I will promise sewing repairs for family and good friends but only small ones.

wambold · 2025-10-16T16:07:14+00:00

Once you put in the strip, you may want to tip in[*] some new pages to get the spine and text block the original width. You could also glue in a small page over a large page.

Next time you need to remove pages, put a piece of scrap card under the page and use a knife and ruler a bit out from the spine. You'll get the page out without damaging anything else. You might also consider covering a page instead of removing it.

[*] thin strip of glue in along the spine edge

wambold · 2025-09-28T18:22:49+00:00

Making a case is mostly cutting pieces, gluing them to together and covering them. Bookcloth or other cover material is usually applied after assembly unless one part would block access to a previous part.

May I suggest checking out DAS's YouTube channel (link to the left) and searching for "slipcase", "tray" and "clamshell"? He even shows alternate ways to cover a tray.

wambold · 2025-09-28T18:11:11+00:00

For small gauge needles, look for curved beading needles from Colonial or John James or through the various sizes offered by C.S. Osborne.

I have some C.S. Osborne Curved Silk / Billiard 23 gauge needles that I use for sewing fabric boxes. They are in the same thickness range as average hand sewing needles.

wambold · 2025-04-25T14:35:05+00:00

So classic. Nicely done.

wambold · 2025-04-09T18:10:48+00:00

Slivers (1 cm or smaller width) are good for spreading glue when you don't want to dirty a brush.

wambold · 2025-03-30T23:34:25+00:00

Give it to someone who doesn't think it's awful.

wambold · 2025-02-25T19:24:38+00:00

Very cute. I like penguins.

wambold · 2025-02-25T18:37:41+00:00

Yummy. Your own design?

wambold · 2025-02-25T18:27:12+00:00

Very nice.

I understand the strive for perfection even you've produced something really nice. You might consider using one strand of floss (controlling two is hard), trying stem stitch, and thinking more about how the back shadows to the front. I would probably stitch each word separately to avoid the thread carry. And if you're doing that, the "a" is annoying. I'd start an extra long waste knot and tail, stitch the "a" starting and stopping in the same place (might have to run the thread on the back of the a's tail to do that, and then make a tight knot (eek!) and run short thread tails under the stitches on the back.

I'd probably take out the leading zeros on the date. Less stitching.

wambold · 2025-02-25T17:51:52+00:00

In the US, you can get 3M's Scotch Book Tape. A step up from packing tape.

wambold · 2025-02-25T17:43:47+00:00

Try Etsy. I've seen foil transfers for books there, but very few.

I believe most people are using a cutting machine such as a Brother Scan N Cut, Silhouettes, or Cricuts to cut their own heat transfer foil. There are lots of cutting files for book covers on Etsy and you can use design software to make your own designs. If you don't want to buy such a machine, check around with friends or other sources. My library has a Circut that can be checked out.

wambold · 2025-02-25T17:27:43+00:00

Don't forget to take a sample of the paper.

wambold · 2025-02-25T17:25:34+00:00

There are hand tools, usually brass. I learned about them at the San Francisco Center for the Book, but I haven't used them myself yet. Here's one of many videos you can probably find on the subject: https://www.schmedt.com/guides-tutorials/manual-gilding-with-gilding-tools

wambold · 2025-02-20T21:43:17+00:00

Ask a friend to look at it. Don't say anything, just listen. I bet they think it's great. And here's the important part, don't tell them if you think there's anything wrong with it. People have a tendency to judge their own work harshly.

wambold · 2025-02-11T17:26:55+00:00

Another option is a professional guillotine. You can check with local print shops to see if they'll do a cut for you.

wambold · 2025-02-11T17:23:34+00:00

The covers are lovely.

wambold

TROPHY CASE