SQUASH BOOK RAK

Receiving an unexpected gift is always a treat, and even more so when it's as special as this squash book made by Rebecca M. The coaster covers are covered with gorgeous hand silk-screened wall paper from 1920 - 30. The silver edges add the perfect touch to the black background of the wallpaper. In fact, it's all perfect!

Rebecca's description of the paper, and the steps she followed to complete the book:
"The black paper on the covers of the 4" square coasters is vintage wall paper border that my friend Karen found in the attic of an old house she bought to remodel in our historic town. One of our town's first grocery stores downtown was started by Laddie Joe Harp's family, and it was in his house that the paper was stashed in. Vintage wallpaper borders are printed on wide rolls like today's regular wallpaper is printed on, and there are 4 narrow borders that run the length of the roll. She donated samples to the historic museum and gave the rest to me- (our local town's "paper lady" I have been nick named...) about 30 mostly full rolls of all different colors and styles of border type paper!

This paper was hand silk-screened, through the 1920s & 1930s and this particular print also had some narrow silver stripes in the original design that is still shiny and in good shape, even though the paper itself is VERY delicate and fragile.

The paper states along the edge of the roll, in ink to match the design, that it is "Union Made" , "Made in the U.S.A." & "UWPC of NA" (probably for Union Wallpaper Companies of North America) Also, this particular roll has "Eisenhart" printed in cursive along the edges too, the wallpaper company who manufactured it.

Here was my method for using vintage paper to cover coasters:
The wallpaper was unrolled off the 19 1/2" wide rolls very carefully, as this was boxed up in an attic for 77 to 87 years in a *NON* acid free box...(LOL@ acid free?) and I cut it in very short lengths, about 14", so I could work with it without tearing or breaking it if it bent.
On this 14 " piece, I cut between all 4 borders, and laid the pieces under my large cutting mat on my stamping table for a day to let the paper "rest" and relax some of the curl out of it naturally.

The following day, I ran my thick coasters through the Xyron using the perm. adhesive. I carefully centered the designs where they would be as exact down the centers as I could get them, and then I burnished the paper to the coaster using a very soft old flour sack dish towel I had wrapped around my index finger. I was careful and did not want to mar or leave a shine on the paper after burnishing. I got three 4" coasters per each border, and there were 4 borders cut apart on that 14" length, so I had a total of 12 coasters that made 6 books.
I trimmed around each coaster with a craft blade as close as I could, and used a silver Krylon pen around the edges to give it a more finished look and hide some of the imperfect or slightly irregular trimmed places in the edges.Then I found a ribbon that closely coordinated with the design color, and using my ATG with 1/4" perm. adhesive, ran a strip down the center back cover and burnished the ribbon down with a bone folder.

For the 3 square black card stock pages, (7 3/4" square for the 4" coaster board covers)I folded (origami style flower fold)them and assembled them and glued them into the covers with a permanent 3-M glue stick. I used glue on the page section itself AND on the inside of the coaster cover, to insure a good bond. I have very good luck with 3 M Perm. glue sticks using this method on paper.
I carefully burnished the insides where they were glued, with my bone folder, making sure to burnish it well up into the corners with the point of the bone.
The book collapses upon itself when closed, and I kept the book in the closed position with office clips for 24 hours so the glue would hold tight when dry. Then I removed the clips and tied it shut with the ribbon. "

Many, many thanks, Rebecca!