Making the Perfect Wheat Starch Paste

Wheat Starch Paste is one of the core adhesives used in book and paper conservation. High quality wheat starch paste, used by most conservation labs, comes in a powdered form that is mixed with water and then cooked.

The Preservation Lab uses Zen Shofu wheat starch paste from Talas. Getting the right consistency without any lumps is harder that you would think, that's why we took the opportunity to film the process of Veronica Sorcher, a previous Conservation Tech in the Lab and general adhesive making master, whipping up a batch. Followed by our Sr. Conservation Tech, Catarina Figueirinhas, straining the paste and demonstrating a common use for wheat starch paste in treatment. Wheat starch paste is the ideal adhesive more almost all paper mends as it is water-soluble, meaning it is very reversible. Paste is also often used when lining spines (strained, thick) and adhering original bookcloth to cover boards.