How to make Wheat Starch Paste for bookbinding

One of the best ways to make wheat starch paste for bookbinding is over a cook top or stove. Here I show how we make paste in the bindery for bookbinding and book conservation. Wheat starch paste is a great material to use for paper and book repair.

See our online workshops in the book arts at https://bigriverbindery.com/workshops/

Big River is owned by Andrew Huot, a bookbinder, conservator, and book artist living and working in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Andrew has an MFA in Book Arts & Printmaking from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and an undergraduate degree in Printmaking from Portland State University. He exhibits his artwork widely and is held in collections across the country, from the Art Institute of Chicago to Yale University.

He has experience performing conservation treatments on books and paper based items. He was the Conservator and Preservation Specialist at Illinois State University and worked at the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Wagner Free Institute of Science, and the University of Oregon. He taught Conservation, Preservation, and Bookbinding for the Graduate School of Library Science at the University of Illinois – Urbana/Champaign for 12 years. When he’s not in the bindery, he teaches around Toronto at Ontario College of Art and Design, for the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild, for local arts organizations, and in his studio.