This is a great tip, and I have to thank Deer Valley’s Executive Pastry Chef and cookbook author, Letty Flatt for this tip. Recently, Letty and I did a joint book signing at Deer Valley’s Signature gift store. I hauled my copy of her book with me so she could sign it for me. I was a little embarrassed that the cover was getting worn, but she thought it was a compliment because the wear and tear meant I was using her book!
She told me how she protects the covers of her favorite books that get used in her kitchen at work and at home. She covers them in clear, plastic contact paper…the kind of paper you might use to line a kitchen drawer.
Buy a roll at any Target or Wal-Mart or hardware store. If your book has a dust jacket, you’ll cover that. If not, then just cover the actual book itself. Have a pair of scissors handy as well as a straight edged ruler and pen.
Roll out the contact paper and weight it down so it doesn’t roll back up. Lay your cover on top and mark the contact paper about 1-1/2 inches all the way around. Trim the contact paper. Peel the backing of the contact paper off and center the cover (with the right side down so that it is the side that is stuck to the contact paper).
To reinforce the corners, before you begin folding over the edges, cut a diagonal piece at the corner. You’ll have a small triangle. Turn it upside down so that the long edge is facing you. Line up the edges of the triangle with corner of the cover and apply. Now fold over all the edges of the contact paper. Turn the cover over so that it’s facing you. You might see some air bubbles. The final step is to run the straight edge (with some elbow grease) all over the cover, working from the center toward the outer edges. There you go! Thanks, Letty!
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