Installment three: Taking the cover apart and re-gluing it to fit the Kindle 2 better
With the address book removed, the naked Leonardo leather cover is a bit too thick to properly fit the Kindle 2 cover. Here's a side view that shows the excessive width.
Modifying the cover to make it thinner is quite easy, but it takes some courage to rip apart a hand-made $155 work of leather art if you haven’t done these kinds of things before. But let me assure you, it's not difficult, nor does it require any extraordinary skill.
1. First, carefully lift the edges of the paper lining and pull them away from the covers. You want to pull away enough of this material to leave the folded-over edges of the leather on the inside of each side of the cover exposed, as shown in the photos. Strip away as much of the paper lining as you can but don’t worry if there’s some left. It will all be covered over eventually.
The several pictures below illustrate these steps.
This is what it should look like after you've pulled away the paper lining:
2. Now slowly separate each side of the cover from the spine. Do this carefully – the leather at the outside edges of the spine is quite thin and you can inadvertently tear it you’re careless or too hasty.
This step might scare you, but do not fear. It’s easy and it all goes back together quite easily.
The pictures below indicates various steps of this process.
When it's all pulled apart, this is what you have: 2 leather cover sides and the leather spine. Remove carefully any excess paper lining extending beyond the leather edges of the spine.
3. Now reassemble the spine and each side of the cover. The goal here is to align and glue each side of the cover in a position on the spine closer to the gold leaf flower in the middle of the spine. The covers should be glued onto the spine so they cover about 1/16” or so of the edges of the gold leaf flower. Care should be taken to be sure the covers are glued to the spine squarely and that the outer edges of the spine and covers align properly.
To make this task easier, align each cover with the spine one at a time and mark the position on the inside of the cover with a soft pencil. When the alignment of both side of the cover with the spine are so marked, you’re ready to do the gluing.
To glue the covers and spine together, I highly recommend a product called Quick Grip All-Purpose Permanent Adhesive. It’s like a contact cements, but it bonds more slowly giving you about a minute or to move things around before it sets so you can make sure the alignment is perfect.
Spread the glue within the pencil markings on the side of one cover and align it in the proper position on the spine, using the pencil markings as a guide. Pull it apart for a second or two, then place it back into position (this sets the glue a bit faster). Check the alignment from all angles to sure it’s perfect and place pressure on the joint with your fingers until the glue has set. Do the same with the other cover.
The photos below shows the thinner and newly reassembled cover.
You’re now ready for the next step: assembling and gluing in place the marbleized paper lining with the hinge. That will be the next installment.