How to annotate (without damaging your books)
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- čas přidán 4. 07. 2024
- Do you want to start annotating your books but you don't know where to begin, or does the thought of actually writing in them make you want to cry? Well, this video is for you!
Hi friends!
I thought it was about time for an updated "How I Annotate" video, but this one is geared more towards beginners to annotating and to people who don't love the idea of writing in their books!
I'd love to know how you annotate, so feel free to share your own techniques and tips in a comment!
If you're a beginner, just remember that there are no rules, so just have fun with it :)
Sending you my warmest wishes,
Carolyn Marie :)
***Check out curated lists of my recent reads and all time favorite books in my Amazon Storefront - www.amazon.com/shop/carolynma...
Intro: 00:00
Supplies: 01:51
How to annotate: 12:48
Products mentioned:
Pencil cases:
- Out of Print: outofprint.com/collections/po...
- Strand Books: www.strandbooks.com/productse...
Sticky tabs:
- www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2X86YN2/...
- www.amazon.com/dp/B09WMLWV7W/...
- www.amazon.com/Lysas-Markers-...
- www.amazon.com/SIQUK-Pieces-C...
Sticky highlight strips:
- www.amazon.com/dp/B0BNPW6Q3B/...
- www.amazon.com/dp/B0BKPDHSWH/...
Highlighters:
- www.amazon.com/Zebra-Pen-Mild...
- www.amazon.com/Zebra-Pen-Mild...
Post-its:
- www.amazon.com/Post-Beachside...
Pens:
- Le Pen Marvy Japan: www.amazon.com/Marvy-4300S-12...
- Staedtler fineliner: www.amazon.com/Staedtler-Trip...
- Pentel gel ink: www.amazon.com/Pentel-EnerGel...
- Paper mate fine tip: www.amazon.com/Paper-Mate-Med...
Pencils:
- www.amazon.com/Paper-Mate-Sha...
Happy Annotating :)
My Social Media: CarolynMarieReads
***My Etsy shop - www.etsy.com/shop/CarolynMari...
***My Website/Portfolio - carolyncastagnaart.wixsite.co...
***Art/Book Instagram - / carolynmariereads
***GoodReads - / carolynmariereads
***Business inquiries: carolyncastagna.artist@gmail.com
***Want to write to me or send something?
Carolyn Castagna
P. O. Box 773
Greenlawn NY 11740
United States
**Please don't feel like you need to send me anything, but if you'd like to I would be honored!!!** :)
***About me -
I'm a freelance illustrator and writer who recently graduated from college at the Fashion Institute of Technology with my Bachelors of Fine Arts in Illustration with a minor in English/Writing.
My greatest passion in life is combining my love of illustrating, writing, and reading!
Happy Reading :)
#booktube #reading #annotations - Zábava
As someone who is not a native English speaker, I have just one general annotating "rule": Every sticky note that goes sideways is just normal annotating, but the sticky notes showing "on top" of the book are for English words I had to look up or nice phrases I want to implement in my own vocabulary :)
Thats such a good idea! Ill start doing that too ☺️
@@gyarufangirl2680 Thanks! So glad to help. I'm from Germany btw :)
@@miriam_bruh oooh im learning german at school!
Oh that's really interesting! I'll probably try that with a language im learning.
@@miriam_bruhoh cool, nh andere deutsche Person!!
a big reason for why i annotate my books are the memories! there's nothing quite like flipping through a book you read a while ago and reading your first thoughts and opinions 💌
my number one tip to get the most experience out of reading and annotating, is to read the book first, minimal annotations, and then fully annotate when you are rereading the book. having the time to process what you’ve read without the experience being choppy is so useful when you are annotating. it’s almost like reading the book for the first time from a different point of view + plus, you get to read the book again and find details you might’ve missed before!
Yes, I rarely annotate in any way on my first read.
i love writing in books and i love that so many people are starting to do it more. the idea of gifting an annotated book is so lovely, it makes me happy to see it!!
I’m so glad! I feel the same :)
I looked this video up because this is my first time annotating a book, and I'm giving it as a gift!
When I annotate, I color code my tabs differently for each book! So, I pick a sheet of tabs that all generally match the book cover and then I pick which 6 tabs I think will look the best together and I choose a meaning for each one depending on what the book is and what themes I expect to find in it 🥰 Then I make a tab "glossary/key" at the front of the book and start reading!
This is great. I am a bit overwhelmed by all the things people seem to annotate and the idea of picking a few elements to look for seems approachable.
@@anitas5817 I'm so glad! I've loved it so far 🥰 I would definitely recommend 😊 Hopefully you'll love it too!
i think that this is how i am going to do mine. i’m happy that i’m not alone
Stealing that idea!
as a beignner annotater who wants to begin, i found this very helpful and will be watching more of your videos.
This video could not have come at a better time! Love the idea of finally getting back to annotating my books! 📚
I’m so glad! I hope you enjoy and find it helpful :)
When I was a kid, there used to be stationary stories. You could by different kinds of pens, pencils, papers, etc. Always amazing. Now stationary stores are relegated to big box stores with limited supplies, and where you cannot try out the pens. I wonder if there is a correlation between people who love to read and people who love pens and sticky notes? You are very inspiring. Thank you for the tips!
Newsagents still have pens sold individually where you can try out the pen.
This was very helpful for a beginner Carolyn! Thank you. I did not have the opportunity to study literature at university. I would love to have another video some time on the elements of literature that you are looking for and thinking about when you read. For example, you (and others I watch) often mention foreshadowing and quotes and other things that you annotate. Why? I realize this is basic literary analysis 101 but maybe others besides me would be interested. I love your educational videos like this one, and the “Classics 101” with the handout. I’m very grateful to be able to learn these basic literature education topics that I missed as a STEM major.
ths!!!!!
Hi, I know it isn't by the same creator, but in the mean time I would suggest the crash course series on literature on CZcams! Goes over some important fundamentals
You had me when you started with the pencil case. Obsessed.
there's this really nice essay i printed out a few years ago called "How to mark a book" by Mortimer J. Adler that made me lose my fear to "ruin" books, just in case anybody wants to check it out :)
ooh!! sounds perfect. ty💕
Nice
Another great way to annotate without writing in your book, is to get see-through sticky notes! They come in different sizes, they are almost fully transparent and you can write on them and underline parts of the page without actually writing directly on the page!
Thank you Daria what a wonderful suggestion!
I love to annitate because it helps me feel an ownership to the book.I only just started buying books during covid.Owning books is special to me.
Great timing! I just found out I got accepted to an MFA program for creative writing (fiction) in the fall, and one of my major goals for before I leave is to get better at reading and remembering what I read, so that I can crush it in my literature classes. I don't like writing in my books so I loved your tips!
It usually depends on the book for me, I heavily annotated Anna Kerenina and went through 3 sets of tabs and with Wuthering Heights I laid off a bit and that helped me finish the book a bit faster. I feel that with annotations it’s kind of a bit like a diary I feel a bit weird when my friends see them haha.
Yes, me too! Hahaha
I love annotating! I do love the midliner highlighter too BUT they can bleed through on certain type of paper (e.g. the Vintage classic russian series), so what I would normally do before I start annotating, I would test the highlighter on the blank pages at the end of the book to see whether it bleed through or not ☺
Ooo thats really smart!
One thing i do with the sticky notes is that i cut each in half so they can last longer
I love tabbing the best. Favorite phrases, words that I need to look up, things that turn a light on in my mind, cherished parts.
The highlighting strips are amazing! Way less stressful for me lol
I need some for sure. I was using the erasable Frixion highlighters which were great (and they do work) but I still balked at "writing in the books" lol
The beauty of annotating a book without damaging it is that you are being mindful of the next person who reads the book. To me, books are to be shared. As a reader, I know I despise reading a book with other peoples annotations. I have purchased so many used books that have been ruined by other peoples annotations.
Exactly I agree with you I plan on sharing them with friends and it really helps to grow along with the books. But what I would do as well as write and kid you not...I would write a book report on the book in a journal they're $1 in the US and I love like passing it on to a friend for family member. Or you could do book reports online and get paid but sometimes I like keeping them to myself
omg!! i just rewatched your annotation video. i wasn't expecting you to redo it. i feel such nostalgia 😭 thank for this video, i absolutely love the way you talk about your love of books ❤️
thank you! I love keeping journals and writing down my thoughts, I tried to annotate the book a few times, but somehow I'm not good at it. I feel much more confident thanks to this video
I have sooo much anxiety about annotating bc I have a lot of consumerism anxiety, so every time I think I want to annotate a book, the little voice in my head goes "but what if you want to unhaul and resell this book later? you won't be able to if it's full of highlights and notes. think of the money!" and I chicken out every time 😅 but I'm thinking about getting those transparent sticky notes to use for annotations, because that way you can still read the text through them 🤷
hi carolyn! ive already started annotating a farewell to arms, but now i’ll definitely be on the lookout for the mentioning of rain. i have the same edition and you’ve inspired to me to use all my blue stationery to annotate! thank you for the video and i’m excited to talk about a farewell to arms with you and emma!!
I found see-through, lined post-its. I am enamored with them and use them in much of my reading for passages and things I want to remember. It’s fantastic for library books, books loaned by friends or books friends borrow.
i annotate differently depending on why im reading! If I'm reading a book for fun, I tend to use 2 color tabs (the color mainly matches the cover), one color I use for anything I liked, and the other i use for my favorite parts/quotes. I also use a pen (normally the muji 0.38 gel ink) and one or two highlighters, again matching the cover.
If I'm analyzing a book, I colorcode like crazy! Different colored tabs with specific meanings (it changes for almost every book, so I put a key/legend somewhere on the first few pages), and I match my highlighters to my tabs. I used to only use 1-2 highlighters when analyzing, but I highlight a lot and end up going through highlighters very quickly if its a long book - also i think it looks prettier when there's multiple colors.
I ocassinally use regular sticky notes if I feel like I wont have enough space in the margins to write my thoughts, and I use paper tabs to write out definitions of words I don't know so I can easily move them if I need to.
I also put tabs at the top, but I do that if I'm referring to the whole page instead of a paragraph or two.
I love seeing how other people annotate since its such a personal process!
3:56 - 4:14 Matching the colour of sticky tabs with a colour of cover - well, that's next level of being a book lover. :-)
Wonderful video! I love annotating my books and I’m happy that it seems like more people are interested in trying it. This is a great video for beginners! It’s so fun to look back at what you marked later on. And the beauty of annotating is how personal it is. It makes for such a great reading experience.
I gifted my annotated copy of my favourite book to my best friend and it's the most meaningful present I've given anybody. I love using sticky notes and I use pencil to annotate but I didn't know about the highlighter strips! I'll have to look for those, thank you for recommending them.
I have done the exact same thing with pride and prejudice recently. My friend doesn't annotate, and the thought of writing on a book caused hyves, I think. The Copt I gifted him was annotated within an inch of its life. Writing in margins and sticky notes, highlight and underline, colour coded tabs, and tabs on top for important tabs and a key at the front. I also wrote a note on the front page to him too. I had such a fun time.... I'm not sure he will, but he seemed impressed and slightly shocked, lol 😆
Thank you as a beginning annotator I appreciate how in-depth you went with your explanations and examples, and you gave me some good ideas.
There's nothing more satisfying than finishing a book and looking at all the tabs and annotations! I have different 'rules' depending on what I'm reading - for classics and fantasy (i.e. books where it takes a bit more attention to get to grips with as they tend to be more dense), I have very genre-specific colour coding - for example, world-building for fantasy or historical context for classics - but in general for other fiction, I tend to have specific colours for things like character, setting, quotes, moments that made me laugh, moments that made me cry, etc.! However, I tend not to colour-code non-fiction and just use whatever leftover colours I haven't used many of from sets of tabs that I was using for other books! x
Hello, Carolyn. I just want to drop in a 'thank you' for creating this video. I am a 'no doodles, no scribbles, no penned thoughts in my book' person but I was also very curious about annotating to see if it can allow me a) to have a more fulfilling reading experience a) allow me an excuse to horde more (beautiful) sticky tabs. Your beginner-friendly video was such a lovely introduction to annotating and how I could do it while keeping my books pristine (love it!). Thank you so much for such a helpful video and I hope you have a wonderful week ahead. 💙
This was fantastic and so useful to me! I do annotate my Bible, but have wanted to start in my normal reading. I’m armed with your list of must-haves and will start shopping this week. Thank you!!
So happy I found this video! I've just started annotating and thought I needed to search for someone to tell me if I'm doing it right. Well, thank you for easing my mind and giving us all permission to do what we like! 😊📚❤
I'll annotate in a paperback and if I like the book a lot, I'll purchase the hardcover and keep that pristine. Then I don't mind marking it up. I like using pastel highlighters, it feels cleaner, lol.
In my country, everyone is taught to respect books (for saving forests). I collect the library of beautiful and expensive books, I couldnt imagine that I would write in them. But... I write... by pencil and on sticky notes )
I love everything you said, I feel the same way about annotating, that it is an interaction. I'm not good at annotating actually, what I like to do is to highlight my favourite parts (no colour coding ), and I have a reading journal in which I do all my annotations: names of characters (I have a terrible memory), names of places, of enchantments if the theme is magic, and so on; I started doing it like this when I first read Agatha Christie, I thought it would be fun to find the murderer and make theories so I wrote down everything I thought would be a clue.
I love the “as it was” annotation 😅 I’m making annotations directly in my book for the first time in a long time & am really enjoying it. It’s a chunky fantasy book so things can be hard to remember. Annotating makes remembering those details a lot easier. I love tabbing but I read a lot of physical & audio library books & taking those tabs out is so sad 😅
I’ve been wanting to start annotating for a while and this is the first video that made it not seem so overwhelming! Definitely going to start trying it out, probably using the post-it note method until I feel confident enough to write in the book lol
I've never annotated before, but i'm SO excited to start doing this!
And as a non English speaker, i love your video, you speaks so clearly, i coul understand everything! thanks for the tips ❤
I got into booktube because of your annotation from video from more than a year ago. I was searching for videos on how to annotate and CZcams led me to your channel. That's it. I've been watching your videos eversince, and also those of other booktubers like Emma. ✨️
Yay! I need this! I’ve watched a few annotating videos before but I’m still a bit overwhelmed by it.
That’s very understandable! I hope this helps make it a bit less overwhelming :)
I am a bad reader. What I mean by that is, that I don’t understand what I am reading. It has nothing to do with the language I read or such, I have a extremely bad concentration and I forget what the book is about every 10 minutes :/ Annotating helps me with understanding what I am reading, it finally made reading fun :)
I use very sharp pencils to underline, circle, write in margins, etc. I may draw quick pictures for themes, like a clock for time. And I use exclamation points for surprising or notable thoughts, question marks for things I wonder about. (Is this foreshadowing something, etc.,)
I like pencil because when I reread the book I can see my notes but they don't visually interfere with my reading. I'm a very fast reader and marking up the text is a great way to slow me down, so I can notice details and savor the story.
YESS! Exactly what I was looking for. Tysm for posting this, much love!
So glad! I hope you enjoy and find it helpful :)
This helped SO much, thank you! A lot of good tips I am going to use! 🕊 Your voice is so soothing too 🥹
One of the best decisions I made was to carefully highlight Anne of Green Gables. I used different colors for different characters (obviously nature was its own character!!) and Anne got 2 colors - to separate who she was at the start and who she was becoming. I love seeing how all the colors interact with each other on the pages!!
Just beginning my first annotating on a book. Thank you for this video!❤
I am learning to annotate while
Rereading War and Peace. Enjoyed all you had to say in this video. Just wanted to let you know that yesterday I went out and bought The Little Prince since you loved it so much. I am really enjoying it. Thanks for that.
The thought of writing in my books makes me want to cry 🤣 I do use sticky notes and colour tabs, though, and I have a journal where I wrote down interesting quotes and my thoughts.
The first books I am currently annotating is the Hunger Games series because I wanted to reread them but also wanted to capture every little detail about it. I love the books and the movies for so long and it really makes me happy to turn these books into my own little personal property
These are all great tips! Thank you so much! I will give them a try since I only venture to underline with pencil and add a few tabs. What I recommend to avoid interrupting the flow of reading is to fold the corners of the pages and once you finish reading the chapter you can revisit that page to make annotations.
On the other hand i hate the thought of my annotations being temporary. I annotate with a light grey and dark grey (not silver) pen because I actually love the look of pencil annotations but hate how my thoughts could be erased away. Big square brackets, underlines and boxing key words for increasing emphasis. I also dog ear my pages instead of tabs (again for permanency) dog ear on the top of the page for important story bits, and on the bottom for pretty prose, phrases and visuals. I also write and doodle all over in the margins
How do you fight against the urge to cry when ur destroying the book /genuine question
@@windjager2177 i don’t see it as destroying rather an adding to, it’s not just a book anymore rather, my experience reading it. every time i flip through a book i’ve read it takes me back to the time i read it, i get to look at a younger me experiencing the book for the first time, i get to see how i’ve changed from then to now. if i ever want a book untouched, the bookstore’s filled with them, but there’s only one copy that lets me look back on an experience i would otherwise not be able to relive as fully. i think arguably, the thought of not being able to look back and reminisce makes me want to cry more…
@@chelsealee144 but how epuld one be able to sell it once the time comes. Cuz my mom wants me to sell my books when i get new ones
@@windjager2177 i’m lucky that my parents are all collectors of various things and that traits been passed to me from records to books to stamps. plus i’ve always wanted my own home library. that said, there are some places that take annotated books and i personally love finding second hand annotated books bc it’s like treasure, a look into 2 peoples minds : the authors and the original owners
I had a friend who could not understand why I couldn't write in my books. He had to write down every thought along the way. I said, "So do I, but just not in the book." I now at most underline with pencil. Compromise?
That’s okay, and very understandable! Yes, compromise!!
I write down my thoughts along the way - thoughts or quotes - but not in the book. I have a designated notebook for that. I write down the page number and my thoughts.
When I buy a book I consider that I only have temporary custody of it. Sooner or later my books will belong to someone else. I never make permanent marks on the pages. I use sticky notes or sometimes I write very lightly in pencil. When I donate books or sell them to a used book store I remove all the sticky notes and erase the pencil marks.
I've never annotated I've been thinking about doing it but didnt know where to start this video is a big help
I wanted a refresher and this was really helpful, thank you! I definitely need some highlighting strips
your voice is really calming!
We will support you no matter what. Keep up the good work.
That means the world! Thank you :)
Thank you for all the wonderful tips. I am just about to start annotating and will be starting with my old favourite rereads. I might have to buy new highlighters though after seeing this video. I just bought a bunch of stuff from a book store here in Sweden that I had a gift certoficate for that I got for christmas and I just bought whatever highlighters they had and I need to try them on sth else before I use them to annotate so they don't bleed through. I love your system and wrote it down to have somewhere to start, but I will def keep in mind that there are no rules. ❣
this was a fantastic video. Very helpful. And listening to you was very pleasant and relaxing.
Hi Carolyn, I enjoyed this and you've helped me because I'm reading 'A Farewell to arms' on my device with Kindle app. I've been highlighting but couldn't work out how to code each colour, you've given me good ideas for this. I'm finding that reading through the chapter, then re-reading and annotating is the best way for me, as you said, if you read and annotate it breaks up your reading. Distracting you from the story and slowing you down. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, sometimes slower reading is good but like you said can be a bit disarming.
I'm going to search for those long strip highlighting, too. They would be good for lines. Thanks so much. I really have searched for some good video on highlighting etc, there are lots of different videos, but it can get overwhelming.
I’ve always been interested but scared to write/ mark up my books. My main fear was that I was going to do it wrong. Great video! Alleviated most of that fear. Now it’s just getting past that first mark anxiety
your voice is so calming for some reason.
Looking forward to this. It’s seems so straightforward but I do it so bloody badly.
Very interesting presentation of annotating!
loved this!!🫀🫀
Super helpful for me! Thank you!
Annotating helps me both keep better track of my thoughts and motivates me to read more because it makes me feel like I’ve accomplished a lot especially with a larger or difficult book.
Thanks so much for this video. You gave very good tips and I learnt a lot from you as I am a newbie of annotating.
I’m so glad you found it helpful!!
I will never do this but will still drop a like and support you😂
this was so helpful!! thank you
I use the long strips to highlight and absolutely love using them they work just like the sticky tabs and don't remove the words from your page if removed later. I also use clear sticky notes if I want to write something because I can not bring myself to write in a book. And I can't read a book that someone has marked in.
I color code annotate but I use the 10 different colors which has red for moments that make me see red. If a section fits into 2 colors or more I will place all needed colors there. I use clear sticky notes for anything I need to write and at the front of the book I put a clear sticky with washi tape to make sure it doesn't come out with important info of the book such as my rating and trigger warning was the book a gift and by who and what age my kids have to be to ask to read the book.. of I get rid of the book I will put new one in with recommended age and trigger warning before putting in in a little free library or selling it as well as remove all annotations from the book.
Great tips! Thanks!
It's so helpful and interesting!
I love the Mildliners and transparent sticky notes 🤍
The zebra mild liner highlighters are my favorite!
I always put the key/legend on a sticky note in the front of the book so that if I choose to change the legend I can easily change it without ruining the title page.
Honestly it depends on what I am reading and why I am reading it to weather I annotate or not. There are times I just want to read and enjoy a book for what it is. Other times I want to read and wrestle as it is with the text, author or myself while reading and then I annotate. I don’t have an elaborate way to annotate I just underline, star it if it is noteworthy and write in the margins.
i've never annotated a book but i will go and take down my favorite quotes in my notes app and i would love to do more. i think i might go with the color coding system for tabs and just use highlighters and black and blue ink pens for writing quick notes/questions/thoughts
Very helpful……thanks so much!
Thankyou it helped alot❤❤
Might as well include some tips for those who read on Kindle.
Love your work.
Best of luck🙂🙂
Hi Carolyn 👋🏻 I just want to say a huge thanks for your perfect recommendation for how we can annotate our books, and I don't know if it's ok or not but I read people's comments on Goodreads and I annotate their thoughts on my book😅 which I think might be stupid but I'm doing it anyway and I want to ask you do you do that or not? Or do you like to note people's thoughts in your book
As a library book user, post it notes are my friend 😄
A big help for me to get me into being able to write in my books was using those erasable pens and highlighters, because it didn't feel as permanent but it still had the look of normal pens and highlighters
I found this video very helpful! I enjoy reading and annotating classics, but buy fancy special editions and am terrified of messing them up.
Love your videos
I usually use 3 to 4 tabs and match them to the cover. I stick them in the front to make a key. Sometimes I know what to tab, sometimes I decide while reading.
Then I use a black gel pen to underline or write and I use a highlighter that I match to the cover as well.
I don't have a glossary for my annotations. I have 2 different color pens for different genres. Then I use neon tabs for modern books and pastel tabs for classics and nonfiction. I go down the line of tabs doing one of each color so I don't get bored looking at it. And if the tabs are too dark to see through or not transparent then they are used to mark my favorite quotes.
You're giving me early Rory Gilmore vibes. Take it as a compliment. Early rory was beloved. Glad I found your channel.
Great video, Carolyn, but i still can't write in my books! 😄 A post-it, maybe, but i use moleskines to take some notes. I have some thrifted books that has notes, but that's ok for me.
I'm quite basic and disorganized, I just scribble things in my books in pencil - best of both worlds (easy, erasable, and for some reason very aesthetically appealing to me)
That makes perfect sense! There is something very satisfying about a book full of pencil scribbles :)
Kisses from Brazil 💕 amazing content as always
Love from New York 💕 Thank you so much :)
I would NEVER dogear my books before but I just recently started cuz I was like "it's MINE!!!!!" and I infinitely prefer it. It's just so easy and quick to find pages and it means I don't have to carry post-its around.
(Never a library book, though, of course)
Just beginning to use the tabs and markers - but I rethinking the markers and using the highlighter tape so I can remove them later if I want. I tend to change my mind and dislikes a lot lol
I love using an erasable pen! Even when I'm highlighting with permanent highlighters, I still use my erasable pen. I just prefer to be able to erase if I mess something up so that I can keep my book looking nice! I use the Pilot Frixion pens and I LOVE them!
Me too!!!
Interesting!
Do you annotate for a first-reas or rereading? I'm new to annotations and I need help 😭
I found the "if you lend people your books they can see your annotations" warning a bit funny because I'm watching this video because I want to buy my boyfriend a book and annotate it for his birthday. I've never annotated before so I'm gonna have to buy all the supplies and obviously the book but I can't wait. I'm annotating Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter because we both love romance and I think he'd really like it, if anyone reading this wants a good romance rec Better Than the Movies is definitely one I'd give. I have a few months until his birthday but it's never too early to prepare yourself.
I bought pastel highlighters and they literally penetrate through the pages😖 i was lucky that i first tried them on my rough pages, this vedio helped, thank you! 💗