just book binding inspiration

I don't even know how many times I've read this fic. It's one of my go-tos when I'm in the mood for Hiccup whump and creepy Viggo (and like, when am I not?), and I am beyond ecstatic to have it on my shelf!! ❤️

I've completed my Project Hail Mary rebind!

I'm super happy with it! It's a little botchy around the edges and definitely wonky in places (and there are quite a few mistakes that I can neither unsee nor correct) but, considering it's my first proper rebind, I'm really freaking happy with it!

More glamour photos and some in-progress shots under the cut...

This bind was supposed to come right after the Etho Zine bind, but a combination of work pressures, Ramadan, post-Ramadan shenanigans, and me being burnt out from all the previous stuff delayed the completion of this zine. For weeks the unfinished text block sat below my cabinet workspace, calling me to clothe the pages.

About a week ago, I finally kicked myself to finish it!

Finished binding a positively delightful, smutty and devastating fic Praeteritum Memorias by smoace_shipper; it's been one on my list to bind for a while, and well pleased to have finally gotten around to it. The cover paper I actually had bought a few years ago, it was a matching pair of one white and one red swirls, and in seeing them immediately knew I wanted to use it for a smoker/ace fanfic; I actually cut with an x-acto knife the separate papers to form the interlocking of the fire/smoke, which can be seen below, with the fic information

i did a thing!!! fanbinding of @parkersgeorg's incredible scum villain fic, airplane view of the self, which is one of my favourite svsss fics (for good reason).

overall i'm pretty happy with how this turned out--the red endpapers are extremely vibrant IRL (and ties in with [spoiler] at the end!) and provide a nice contrast to the dark blue cover paper (moshang colours!). this is also the first time i've tried a ribbon bookmark and!! it works! i can indeed mark my pages!

the chapter headers were both fun and a beast to figure out--i used a stock image of pixels and then dragged it all the way to the end of the page, and then when i trimmed the pages before binding i cut off all the white space the printer left around it to make it look like it had printed right up to the edge :') the page dividers are willow leaves, as a play off of (spoiler) liu qingge's name.

and yes, i did go through and manually typeset every single time that the system talked (there are twelve fonts used in this typeset including the default text font, lol. thank you fontspace). i would also just like to clarify that in the digital version, all the pixels and system talk is a bright cyan:

Have some more pictures, and thank you so much for sharing!

Gauffered edges - The edges of this book have been decorated further by means of heated finishing tools or rolls which indent small repeating patterns.

My first ever leatherbound book!!!! Over 650 pages!!!!! My first time doing double core endbands!!!!! It’s all in here!!!!!!!!

It’s got custom graphics by @fishcop !!!! It’s got a couple graphics from me!!!!!! We’ve got it all!!!!!!

Ive been working on this book for over a year now and I’m so so proud to finally have it done. There’s a lot of stuff I could say about this bind but it mostly boils down to “holy shit I actually did it that’s so cool”

A lot of love and work went into this bind so if you have any questions please don’t be afraid to ask! Please!! I want to talk about it!!!!

Works featured:

Heart of the Sea

Breaking Free

Honesty Is The Best Fallacy

Captive Hero

Lovefool

Bitter Water

advancing on real ground

Wreck the Halls

Before Daybreak

You can also read Earls other work here:

Babel, An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

The front cover of the book features the English title of the book hand foiled in gold. Around it are Bible verses written in Cantonese Chinese (Genesis 11:8-9) hand foiled in silver.

The back of the book is like a mirror of the front except that it has the Cantonese title of the book hand foiled in gold, and around it is the English translation of the same bible verses.

“So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”

My second attempt at book binding fics!! Thank you @kaykat666 for giving me permission to use your story for this!

As a bonus treat, I was also sent one for myself!!! Your work is so beautiful and I can see how much of your time, effort and energy went into making it.

The little charm is so charming!

💛🫶🖖

I made a lying press! This was built using Taylor Toolworks' wooden hand screw clamp kit which I would definitely recommend if you're looking for a way to make an affordable press (only if you have access to a drill press though, or are really confident in your ability to drill straight).

The kit itself was less than $10, although I ended up needing to buy a specific size drill bit, and then you'll need to source your wood too (mine came from my mom's garage).

I think next I am going to make some feet for it so it can be a little taller.

The Physicist Bride - Zulu

Typeset was kindly provided by Nightingalebindery

Map of the World by @seperis

[Click on the pictures for better resolution.]

I read Map for the first time last year, and a couple months later decided to already reread it. The first time around, you’re dropped into this story without knowing what’s going on in terms of either the character dynamics or the setting, and it’s like a puzzle you get to try to figure out. It’s delightful! The second time around, you start out with a lot more puzzle pieces at hand (but absolutely not all of them yet!) and you manage to connect so many more dots. (I swore to myself to not go overboard and still ended up with a ten-way colour-coding system with stickers and writing margin notes. More recently, I decided to read all the comments on the Map AO3 pages, and they are so much fun to read! So many readers have shared really insightful observations, and the author has written a lot of very interesting replies as well. But having to switch back and forth between the story and the comment section is a bit of a bother, and I sensed an interesting typographical challenge, and that’s how I found myself typesetting the fic again while adding foot- and margin notes to my heart’s content. The book ended up being so long though that I decided to split it into two parts :-)

As for the cover of the first half: Each of the DTA fics introduces you—and the main characters—to a new, larger part of the world. In Map, the focus lies on Cas’s cabin as the foundation for the relationship between the two main characters is laid, so Dean and the reader have to open the bead curtain together to get to that part of the story. If I ever get around to giving a similar treatment to the other fics in the series, the cover design would continue correspondingly: opening the gate to Chitaqua for Stars, entering Ichabod’s main square for Lights, and stepping through one of the paintings in the white room for Game.

[Typesetting and crafting notes under the cut]

A very purple book! This is Lynchpin by ShanaStoryteller. After being given this purple marbled paper (made by @dcbrierton) I knew I wanted to use it for a Jiang Cheng centric fic. This was typeset by @missaphelion who was kind enough to share her typeset with me.

I wanted to highlight the paper in the cover design so I cut out the letters from a strip of paper for the front title, and then used those cut out letters for the spine title. The last time I did a title cutout I did not have a cutting machine -- this makes it so much easier.

Handbinding Project: The Love of Forgetting by @entirelytookeen