un jour je serai de retour près de toi

The short story writer and memoirist Tobias Wolff describes how, when writing a long work, ‘a kind of anxious wonder sets in as to whether or not you’ll really finish it, whether it will be any good, whether all this time will have been wasted—and we all hate to waste our time.’ Wolff feels this way every time; completing one successful work doesn’t mean he has more courage or conviction when he writes the next. ‘Everything I’ve written... has seemed to me, at one point or another, something I probably ought to abandon. Even the best things I’ve written have seemed to me at some point very unlikely to be worth the effort I had already put into them. But I know I have to push through.’ Wolff completes every work he begins: ‘For me, it’s more important to keep the discipline of finishing things than to be assured at every moment that it’s worth doing.’”

Now that I've had a bit more practice I wanted to work on one of my favourite fics. This is Servitude by niceasspavus! After reaching out to get their permission to bind, when asked what their favorite color was/what color they might like for a cover, this was the inspo!

Which... I thought was gorgeous. Challenge accepted!

Typesetting & Design:

I'm trying to get better at documenting my process, so this is a pretty picture heavy post.

Similar to Oathbreaker's bind, I followed the same typesetting tutorial by Morrigan Segdae on Youtube to make this typeset in GoogleDocs. I have not YET figured out how to do this in Ellipsus sadly! Rather than rehashing the instructions within that video, I highly recommend you watch it. Some parts of the typeset here:

Following typesetting (which is something I am still practicing/trying to learn!) I also went into my Cricut DesignSpace to make a design for the cover, keeping in mind the bookcloth I wanted to use and this pretty Chiyogami paper I've been wanting to use. I also decided to use some dark blue foil HTV.

*I could not for the LIFE of me get a decent photo of the bookcloth's actual in real life color, which is more of a bright blue.

And because graphic design is not my passion, the cover frame 'Clouds' design is from JesterCatBindingCo! Font is Cinzel decorative for the front and Mikadan for the back. I did end up needing to alter the design during making due to some cutting issues.

Printing & Cutting:

Time for everyone's favorute actvity... math!

I am making two copies of this book, so you'll see I measured out four edgepapers (each 5.5x8.5in). I also cut out two sets of cover boards each 5.75x8.75in, and two 0.39in spines! I also am using thermal binding, so I cut my printed pages into halves to prep for thermal binding. I also went ahead and used my cricut to cut out the HTV designs I'd be using later.

This is the step that I take the most time on to make sure everything is as level and even as possible - and the placement of my first quality sniff-spection from one one of my canine supervisors.

I didn't take pictures of this part, but this is also usually when I adhere the chipboard to the bookcloth and make the case.

Then, of course, it's time for the second inspection.

We passed, so it goes into the press for a bit while I prep the textblock.

Thermal Binding the Spine:

I am thermal binding these books because its much easier on my hands, so my process is slightly different than the traditional method of binding. I was finding that I no longer have the handstrength/dexerity to really handle sewing-in my signatures.

This method is more accessible to me but very much experimental, lol. Essentially, once I have the pages for the textblock cut, I use binder clips to hold them level and in place. I measure the width of the spine and used a piece of heavy cardstock cut to the same dimensions with a 0.6cm /0.25in overhang to serve as the paperback 'cover' that would normally be used with this thermal binding method. I just want some think paper for the thermal glue to back to on the spine edge of the textblock. It is a little hard to explain!

While the textblock is cooling, this is when I add the HTV to the assembled case... but only after crying over mis-cuts and weeding for a small eternity. You can see here below what a cut looks like, and then the sheet pre-adhesion for the cover, etc etc. I ended up needed to recut the back quote and adding it on a second pass of the heat press.

Casing in the Text Block:

So now the textblook is done, the case is done...

Time to finish!

This remains the most nerve-wracking part of the whole build for me.

After I tip on the edgepapers, I put a protective sheet of scrap paper between them, glue, and then carefully close each cover one at a time to adhere.

Then its into the press she goes overnight for a sleep.

And.... tah-dah! It's the next day, and that's it! She's done and she's BEAUTIFUL!

... and even better, there are TWO (2nd not pictured) because I wanted one for my own shelf. One of my favourite things about this bind is actually the little crystal charm on the end of the bookmark ribbon, calling back to the original color inspo picture.

Thank you for checking out this project :)

Materials I Used: