Renegade Bookbinding Guild is a not-for-profit group of artists engaged in fanbinding—focusing on extremely limited edition fannish works, including fanfiction, meta, original fic, zines and other works. Most works are made in handmade editions of one or two copies. We are a transformative community connected by shared values, goals, work, and stories. We value fanfiction and fanwork in all its forms, and our fannish culture’s infinite diversity in infinite combinations.
Members work self-directed, selecting works to bind individually. We are building a physical archive book by book, zine by zine, pamphlet by pamphlet, collected on our shelves, gifted to the author, exchanged as gifts among each other or given to friends.
Members of Renegade Bookbinding Guild agree to our Code of Conduct, which upholds the values of our community and can be accessed here.
@armoredsuperheavy started fanbinding independently in 2018. After their guerrilla bookbinding manifestos went viral in 2020, they created the fanbinding Discord server. So began the Renegade Bindery, our digital workshop and community space.
Renegade Bindery is on Discord, if you would like to join please check out the invite on our website. It is 18+ only, and it is not required to be a member of the Guild to participate in the discord.
Our site is maintained by volunteers of the Renegade Bookbinding Guild. The Guild was first established as Renegade Publishing August 17th, 2020, and we updated our name to the Renegade Bookbinding Guild on February 2, 2024.
For more ways to follow Renegade, visit our website.
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Another Fandom Trumps Hate, for graywings – her beautiful series Ineffably Gray in a two-volume set. I wanted to keep it rather monochromatic. Post season 2. Crowley and Aziraphale take on the Metatron and then Satan himself. Lovely take on the Bentley.
X-Tropy by @deadcanons. X-Files, 147k, folio binding, fully illustrated. I do mean fully. All 51 chapters of this feature, uh, elaborate illustrations. And in some chapters I drew more than one. I liked X-Tropy a normal amount. Please go read X-Tropy. It's a wonder and a delight and it has a equally wonderful soundtrack too.
One copy for me, and one copy for the author (of course). I used shot cotton (red/blue) for the cover fabric to give a mostly-plain design a bit of visual interest, but to keep it from being too overwhelming. I'm a really big fan of shot cotton and it works so nicely here. I realized after the fact that I'd essentially recreated a 3-piece Bradel binding (maybe???) without actually knowing that was what I was doing. I've never made a cover like this before so it was truly a total accident, but I'm going to have to do it again. I love the way it feels. I made a slipcase too, to keep the book safe in transit... but it really isn't the feature here, I was focusing more on the interior for the majority of this project. For. Uh. Obvious reasons.
You can see the whole typeset with all of the illustrations here. You can see the poster I did with all of the various characters and details over here on my main blog! Go check them out. I spent a few months on this.
Additional design work/extras under the cut, here.
Character lineup (in color!) - most of these were very rough sketches I did just so I'd have a reference point to check back as I illustrated my way through it all. Not all of these ended up being entirely accurate - I kept messing around with Jasmine's hair in basically every illustration I did of her, and Ji-Hoon's hand injury is on the wrong hand in this reference (whoops! I remembered when I was actually illustrating, though, don't worry).
I have a document somewhere where I collected every single character description I could find in the entire fic, just for consistency. It was a long document. The things I do in the frantic quest for versimilitude.
The ID badges - I like throwing silly little extras in when I send things to my friends. The FBI badges are based on some of the props used in the show actual - the opposite sides are some more X-Tropy-relevant references. (I realized while uploading these images that there's an error on the autopsy report: the cause of death is meant to read 'foreign body airway obstruction' but the text got removed at some point. ah well, i can't get everything right)
Chapter 29 (Orpheus II) features a visit to a real-world art installation (Larassa Kabel's Visitation) - I ended up 3d-modelling it to make sure I could properly nail the perspective and shadowplay of the scene. (My take on the visuals is maybe a bit more twisty and branch-heavy than the original ever was, but being in a museum at night plays strange tricks on your brain.) It's the only actual perspective model I ended up doing for the illustrations, but I did end up referencing a lot of real-world locations mentioned in the notes and taking inspiration from photos of the places as well as street-view results. More than anything, this project turned out to be a roadtrip.
Aaaaand the first sketch I ever did for this story - a year ago, on a scrap piece of paper while bored at work, the day after reading the Crisis Apparition chapter. I had a very vivid mental image of the composition and didn't want to lose it. I think it's kind of wonderful just how little that composition changed, even when I'd totally forgotten about the doodle.
...really good project to work on. I needed something to sink my teeth into and it was perfect. Now that it's with the author I can stop having a package shipping-induced constant anxiety attack.
Lungbarrow by Marc Platt, a gift for my friend in the hopes that he can finish his VNA readthrough sometime soon. He's been making his way through the VNAs as long as I've known him. I believe. I believe in him. You should too.
I originally bound Lungbarrow close to four years ago, as a part of a video I made, and I illustrated it with dropcaps and full-page woodcut-style illustrations too. Four years is a long time when it comes to improving your binding skills, so I was very glad to have the chance to fix my earlier mistakes. The interior content is mostly unchanged from the original - I updated the fonts and title formatting to look a little neater, but the illustrations and dropcaps remain as they were. I was a bit better about spacing this time, so this version is a lot slimmer than my original volume, while still being a good chunky size to hold.
The cover is a bit of a departure from my original, minimalistic design, but I had a Vision with that specific spine fabric, and I think the vibe is correct. Glad to give this one another shot.
As a bonus, for @ajconstantine, I also did Caramel Delight which is an absolutely delicious human au that I adore. However is Crowley going to meet his cute neighbor? Maybe gifting a jar of his delicious caramel sauce will work.
I tried to get close to the wonderful colors in @anotherwellkeptsecret’s beautiful art that I kept as the title page and also used as endpapers.
The incomparable @brunheiffer once again left me speechless! 😭✨
For Caramel Delight, the details of the wee bookmark charms reflecting the dessert theme of the story, the shimmering gold leaf on the front, the delightful caramel image accents throughout the book, and the caramel sauce recipe included at the end—simply perfect.
My heart is so incredibly full. Seeing my work in physical book form really brings home the fact that I’m just as much of an author as those who traditionally publish. Endless amounts of gratitude, Brunheiffer. You are a master of your craft! ❤️
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I made Andy Weir's Eridian worldbuilding notes into a mini book!
Normally my title pages include my actual city and the date in roman numerals (to mimic the look of traditionally published books), but I am already binding worldbuilding notes; I might as well go full nerd. The page numbers are also in Eridian numbers (affinity publisher cannot automate page numbers in base six; fortunately it's only 231 91 pages long) .
I came up with a heading style before I realized that some headings were much longer than would fit on a single line, but I think the two-line version ended up looking alright for the most part!
I made a slight edit to the text because Andy Weir used red text to tell base 6 numbers apart from base 10 numbers but I was printing in black and white. Rather than messing with a different font I decided to just use the Eridian numerals for base 6, which meant they needed to be defined earlier in the text, so I changed one line and moved one sentence earlier by a couple of paragraphs.
I really wanted to use the nature magazine font (Harding) but I have not been able to locate a copy of that font file anywhere, so I used Marcellus (from google fonts) which is a little bit similar.
Two Fanbindings of Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary (one in english, one in german) as a coupled twin-binding for me and my bestie who went to see the movie with me immediately when I expressed my wish for it! (Which is why the location mark is blacked out, thats the cinema we went to!)
While browing I saw these two papers and knew i needed to use them for endpapers. This also sparked my wish to bind this book at all. It took me around two months from conception to finished product.
The bookcloth is Wooqu's starry black bookcloth and it is positively SPARKLY in real life - pictures dont really do it justice. My first time using the Silhouette cutter too, and thus also my first time using HTV. A game changer, honestly. I really enjoy how it looks.
Sometimes you plan for a lot to happen, and sometimes your workplace throws everything up in the air and screws over your entire bookbinding hobby for the foreseeable future.
But that did not stop me from enjoying Project Hail Mary, looking up the Goslingverse crossovers, and stumbling across this fic from Twitter user tunariceball, who made a wonderful fic about Courtland and Grace meeting each other in prison. The fic also inspired @chicharonie22 to make a fanart of the meeting that I had to include!
I haven't made a simple pamphlet bind in so long, yet I found myself enjoying my time weaving the pages and gluing the front/back cover strips. Such a simple bind, yet such a perfect form for short fics! Perhaps I can make more of these to tide myself over till I have some more free time.
Thanks to tunariceball for the fic and to @chicharonie22 for the fanart!
Many thanks to @armoredsuperheavy for recommending this super fun fic!
This is a rus-real AU (and if you don’t know what that means then lucky you) which immediately gave me IDEAS for the design.
🏢 So here we have my interpretation of Benjamin Elbel’s pixel binding, with the cover made out of 56 separate pieces of bookboard (with the basic square being 32x32mm), with staircase colored bookcloth and grey leather stamped (with handmade lino stamps) and painted to look like a classic Soviet era panel building.
🏢 The inner cover is red suede which is very fun because the pixel cover leaves these cute imprints in the soft suede.
🏢 The typesetting is relatively tame, with chapter names done in a stencil font (like something you might find painted on a rusty garage door), and the body font being Century Schoolbook, because of vibes.
This is a first attempt at a pretty tricky binding types so there are some imperfections but I’m really happy with the end result. (Also, I had a blast painting all the little windows!)
I rebound a 1981 Italian edition of The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco in red leather for @erebus0dora
📚 The calfskin cover features a debossed and foiled library floor plan, with two pieces of leather mosaic marking the entrance hall and the inner sanctum. Title tooled on the spice with actual real bronze tools.
📚 Edges painted in red and endbands embroidered by hand.
📚 Cloth-hinged endpapers in gold moire paper, with the original endpapers with the map of the abbey were preserved as a separate signature at the front of the book.
It was such a cool and interesting project to undertake!
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All my friend @maleekamolscreates had to ask was, "have you ever made a legal quarto version of Rookie Moves" and I was off to the races, creating yet another bind of this iconic fic.
I used Mally's own typeset as an inspiration, including the art @faiell had created back when a bunch of us did a big Twenty-Two Cards swap.
One fun thing about this bind was that I marbled my own end papers. Kinda. In Procreate. After I cut up the handmade paper for Mally's version, I realized I didn't have enough for two copies, but I also didn't have any other paper that would work well. And although I want to start marbling paper myself, and I even have all of the supplies, I just keep putting it off because it requires prep and also it's going to be messy and it takes time, etc, etc.
But then I realized, hey, I could probably replicate it in Procreate, and then I can match the colors perfectly! So that's what I did. I did not send the version with those papers to Mally because Mally makes the most gorgeous marbled papers and it would be an insult to send her digitally marbled paper. An insult to her craft.
My endbands are getting better, I think!
I used Skivertex (yet again, I love this stuff) for the cover, and the art was printed onto printable HTV and carefully cut out. The title is metallic HTV. I printed it on 28 lb paper to give it some extra chonk.
Do I think this is my last bind of Rookie Moves? Maybe. But let's face it. Probably not.
2026 Binderary Giveaway for @arden-in-the-garden, @drsteggy, @herearedragons, @platinumink, @sugareey-makes-stuff, and @treblemaker07
198,075 words | 1,483 pages | 8 books | 6 authors
For binderary this year, I had a dream of binding a bunch of books using the same style—so I did a giveaway offering to make 1 book (or 2 mini books) each per fanfic author, and I am so so grateful to each one for the opportunity to bind their fics!!
All of the books are inboards bradel binds, which is one of my favorite types to bind because I LOVE building a book up rather than casing it in. I was surprised though by just how many different sizes I ended up making though—letter folio, quatro, octavo, and sextodecimo, with more size differences from whether spines were rounded or not! So even though there were multiple books, there was a TON more math than I usually have with multiple fics, since there were so many different versions and sizing to keep track of.
Each of the fics used pretty a near-identical typeset design within each page with custom title pages by book. I tried my best to find cover material and bookcloth that would match multiple fics, then mixed and matched from there so there were unique variations for each. This was my first time working with paper labels. I used Klucel G to coat the paper labels on the cover and on the spine—I didn’t notice much difference after the first application, but by the second I could feel the coating + do think it helped the paper!
Scrolling on Tumblr, I feel like my dash always has a bunch of fandoms I’m not involved in, so it was SUPER cool to get a peek into a bunch of new-to-me fandoms or ships! Between the 8 books, we had Merlin, Fallen London, Legend of Zelda, The Martian, Stranger Things, Teen Wolf… Fandom is about community, even those that I’m not personally a part of, and making authors’ copies is my favorite way to participate and share some of the love back. Had an absolute blast this year, so—no promises, but—hoping to do it again next February!
I know myself well enough to know I would not be very good at fanbiding and that would mainly frustrate me, so while I love fan binding and admire those who do it, I've never dabbled.
I have never regretted that decision more than I did waking up from the dream I recently had, where I excitedly bought a rare copy of the novel that Goncharov (1973) was based on, opened it up, and found that it was a hollowed out "book safe" for keeping valuables in.
@copperbadge were you looking for the Goncharov novel ?
I tracked down a copy of this invaluable classic and somehow got my hands on a near pristine copy secondhand from the 4th printing. It’s lost the dustjacket, alas, but that means I got it for like £5 and not the £4200 a first edition printing in fine condition goes for.
(Who’s the author? *looks at smudge on spine* uhhhh Mkkhill Montanann)
It looks right at home in my bookcase 🥰
Under the cut: a look inside at what the book holds:
Just kidding.
It holds only the air of regret and disappointment.
For this year's Fandom Trumps Hate auction, I won fanfic binding by the incredibly talented @brunheiffer, and the completed work arrived today! I am SO AMAZED!!! She bound three of my Good Omens garden-themed AU novellas in one stunning volume, and the details are exquisite. THANK YOU, Brunheiffer, for contributing your art, skill, and dedication to the auction, and for giving me this treasure to cherish.
The cover is so shiny! Lovely choice for endpapers, and every title page is wonderful.
Even the chapter headings were created with great care.
So it’s been awhile since I’ve bound anything, but when I read the Cursed Amulet Story by @sunderwight, I was like, I gotta make an actual, physical evil amulet now. Except the evil amulet is also going to be a book. And the book is like a diary by the guy trapped in the amulet.
The book is held in the brass frame (also made by yours truly) by friction; it pops out super easily so you can read it but it’s not going to fall out accidentally.
The typeset fit into exactly one piece of normal 8.5x11 printer paper, and if anyone else wants the file to make their own evil amulet, I’m happy to share.
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A small bind of all the Murderbot short stories to complete the series on my shelf. First time painting the edges of a book with acrylic paint and oh boy, did I have a bad time with that.
A small pamphlet bind of "the tenderness of spring" by @smallhorizons! It felt appropriate to bind some trans fic this month ✨ This is my first time making my own bookcloth and I'm delighted with how well it turned out!
