#book-binding

How many pages (as in, page numbers in a digital document, not physical pages) would you say is a reasonable range for a standard hardcover bind, in your experience? Something that could be managed by a person who is pretty new to the craft?

The most amazing thing that has ever happened has happened to me.

I don't know if this author has a Tumblr account or if she wants me advertising her name, but she did give me permission to share the pictures she sent me.

And. They're. Ah. May. Zing!

Look at this freakin' masterpiece!

I am so honoured she chose my story to put into physical form! I look at the page and I think, 'Holy cow! This is what it'd look like if I were a real live author!' and it's very exciting.

Apparently this is the first book she's ever bound. Binded? Book-binded? Book-bound? Well, either way, she did an AMAZING job. I think it looks totally legit. And it's not just because she used my story to do it!!!!

For my birthday, my mother-in-law surprises me with a really great gift. She gives me a book binding machine.This isn’t a fancy machine. It’s basically a glorified (low-heat) cooking griddle, with “flanges” that squeeze a stack of papers upright, on its back so to speak. Then the flat surface melts a strip of glue and binds a cardstock cover to the edges of the pages.  When I get it set up in my…

My first fannish foray into renegade book-binding! It’s so ugly (no fancy paper, no pictures or imprint, the margins are off, two blank sides have to be glued together & I still gotta bind it) but it’s mine 😎

So here’s how I got it done. 

First, get your story together in a word processor. I was using Microsoft Word 2007 for this but I bet you could do this in LibreOffice too. Second, make sure your printer is set to duplex (print on both sides).

When you put your story into your word processor, order it this way: page 1 is the cover of your booklet, page 2 is the inside cover, page 3 is across from page 2 on the same spread, page 4 is on the other side of page 3 when ya turn the page & so on & so forth. You must make sure the total page count is divisible by 4 (add blank pages if you must). Don’t forget that. Mine was 28 pages for a 2.6k word story (you have to blow up the font size because when you squeeze 4 of these pages onto a 8x11.5 sheet, the text naturally reduces; font sizes given below. Because it’s indecipherable, just want to share the title+author was 72 pt font)

When you fiddle with customized margins, don’t make the same mistakes I did. Here’re my mistakes so you know how these numbers correspond to the bad margins you see in my gif 😅👍:

Next go to this amazing website: http://workingonperfection.000webhostapp.com/booklet_printing.php. Plug in your total page count to get the page number sequence you need for all the magic to happen. Ctrl+C that number sequence (under the “Four pages on each side” not “Two pages on each side”)

Go back to your doc, click ‘Print’ and paste the sequence into “Pages” under “Page range.” And don’t do anything with “Zoom.” Keep it to 1 page, No Scaling.  It should look like this when you’re done:  

Next click “Properties” next to the name of your printer at the top. You should get ‘Document Properties.’  Here, you keep things in Portrait orientation, Flip on Long Edge, page order doesn’t matter I don’t think, and then under Page Format, click ‘Pages per Sheet’ as 4.   It should look like this:

Moreover, make certain that in these previews you see above, Side 1 has that exact 1-2-3-4 order (it has to match up with the workingonperfection website’s 1-2-3-4 order). This order is also called “Right then Down” if you wanna click “Advanced” & make sure everything’s lookin good there:

Done? Great! Now print!

Big thank you to Tank0923 for his Youtube video on this x

and all my love to @renegadepublishing​ & its discord for getting me motivated to do this all day (both the attempt to create a booklet & write this tutorial 😅📚💛

OWL GIFTS for @pineau-noir!

(Creators will be revealed on January 8, 2021.)

Gift from: anon Admire on AO3: Gifts for Molly Summary: Harry and Draco are at the shopping centre picking out Christmas presents for Molly. They get caught on camera after leaving the loos. Quite suspicious. Art Medium: Digital - photoshop. Rating: G Notes: Dear @pineau-noir, you said you liked purple :D so I hope you like this. You're a wonderfully kind person and this isn't good enough for you! ♥

Gift from: anon Read on AO3: I Think He Knows Summary: In which Draco expresses some Big Things and Harry overreacts and has a meltdown (you know, just Harry being Harry). Word Count: 2897 words. Rating: G Notes: Beta by @gallifrey1sburning.