#celestial sphere press

(this post is for people who don't want to buy an expensive cutting tool, or for those that do have an expensive cutting tool that would like to mix things up a little)

1. Print That Shit

If you're already printing your own textblocks, an easy step for titles is to print them. Above is a title printed onto an "obi" of decorative paper. I measured out where I wanted things on the finished book and laid it out in Affinity, then printed it on a full sheet & trimmed it down to wrap around the book. A more simple method is to print & glue on the label into a slight indent in the cover (to protect it). A third option is to do the spine in bookcloth, while you print on paper for the cover and then glue that paper onto the boards (this usually looks even better when it is a three-piece bradel bind).

2. Foil Quill / Heat Pens

The heat pen is one of my go-to tools, but it can be a bit touchy about materials. The most popular version is the We R Memory Keepers' Foil Quill (which is one of the most ergonomic), but other pens exist that can get you to a higher heat temp, finer lines, or more consistent foil. For example, I have a pen created by a local Japanese bookbinding studio that fares way better on leathers than the WRMK quill & with a finer tip, but it's hell to control. Best results in general are on paper or smooth bookcloth (starched linen, arrestox, colibri - even duo will work but its less solid). The fuzzier a bookcloth is, the less your foil quill wants to deal with it. This means the heat n bond method of making bookcloth does not play nice with a heat pen usually, but there are two solutions: 1) use this tutorial on paste + acrylic medium coated bookcloth instead that will get you a perfect surface for the heat pen, or 2) use the pen on paper & then glue onto the cloth. I did a video tutorial for both foil quill use and this type of homemade bookcloth for @renegadeguild Binderary in 2023.

You get the most consistent results by tracing through a printed template that is taped in place, as I do in the video above.

3. Paint That Shit

Acrylic paints will do you fine! The above is free-handed with a circle template, because I wanted that vibe. If you need straight lines that won't seep, lay them down with tape first & then paint over it first with a clear Acrylic medium, then your color. Same goes for stencils. Two more examples of painted bookcloth:

4. IT'S GOT LAYERS

By using layers of thinner boards, you can create interesting depths & contrasts on your cover. You can also make cutouts that peep through to the decorative paper behind. The most important part to this technique is the order in which each edge is wrapped. To get a good wrapped inside edge, you will split the turn in into tabs to get them to conform to a curve. You can also layer multiple colors of bookcloth without multiple layers of board, as seen below left, so long as you mind your cut edges for fraying.

5. Inlaid... anything

Mirrors! Marbled paper! I saw someone do a pretty metal bookmark once! The key is creating a little home for it to live in, which is pretty similar to the above layering method. On one layer you cut the shape, & glue that layer onto the bottom solid board before covering. You can do the top layer as an entire 1 mm board (like I did for the mirrors) or a sheet of cardstock, like I would use for inlaid paper.

6. Decorative Paper

Decorative paper is always helpful & adds to the paper hoard... & its effects can be layers with other techniques, as below. Marbles, chiyogami, momi, or prints & maps of all kinds can be great additions. Some papers may need a protective coating (such as wax or a sealer).

7. Stamps (with optional linocut)

While I've not used many more regular rubber stamps, I do know some who have, successfully! And I've used one once or twice with embossing powder (see photo 3 up, the gold anchor on the little pamphlet bind). What also works is to carve your own linocut or stamp, & then use block printing ink to ink it onto your fabric (as i did above). A bit time intensive, but it was nice how easily reproducible it was, and I liked the effect I got for this particular bind.

Earlier this week I reported on the very depressing for-profit fic pirating happening in certain corners of fandom—but (somewhat coincidentally, timing-wise) I also had the joy of reporting this story on fanbinding, and the work of the @renegadeguild! Featuring the words (and fanbinds) of the brilliant @celestial-sphere-press, @butterfingersbookbinding, and @fanboundbooks (who also talked about Renegade on the most recent Fansplaining episode).

Renegade's binders are strong proponents of the non-monetized gift economy—they truly embody the spirit of fanfiction, in my opinion, both in the communal way they share their work with fic writers and each other, and in the DIY way they approach making books:

There’s a strong parallel between the amateur, instinctive nature of fanfiction and the act of fanbinding. While plenty of fic is penned by formally trained writers, much of it is not. Tiffo, who binds as Fanboundbooks, likens the reverse-engineering involved in teaching oneself both activities. As writers, people try to figure out why stories work. Fanbinders collectively share the process of learning to turn that work into a physical object—tactile, clean, often beautiful. Fic is largely unencumbered by the forms and structures of traditional publishing, and fanbinders approach their work with the same spirit. “People will often say, ‘How do I do this?’ or ‘What’s the rule for this?’” Tiffo says. “The answer that we always try to throw in Renegade is, ‘This is what other people have done, but know that there is no rule to your book—you can make whatever you want.’”

A quick bind of Graduate Vulcan for Fun and Profit by @lazulisong, Linguistic Ambiguities in Vulcan Ethical Codes and Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations by @elumish as typeset by @celestial-sphere-press

This mini anthology was typeset to look like a thesis paper, so that’s where I went with cover design. Now, thesis works are typically bound very simply in our neck of the woods, usually with just the word “Thesis paper” on the cover, so I went with the deep red I once chose for my own graduation paper and a linostamped Starfleet Academy logo.

(Couldn’t help sprucing it up a bit with marbled endpapers in Starfleet primary colors)

Fun fact: I was wearing a Starfleet science officer pin for my thesis defence 🖖

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU!

This is 1 of 2 posts for today, a massive project that I have hit a significant milestone for: completion of both my & the author's 15-volume set of the 1.1 million word The Desert Storm. This is the fic series that got me into Star Wars as an actual fan.

Four years after Order 66 and the fall of the Jedi Order, a grieving, struggling Ben Kenobi finds himself inexplicably taken back in time, crashing headlong into the foundations of fate. Grasping hope and vengeance with both hands, Ben rebuilds his identity and seeks to change the course of history: by saving Anakin Skywalker, the Jedi Order, the galaxy - and just maybe saving Obi-Wan Kenobi along the way.

My design for this typeset was significantly influenced by mem, who had begun a typeset before me and selected black & white images for the title pages, a trend I continued.

As this fic series has meteliculous attention to both canon & EU lore, I stuck with aurebesh characters for titles wherever appropriate, which occasionally gave me some fun opportunities for chapters & tables of contents like this:

For scene dividers, I used a image you can interpret either as twin suns, or as an eclipse.

While I committed to a more classic and less elaborate design for this series, I still rounded & backed every volume in the set. "Editioning" high numbers of similar books like this is often considered in bookbinding circles as necessary to practice skills (I am at 37/45 volumes), and I can certainly say that I have gotten much better at a number of things along the way. The largest book in this series is 616 pages; the smallest, 160 - and I needed to round & back both.

Further thoughts...

(pls click photos for better quality)

Between what was and what will be stands James Tiberius Kirk, in all his fractured patchwork glory. Because saving the Federation was only the beginning.

This fic has been on my to-do list for a long time, and serendipitously got pushed up for me to do RIGHT NOW because I needed a fic I could use to demonstrate layering boards for cutouts for a class @pleasantboatpress and I taught for Binderary. @finalfrontierpublishing had a great typeset, so I rushed to get the text ready enough for the class demo that I could start the cover... and then things got out of hand. Whoops.

I started with a basic circle cutout for the globe, which then grew a secondary layer for me to sandwich copper wires into. Atlas got printed onto marbled paper and added in on top. Then I developed a plan to have the moon-earth orbits, etc on the cover...

...and I needed a sun & I had this awesome paper I decided to use for endpapers, so we get a stupid complicated paper inset too...

...and I had been meaning to try out French double core endbands so why not do those in the colors of the earth from space...

Annnnnd then I was going to a box-making class & this is the kind of delicate that kinda needs one. so. here we are!

bonus: that art peep in the background is a super awesome metal print by @natureintheory

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU!! (#2!)

My second post for Star Wars day is the canon vampire-au fic Sanguine, typeset by @aetherseer (& it is one of the last any of us received explicit permission for). This fic is one of my most dearly beloved of glimmer's works (so hard to choose a favorite). It languished for months printed but unfinished, on my shelf, because I was constantly torn over what to do for the cover design. The final design uses handmade bookcloth from white linen, with red paint seeped into the fabric in different tones & stages to give the effect of blood leaching into cloth (we are going after both meanings of "sanguine" here).

Aether's typeset, with art by @frostbitebakery, is gorgeous & has color on every page. I had this crepaldi tiger eye paper that I thought would go great, and did true double core endbands to match.

Bonus photo: aftermath of Nimitz deciding she needed to participate in this act of creation.

bonus bonus photo from my first photoshoot of this book where the book was acting like it was a Twilight vampire instead of a normal one 🤣:

A hurt/comfort focused series where Jason never dies, but the Waynes’ weird neighbor kid gets strung along for the ride all the same. Tim joins the family early & finds a haven in Wayne Manor.

Including a cover page by @they-reap-what-we-sow

This was my bind for @after-avalon for the 2024 Renegade Exchange! I got introduced to this fic series through their fic choices, and I enjoyed it immensely. Technically, they only asked for the first fic (the 5 times & 1) but uh... I enjoyed stuff enough my completionist heart would not allow me to only do a single fic from the series. so here is the set!

Beyond the Robin color scheme, I really wanted to lean into the Wayne manor motif. During the initial design process I struck out a bit on good interior images, so I fell back on a wrought iron motif. That had also inspired me to attempt a new craft on the cover, but plan A & B both failed to hack it for my timeline, so I hand-painted the cover instead.

I made a whole bunch of different page styles for this series because it's a whole anthology.

typeset by @tankbredgrunt

Zuko is held for ransom by Chief Hakoda. Ozai's replies to the Water Tribe's demands are A+ Parenting. Hakoda is… deeply concerned, for this son that isn't his, and who might be safer among enemies than with his own father.

After nearly 2 years, I have finally bound this lovely typeset of Salvage (written by @muffinlance on Ao3) that @tankbredgrunt created for a Renegade Exchange a few years ago.

This bind is absolutely a bit of a series of random choices that I lucked out on the end result coming together cohesively. I printed half the typeset & then had paper issues in Japan; it sat for a year. Once printed, I picked the endpapers bc they felt like ice to me, & then it sat for a few months until I was going to visit @finalfrontierpublishing in Singapore. That was when we marbled the top edge & I still had no idea what colors I wanted so. I just picked some.

Then I came home & eventually sewed some endbamds I felt kinda matched the marbling, but still didn't know what to do for the case. 3 months later I realized: I have this lovely textured koi cloth that matches these endband colors! And finally, the book was finished a few days after the heat n bond arrived in the mail.

I was also really happy with how the drape of the book turned out! It stays open very nicely (peep a gorgeous chapter page by Kameron)