A collection of hand bound books created by ML Townsend of Towns End Bindery (@towns_end_bindery on Instagram). I also reblog books I think are pretty.
This is possibly the most time consuming project I’ve ever worked on. The moment I thought I was done, some other idea would come up and the work would continue. That was how the process felt with this piece.
Photos of the book itself can be found in this post. The crown foil on the protective board piece came from Fable and Bind. The maps are from the 2011 Batnum Books Trade Paperback Edition of Game of Thrones. All other art is my own original design.
This was my first time making a box on my own. Before this, I had only ever made a clamshell box in a workshop at the International Printers Museum.
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The story is a c-novel fanfic by Silvestris and tenddisorder on Ao3 (fandom is Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation). I typeset and printed the textblock, stitched it together, trimmed the edges with a wood chisel, hand sanded the edges after, rounded the spine with a cobbler's hammer, and hand sewed the three color silk endbands. The ribbon bookmark I got from a stall at a renaissance faire maybe three years ago. Cover is hand-foiled, using copper backed foil from Mountain Leather Supply. Endpapers are Italian paper from 32 North Supplies.
I’ve been using a lot of canvas lately for bookcloth and I’m obsessed with it. Felt like the perfect thing for this fic!! Which everyone should read immediately
dangerous, disquieting thing by hungrydeer (available on ao3)
Printed and handbound for personal use only!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
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This was a Fandom Trumps Hate commission from last year, which I've finally remembered to post pictures of!
I had a really fun time incorporating beads into the design here. One of the standard styles for sewn headbands is called "bead on edge," with the "bead" being a wrap of thread. I wanted to see if I could make headbands with actual beads, and I think they came out looking pretty good! For the sewn part of the headband I stuck with plain black thread, so that the beads would stay in the spotlight.
I also added beads to the cover, which are basically couched on through the board itself. The leather I used here is fairly thick, and the green section of the cover is raised up with an additional layer of chipboard, and there's a little gap between the leather and the raised green area, so that the beads can be set down into the cover and not completely up on the surface. Sewing them on was a tedious process (involving sewing all the way through the cover board) but it was worth it, I'm really happy with the overall look and definitely intend to use beads in more book projects in the future.
I bound @minamiren's dark and sweet SVSSS fanfic, Black Lotus, into a book! Making this was a treat to myself between two secret projects. ðŸ¤
The spine is vintage mid-century fabric, and the covers are scrapbook paper with hand-foiled gold lettering. The headbands are DMC black cotton. The paper is 24lb, the title is Balmoon, and the text is Centaur. The ornament comes from a vintage decorations pack I bought on sale a few years ago.
Finally! I had this bind finished for weeks and weeks, but with snail mail across continents it only arrived at my co-author's door today, so now I get to squee over it and post pictures!
Behold! That Douchebag Steve Harrington! A Stranger Things story, Steve Harrington/Billy Hargrove, written by @humble-althemist and me.
With fanart by the fantabulous @ihni! The art was commissioned way back when, in the year when we had just finished the story, and I am so happy they let me use it for the physical book, as well! <3 <3 <3
The cover is foil quill on home-made bookcloth, the spine and maker's logo are sparkly-red HTV. A little more Frank'n'Furter than Hawkins High, perhaps, but I still love how it turned out. The black on the book edges is fountain pen ink. The endpapers are foil quill again, tried the rainbow foil for the little nailbats. :D
A few years ago, I decided I wanted to make a Descriptive Book to gift to Cyan Worlds. This year, I finally finished it.
The book measures at about 8.5"x11.25" and is just shy of 2" thick. The cover was made with distressed and metallic leathers, and the centerpiece is plexiglass with craft paint, puff paint, and a sodalite cabochon.
My hope is to get this book filled with things like fanart, cosplay photos, and letters to Cyan before I hand it over to them so please don't hesitate to contact me if there's something you would like added!
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the leather-bound copies of the MYTH manuscript my sibling and I made for @narcissistcookbook and @thetimeofsome
this project has occupied most of my focus for the last few months...so i think i'm equal parts relieved and sad that it's finally done (and am now in desperate need of new projects)
back and forth from new york by alphalupi @poseidonearthshaker
A true monster project that I am so so proud of! This is a combined bind of back and forth from new york + went home and tried to stalk you on the internet (the accompanying socmed).
The theme of this bind was The New Yorker. I research how their covers and inside stories are formatted and replicated in the book covers and the typography. I'm very proud of the everything bagel drawing I found online to use as the dinkus. Both covers are handdrawn (well, on an ipad), by me. Part 1 is a city scape of New York for the place that welcomed Shane home and part 2 is the cottage for the home that Shane, Ilya, Anya, and Sunny created together.Â
The SocMed sections were individually created tweets, instagram, and text threads created on Figma.Â
As always, BAFFNY is free to read on AO3. No AI was used in the creation or design of this personal bind. Never buy or sell fanfiction. If you do, I hope your AC or fan stops working for every summer for the rest of your life.Â
I'm so so so pleased with this phanbind of @natigail's "Broke, Gay and New in Town" feat. phanart by @unphortunate AND cover art (well, spine art) by paradiseobound as featured in the first chapter!!! I had this image from the beginning of this bind of putting one of the beautiful circle arts on the cover, but once I realized how massive this spine was, I decided there was no reason to hide the art on the cover!
Loads more photos and yaps below the cut!
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But first, let me just say (once again) how much I adored natigail's story and the way they enhanced my favourite cosy game of all time SO much that I'll never see the Valley the same way again.
I'll always walk through town and see Phil's B&B and I'll imagine playing pool with the gang at the Saloon and I'll take a moment at each festival to say thank you to the Adventurer and to the Magician.
And now I'll be able to pick up this book and disappear into this world whenever I need to, because the magic of Stardew Valley finds you whenever you need it the most.
Y'all've already seen how Stardew!Dan and Stardew!Phil kiss when the book is closed, but I just need to reiterate how fucking cool that is and how much Sierra's art elevates the vibes!
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Season colours as designated by the B&B owner! I borrowed my wife's fancy markers to add some colours to each season based on a conversation Dan and Phil have in the story, and I'm obsessed with how you can just barely see the colours from the edges!
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Each season also has its own corner art, and each month its own icon! I had so much fun matching up icons to themes or events or vibes from each month (even if it made the typesetting and organising for printing so much more complicated lmao!)
Please don't ask me where I found these images, I have absolutely zero recollection!
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I've been bookbinding for several years now, and even though my supplies and my skills remain significantly amateurish, it is one of my favourite hobbies of all time. As I've already said a billion times, this was my most ambitious project by far, and at almost every step I was like...wait, how do I DO this though??? But I'm SO thrilled with the result, and I'm ecstatic for this life-changing phanfic to join my collection!
A note for anyone out there who might consider phanbinding this Stardew AU: consider breaking it up into 4 volumes!!!! This bind would really suit having an independent tome for each season, plus then you can design 4 different covers of ~vibes~! I had already printed everything before I realized it would be so much easier to do in volumes, and by then the signatures weren't organized for easy restructuring so I just had to commit to the full thing lol
(And if you bind this or anything else, I wanna see!)
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If you made it to the end of this giant yap post, here's the aftermath of my desk that I now have to clean up!
Not pictured: the pile of discarded cardboard from the book boards, the mountain of tiny strips of paper from trimming the signatures that I already had to recycle because my cat was eating them, and the thick layer of dust coating every surface from sanding that I now have to vacuum up!
She's done! And I absolutely LOVE how she turned out! 💚
I was absolutely terrfied of my first time rounding a book spine. But I am so happy how it turned out. It was actually quite fun once you overcome the hesitation to tackle a book (least of all one which you just made yourself) with a hammer. Photodump and some more bookbinding nerdery below the cut. ^_^
Initially I wanted to go for a "classic Austen-esque" style of flowers and swirls and all that with this bind. Which did not quite work out the way I intended but I still love the results.
Also, a huge and hollering THANK YOU to the lovely @s-u-w-i for giving me permission to use this gorgeous portrayal of Anne and Frederic for this project. From the very beginning I just KNEW I wanted this piece to be the first thing you see when opening the book. If you don't know their tumblr already go check it out! It is brimming with absolutely amazing art (Austen, Tolkien, greek mythology and lots and lots of original stuff) that I love to distractions.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
The story is a c-novel fanfic by Silvestris and tenddisorder on Ao3 (fandom is Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation). I typeset and printed the textblock, stitched it together, trimmed the edges with a wood chisel, hand sanded the edges after, rounded the spine with a cobbler's hammer, and hand sewed the three color silk endbands. The ribbon bookmark I got from a stall at a renaissance faire maybe three years ago. Cover is hand-foiled, using copper backed foil from Mountain Leather Supply. Endpapers are Italian paper from 32 North Supplies.
My second illustration for my typesetting of I wish you were my husband 🤗 It's legit my favorite scene in the entire fic and I can't help but swoon each time I reread it.. 🙈
The typeset is all done now and I got everything ready to start printing my signatures! I'll keep you guys posted! (How exciting ðŸ¤)
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