ashmouthbooks

[ashmouthbooks]

Long time no see! I haven’t made a book since July!

I’ve had this textblock printed and ready since July and I wanted to get it bound before my imminent international move. I had scraps of two different chiyogami papers lying about plus an offcut of (probably) fake leather backed with paper - very thin, very flexible, suitable, I thought, for a tiny book. And all three bits I thought worked well together - the fireworks on the red have some dark blue dots in there.

A8, Yuri!!! on ICE fanfic: The Night is Young and the Music’s High by Opalish - a delightful fun little romp of a fic.

[ashmouthbooks]

Unspoken Declarations by shotboxer

BBC Shetland, Jimmy/Duncan - well, sort of. It’s entirely platonic, with a level of affection on par with the series, which is to say, very affectionate. ;)

A8 sized, with cover papers and endpapers from two different Søstrene Grene origami blocks. The spine is green book cloth I had a scrap of. The text is printed on 90gsm Munken.

A few progress photos:

[ashmouthbooks]

belatedly, the process video of making this book from folding & cutting to casing in. I only post videos to TikTok and my username there is the same as here: @ashmouthbooks

Læg nu smukt din hånd i min by katekane

A6 quarto hardback with homemade bookcloth - first time making it myself! and the title stamped on the front cover with fabric paint. I have never watched a single Far til fire film (not even the modern remakes) but when I stumbled across this on ao3 I couldn’t pass it by. this fic touches on Danish queer history with such heart and warmth and wonderful characters (I should probably watch the films) that it became an instant favourite.

for ikke at tale om at når man har tilbragt tyve plus år i fandom på engelsk og med engelske canons så er det at læse fic på dansk, der har udgangspunkt i dansk kultur og historie, som regn for sjælens ødemarker.

craft talk under the cut.

this is my first time making bookcloth so I want about it the cheapest possible way - fabric square from Søstrene Grene’s craft section backed with tissue paper which was a) the only paper I had that was big enough for the fabric square and b) salvaged from a past gifty delivery. it went ok but after drying some of the tissue separated from the fabric. hashtag yolo etc. I decided to use it anyway, and I think the moisture in the PVA was just enough to reactivate the paste on the paper backing, because the finished case came out beautifully smooth - and soft. I opted not to infill the cloth so it’s open weave cotton and feels as soft as a pillow to the touch.

the endpapers are also from Søstrene Grene, decorative paper 120gsm. The textblock is printed on 90gsm Munken Lynx Smooth Natural White, I wanted a whiter paper than usual as the chapter end notes have colour photos that I wanted to preserve. headbands are sewn on, the core is leather cord and the thread is embroidery thread.

the title is stamped on using rubber stamps from, you guessed it - Søstrene Grene. (they actually have letter stamps with the Scandinavian alphabet characters but the London store only has that particular set in all caps and the lower case set only had the English alphabet. luckily an æ is easily improvised and I have both a steady hand and a fine tip paintbrush for the circle over the å.) the paint is shimmery metallic fabric paint from Lumiere.

[ashmouthbooks]

I don’t know what fabric this is unfortunately, it came from the bookbinders starting kit sold by Ratchford in the UK. The kit came with some 10 different bookcloth colours, multiple pre-cut sheets of each, and this was one of them. I’ve not yet used up the bounty from that kit! The fabric is paperbacked and fairly stiff, very easy to work with and has a great tactile feel. I love the colour too - dark blue.

Memories of Unreal Things by 7iris is a fic where Laurence’s stint with amnesia in Blood of Tyrants goes a little differently. ;)

I had a strip of Japanese chiyogami paper left over from when I’d used it as endpaper for another binding. I wasn’t sure what to do with it but kept it, it seemed a shame to throw away and yet it was too narrow to do anything with. turns out it’s just the right size for an A8-sized half binding with a bookcloth fore edge as well as spine.

the endpapers are double sided origami paper from Søstrene Grene 70gsm, and the text is printed on Munken Pure Smooth Cream 90gsm.

[ashmouthbooks]

Memories of Unreal Things by 7iris is a fic where Laurence’s stint with amnesia in Blood of Tyrants goes a little differently. ;)

I had a strip of Japanese chiyogami paper left over from when I’d used it as endpaper for another binding. I wasn’t sure what to do with it but kept it, it seemed a shame to throw away and yet it was too narrow to do anything with. turns out it’s just the right size for an A8-sized half binding with a bookcloth fore edge as well as spine.

the endpapers are double sided origami paper from Søstrene Grene 70gsm, and the text is printed on Munken Pure Smooth Cream 90gsm.

[ashmouthbooks]

two sextodecimos (A8), both God’s Own Country fics. Hills of the North Rejoice by feroxargentea and Nice and Quiet by Deepdarkwaters.

These are the very first fics I read for this fandom, way back, so they hold a special place in my heart. I wanted them to look homey and cosy and bright, the matchy vibes came about when I was looking at my stash and picking out papers and cloths.

The bookcloths are Dubletta Yellow Orange and Duck Egg Blue, the cover papers are Søstrene Grene design papers 120gsm and the endpapers are Søstrene Grene double sided origami papers 70gsm. The text is printed on Munken Pure Smooth Cream 90gsm (long grain).

[ashmouthbooks]

two fics by missmariie, Floorspace and Heifern’t you had enough of me. both are BBC Shetland, Jimmy/Duncan.

this is the second of the homemade bookcloths I made recently - I’m delighted that I’m now able to make bespoke bookcloths in any colour and pattern I desire! decided to put this to use for a matching set of fics.

the fabric is from Søstrene Grene, backed with tissue paper. the endpapers are double sided origami paper also from Søstrene Grene, 70gsm. the text is printed on Munken Pure Smooth Cream 90gsm.

these are both A7 octavos, but slightly different: one has a spine and the other has not, instead a tiny breakaway spine that rounds out from the textblock.

[ashmouthbooks]

Læg nu smukt din hånd i min by katekane

A6 quarto hardback with homemade bookcloth - first time making it myself! and the title stamped on the front cover with fabric paint. I have never watched a single Far til fire film (not even the modern remakes) but when I stumbled across this on ao3 I couldn’t pass it by. this fic touches on Danish queer history with such heart and warmth and wonderful characters (I should probably watch the films) that it became an instant favourite.

for ikke at tale om at når man har tilbragt tyve plus år i fandom på engelsk og med engelske canons så er det at læse fic på dansk, der har udgangspunkt i dansk kultur og historie, som regn for sjælens ødemarker.

craft talk under the cut.

this is my first time making bookcloth so I want about it the cheapest possible way - fabric square from Søstrene Grene’s craft section backed with tissue paper which was a) the only paper I had that was big enough for the fabric square and b) salvaged from a past gifty delivery. it went ok but after drying some of the tissue separated from the fabric. hashtag yolo etc. I decided to use it anyway, and I think the moisture in the PVA was just enough to reactivate the paste on the paper backing, because the finished case came out beautifully smooth - and soft. I opted not to infill the cloth so it’s open weave cotton and feels as soft as a pillow to the touch.

the endpapers are also from Søstrene Grene, decorative paper 120gsm. The textblock is printed on 90gsm Munken Lynx Smooth Natural White, I wanted a whiter paper than usual as the chapter end notes have colour photos that I wanted to preserve. headbands are sewn on, the core is leather cord and the thread is embroidery thread.

the title is stamped on using rubber stamps from, you guessed it - Søstrene Grene. (they actually have letter stamps with the Scandinavian alphabet characters but the London store only has that particular set in all caps and the lower case set only had the English alphabet. luckily an æ is easily improvised and I have both a steady hand and a fine tip paintbrush for the circle over the å.) the paint is shimmery metallic fabric paint from Lumiere.

[ashmouthbooks]

hey - i’m indigostohelit, the author of the old english star trek fic, and bumped across your post about your bookbinding of it—holy toledo! it’s SO beautiful and you took such care and thought with the text. i wanted to express my admiration and craft respect on the one hand & i guess my personal gratitude on the other, it was so nice to see this in the wild!

Ahhh I am so very pleased that you like what I’ve done with it! I do truly love this piece of nerdery and I had a great time typesetting it. here are a few more photos - the entirety of the two texts side by side and a few extra shots of your translation notes:

when I decided to do colour bars to make it super extra obvious what was what I of course couldn’t help but make the colours match those of Kirk and Spock’s uniforms. I know Kirk wears yellow, but he does also have a green shirt with more elaborate cuffs that he wears on occasion. (green prints better than yellow, also.)

when I read the last line of your translation note the first time I YELLED. truly would not have caught the shift if you hadn’t so blatantly highlighted it. chefs kiss, no notes, perfect.

thank you for writing this and for sharing your thoughts wrt language and translation as well, truly my favourite part of the whole thing. once a linguist always a linguist…

[ashmouthbooks]

High School Reunion, class of ‘85 by @deputychairman

I used this cover paper previously for another book where everything went wrong and it warped halfway to hell, but this time everything went smoothly and the book came out crisp! This is cobra kai era fic but I couldn’t resist using some more 80s appropriate colours. This is the entire series, three fics total.

[ashmouthbooks]

so. wē spacemen in geārdagum

did you know that there is Star Trek fic written in Old English? now you do!

I, of course, had to bind it.

so. wē spacemen in geārdagum by indigostohelit

I knew that I wanted to typeset it so that it had the Old English and the Modern English translation side by side - I did it so that each paragraph started on the same line, so that occasionally there were gaps after one paragraph but not the other, as the text isn't equally long in both languages. it worked out beautifully though. and then of course the author's translation notes following the text, because this is exactly the kind of nerdery I'm here for.

I had initially planned to transcribe the fic into futhorc as well, and include this at the back, but I ran out of steam after one paragraph - and to be fair, futhorc and Old English aren't my strength. I know Old Norse and the futhark, and as alike as they are, they are not the same.

the spine is covered in Duo Skarabaus bookcloth. the cover papers are from Jemma Lewis Marbling & Design, this paper specifically chosen because it looks like galaxies and space. the endpapers are Notpla seaweed, which I chose because I love it and because I always thought spacetravel and exploration had a lot in common with seafarers and voyages (romanticised as both may be). the text is printed on 100gsm 100% recycled eco-craft oatfleck paper.

[ashmouthbooks]

@andiftheycare has now received this binding - happy birthday! 🎉

The fic is Caesura by cielelyse. Bound in charcoal black bookcloth and marbled papers from Jemma Lewis Marbling & Design. The title is foiled on, by hand, in silver with a hot foil quill. The headbands are scraps of the same marbled paper as the endpapers, wrapped around a cotton cord.

[ashmouthbooks]

back in 2022 I made a sewn board binding of an Uprooted typeset I received through the annual @renegadeguild exchange in 2021, typset by Æthereal Press. In 2023 I received another Uprooted typeset through the exchange, this time typeset by Wild Woofs Press, so I decided to make it match the first one.

look how pretty of a pair they make!

Change Bitter Gall and Blighted Leaves by Colourofsaying (Agnieszka/Kasia)

A5 sized, sewn board binding

ends: 100gsm eco-craft oatmeal

spine: linen/viscose natural cloth backed with paper

cover: 4/0 Pepin (2017 Art Nouveau) of dubious weight over 160gsm Canaletto 20% cotton & acid free bookpaper and 1mm board

the breakaway spine came out much better this time (I have done a lot of breakaway spines at this point! practise may not make perfect but it does correlate with improvement). I did have to re-sew the textblock because I forgot to sew on the boards, but luckily I realised this before I glued the spine, so it was no big deal to cut the thread off and sew the block again.

[ashmouthbooks]

Thank you!

I don’t think I realised how small this was intended to be! Though I have to admit if I’d printed this on A9 it likely would’ve compressed juuust enough to make it unreadable for me. This is straddling the line as is. So I’m very happy with the A8 size and the generous margins :D

Empty Graves by @unpretty and Empty Spaces (waves and particles) by kathkin

I participated in @renegadepublishing’s tiny book bang last year, and as participant I got access to all the typesets from the event. I saved the ones I thought I’d want to do, and yesterday I looked through that folder, spotted two fics with the word ‘empty’ in the title and thought “oh neat, i know and like these fics, and I can make matching-but-not-same binds for them”. I was delighted to re-discover that they were typeset by the same person, @little-cat-press, so I went ahead with the matchy idea.

Empty Graves is a Superman fic from the POV of Martha Kent, and just so happens to be one of my faves in unpretty’s sprawling series. I chose the marbled cover paper because it evokes stars and galaxies and space for me. The fic is very contained, localised - the Kent farm - but high stakes; Martha will protect her son from the universe if she has to (and she does), because her family is her universe. I liked the idea of wrapping this small-but-big fic in something that resembles the vastness of space. The spine is green to match the hints of green colour on the otherwise dark marble.

Empty Spaces is a Back to the Future fic from Doc Brown’s POV, and featuring transmasc Marty McFly. The Back to the Future movies are foundational to me, and this fic is simply wonderful, highlighting the unique friendship between Marty and Doc. For this I knew I wanted something that evokes time travel, and wound up with this section of a larger marbled pattern that resembles the sci-fi woosh of time (and space) travel. This spine is blue to match the hint of blue visible alongside the green.

Both marbled papers are from Jemma Lewis Marbling & Design. The insides are printed on 90gsm Munken Pure Smooth Cream. These are self-ended, so no endpapers. The bookcloth is sourced from Ratchford but I don’t know which brand it is.

These are A8 sized (printed on A4) - I believe the typesets are intended for letter sized paper, but as I’m not in the US A-series it is. This prints fine on A4. The margins to the sides are slightly wider than originally intended, but that doesn’t seem to be an issue here.

[ashmouthbooks]

Empty Graves by @unpretty and Empty Spaces (waves and particles) by kathkin

I participated in @renegadepublishing’s tiny book bang last year, and as participant I got access to all the typesets from the event. I saved the ones I thought I’d want to do, and yesterday I looked through that folder, spotted two fics with the word ‘empty’ in the title and thought “oh neat, i know and like these fics, and I can make matching-but-not-same binds for them”. I was delighted to re-discover that they were typeset by the same person, @little-cat-press, so I went ahead with the matchy idea.

Empty Graves is a Superman fic from the POV of Martha Kent, and just so happens to be one of my faves in unpretty’s sprawling series. I chose the marbled cover paper because it evokes stars and galaxies and space for me. The fic is very contained, localised - the Kent farm - but high stakes; Martha will protect her son from the universe if she has to (and she does), because her family is her universe. I liked the idea of wrapping this small-but-big fic in something that resembles the vastness of space. The spine is green to match the hints of green colour on the otherwise dark marble.

Empty Spaces is a Back to the Future fic from Doc Brown’s POV, and featuring transmasc Marty McFly. The Back to the Future movies are foundational to me, and this fic is simply wonderful, highlighting the unique friendship between Marty and Doc. For this I knew I wanted something that evokes time travel, and wound up with this section of a larger marbled pattern that resembles the sci-fi woosh of time (and space) travel. This spine is blue to match the hint of blue visible alongside the green.

Both marbled papers are from Jemma Lewis Marbling & Design. The insides are printed on 90gsm Munken Pure Smooth Cream. These are self-ended, so no endpapers. The bookcloth is sourced from Ratchford but I don’t know which brand it is.

These are A8 sized (printed on A4) - I believe the typesets are intended for letter sized paper, but as I’m not in the US A-series it is. This prints fine on A4. The margins to the sides are slightly wider than originally intended, but that doesn’t seem to be an issue here.

[ashmouthbooks]

Look, another smol book! A8 single signature, also made using scraps. One of the fun things about this hobby is that you wind up with a lot of off cuts and small pieces of usable paper and bookcloth and cardboard that would be a shame to throw away…enter tiny books.

The fic is In Her Blood by ChokolatteJedi, a short Ocean’s 8 / Ocean’s Eleven crossover full of family feels.

[ashmouthbooks]

Hello! Your handbound books are absolutely and as a novice bookbinder myself, I'm amazed! I have a question for you:

I've bound a few books before (copies of my own fic), but that work was around 23k words. I'm working on one now and it's 132k words ... a very long book. I don't know if I'll be able to print it at home. Are there any places you'd recommend me to send the pdf to so they can print it out for me?

Thank you! 🥰

Honestly I print everything myself at home, even long books at that size, so I don’t have any recommendations for print shops at all. If you do want to try it at home the best advice I can give you is to open your printer settings and choose the “best quality” options - this can be different from printer to printer. The key thing is to go slow and steady to give your printer fewer opportunities to fuck up. Mine tends to track ink all over the pages if it goes too fast, for example.

Also, to start with, print one signature at a time instead of hitting print on the whole PDF, that gives you the opportunity to check the pages and course correct if something is off before you print the rest. (Also helps if you’re running low on ink! I printed a 77k word fic that way once while my printer kept beeping about being low on ink; I got the whole thing printed before running out of ink, but I would have only ruined one signature if I had run out, and could’ve easily stopped to swap cartridges and redo it before continuing.)