#*continues to lay on the floor*

[kulapti]

Aug 2023, bookbinding of The Silent Isle Imbowers by Tharkuun.

I’m sooo so so pleased to finally share this! I have been actively working on this for many months and waited until Tharkuun received her copy before posting so the final result would be a surprise.

-----------About this bookbinding under the cut

This binding has been one of the more elaborate pieces I have attempted so far. This has been my first binding where I (1) made three copies of a piece at once, (2) used a modified a historical illustration, (3) collaborated directly with another artist on the decorative elements, (4) finished matching art for the cover and title page, and (5) layered paint and heat-transfer vinyl for the covers. These are also (6) the first non-tiny books I have made with this style of hinge and cover attachment.

Pretty much immediately after I first read this story I felt I had to make myself a copy of this. I had a strong mental image of a vintage-looking cover for a fairy tale, with a deceptively simple design of flowers on the cover, probably with fancy metallic accents, the kind of thing you’d find in an interesting used bookstore with no summary, no text on the back, no dust jacket, just the flowers and maybe a title. I’m going to make a separate post about making this cover design a reality because oh man has it been a journey lol! I designed and drew the digital art for the cover (digital because of the cut and application method), as well as the corresponding title page illustration (pencil and dip pen, scanned, title added digitally).

When I asked Tharkuun about it she was excited to suggest I get in touch with quillingwords, who generously agreed to collaborate with me! Among her talents quilling writes calligraphy, and hand wrote both the book title and chapter headers for me to incorporate into my plans. Check OUT those chapter headers! So fancy! A font could never!! Quilling has also been very encouraging and let me yell about this project in dms for months so the final result could be a surprise for Tharkuun. Thank u so much quillingwords, your calligraphy adds invaluable amounts of swag to this project.

I was going to do some kinda neat font for the chapter headers, but quilling’s work is too cool for that and I decided to use a modified piece of a historical illustration instead. The illustration also happens to be cool as heck: I was browsing the Artstor database (an academic quality resource available for free via Jstor, my beloved) and found E. N. Neureuther's 1836 gorgeous etching for etching of the fairy tale Briar Rose, an illustration made for a printing of a Brothers Grimm recorded German fairy tale with Sleeping Beauty elements. Much to my delight this illustration not only matches the general look I wanted but is actually relevant to the story, itself a Sleeping Beauty spinoff.

Slightly less stylistically consistent are the endpapers, which are prints of two different paintings by Arnold Böcklin: Isle of the Dead (1883) in the front and Isle of Life (1888). The first painting had occurred to me as an excellent visual to go with the story, and Tharkuun and I discussed this and agreed that pairing it with the related later, more optimistic piece was too thematically appropriate to resist.

I had fun and learned a lot making these books and I am very pleased with the result!!

Materials: Archival bookboard, cardstock, cotton cheesecloth mull, archival PVA glue, linen thread coated in beeswax, paper cord, red cotton embroidery floss. Blue cotton backed with archival paper, acrylic paint, machine cut black and gold heat-transfer vinyl. Laser printed text and illustrations. Metallic scrapbooking paper.

[shannonsketches]

ngl gang I finished both my dissociation fixation games and got a rejection letter for a job I was a shoe-in for after a month-long, three-pronged review/interview process and I am not having a great time

[kyluxtrashpit]

Honestly I’m so frustrated with this stomach ulcer situation, because last weekend I had Plans, I was specifically going to Fight The Depression and Do Tasks and also Treat Myself to try and get out of the mental slump I’ve been in for a bit

And then none of that happened cause I was sick all weekend and my apartment is a mess (one of the Tasks) and I’m suddenly having to deal with an extremely limited diet (no food that can be considered a Treat is on the good list and neither are a lot of my staples, so I’m just getting down what I can) and while it is improving it’s still decidedly Not Great so really I’m just. Decomposing on the ground because I don’t feel good and I’m really not up to doing much but the thing is I was kinda already doing that before and I was actively trying to fix that but now it’s like. Every spoon I mustered to try to feel better is now devoted to dealing with being sick and a stomach ulcer takes like a fucking month (or more!!!!!) to heal. I’m deeply hoping the symptoms largely fade before that, so I can enjoy some of being alive, but god, like if I have to feel like this for an entire month (OR MORE!!!!!) like fuck what the hell, ibuprofen should not be legal if this is what it does to you

There’s absolutely nothing I can do about this aside from what I’m already doing (ultrasound is in a week so like. I hope that will give me a better idea of recovery time) but im just so tired of feeling Bad. I was feeling bad mentally for a while and I wanted to fix that! I was trying! But now all that’s been waylaid by feeling bad physically so I just have both Bads at the same time and what am I even supposed to do here

[justalittlebluetiefling]

I'm laying down on the couch listening to these episodes with my headphones in and my partner keeps texting me because he can "hear me gasping" and I "sound distressed".

[copia]

may or may not break a personal record of shit exam performance today but it doesn't matter because i am mentally still watching casey perform little bird and getting close to tears

[from1837to1945]

Charles Lee as Bill Higgins in Hoodoo Ann (1916)

[bending-sickle]

i am so tired of comforting myself

[lemonnbug]

slight body dysphoria below the cut

Does it ever just randomly hit you or am I insane

[imreallyloveleee]

bit of an update on me in the tags if you're interested

[carcarrot]

where are the jobs for weird little freaks

[skelly-bean]

I would like to file a complaint about my spine please and thank you

[deathlonging]

got a response what if i kms

[millionsnife]

.

[todayisafridaynight]

ZHAO TIANYOU FOR THE CHARACTER BINGO

Zhao:

TY FOR THE BIRTHDAY WISH NO MATTER HOW LATE IT IS <3 i will do both just for you 🥰

Mine:

Daigo:

[soldiertransgender]

floor time

[apostase]

just btw