#babovens bindings

[babovens]

DnD Binding: Bard Songbook

Whelp, I have officially been sucked into the world of Dungeons and Dragons by a group of grad friends 🤣

Our bard had the idea of his character owing a song book filled with pieces from his home town, and so this was a gift to him. The lovely bard symbol is from the artists of The Monster Inn. It was my first attempt at foil art, and I think it went pretty well! A couple more tries and I think I’ll be able to perfect it.

I also created the “aged” paper with the coffee technique, and it took… a while...

This is also the BIGGEST book I have ever made. It’s 8.5 x 11 instead of 5.5 x 8.5!

It’s the size of two of my normal books! It… was a little bit of a learning curve I’m not gonna lie.

But now I am the designated crafter of the group 🤣I’ve made some cool letters with burnt edges and wax seals as well as diaries for other characters.

(Yes, I am also deep into Baldur’s Gate 3, thank you very much)

[csoisoi]

Hello! Your fanbinds are so crisp and beautiful! What paper do you use for your text locks and what’s your printing situation like?

hi! and thank you this really made my day💛

i use short bond paper/us letter size (8 1/2"x11") 70gsm for my textblocks, this is the exact same one that i use but any brand would work, this is just the most common, cheap but quality brand we have

i tried using 80gsm for one bind but it doesn't have that big of a difference and i only really notice it if i pay attention really closely:)

for my printing situation, i use adobe acrobat but i've seen others use BookletCreator. i never used that before but DAS Bookbinding has a video tutorial on how to use it!

in adobe acrobat i choose the booklet option and print the front side first with the binding option on the left, i don't have a printer that prints double-sided so i turn the pages around to print the back side as well and voila a signature

i can't adjust the margins of the text in adobe acrobat itself so i formatted the margins that i want on word and found that a margin of 19mm top-bottom and 21mm left-right worked best with me but it's all up to personal preference!

@/babovens here on tumblr has this really cool post of tips and tutorials for getting started on bookbinding and she really helped me start my journey! @/hanabobb on tiktok also has some tutorials on her page

thank you again for this ask it really made me happy💛

[babovens]

AHSKFHFKSHALA you are the SWEETEST Auro!!! 🥰

I’m so happy they made it to you safe and sound! My heart is all soft and mushy from joy 💜💜💜

Oh sweet mother of god!!!!! I ordered some copies of the gorgeous, amazing bound copy of Return. Continue that @babovens so carefully crafted and they arrived today and I am /dying/

They are so beautifully crafted, even better than I imagined! The quality is stunning!

Please, please go check out their work, they will be looking at commissions in the future!

[babovens]

Babovens Ficbinding Requests

Hello all! After months of life changing events and with finals week finishing up, I’m happy to announce I’m going to start accepting commissions for bookbinding!

The way I’ve decided to go forth with this may be a little different than what most commissions look like, so please read this post in its entirety before requesting a commission.

Commission status and the amount of slots open will be posted in my bio.

The terms and conditions, as well as the information needed to request a commission, are below the read more. Please read all of it before sending me a DM.

If you’d like to know more about my work before requesting a commission, here’s a link to my bookbinding masterpost which contains links to my past works, my Ko-fi, as well as a tutorial post if you would like to learn how to bind your own books.

Gift Economy

First, I’d like to clarify that I will not be making a profit off of any commissions, for I truly believe in the gift economy of fandom. Fic authors pour their heart and soul into their stories only to post them for free, so it doesn’t feel right to make a profit off their hard work. You give me a wonderful story to read, and I’ll give you a book in return.

I also do not wish to become any sort of “content creator” with my binding, nor do I want a customer/consumer kind of relationship that may come with profitable commissions. I’ve met many wonderful people and even made some lifelong friends from engaging with fan works, so this is my way to give back to the community. I’m involved in fandom to meet people and make friends, not to watch my follower count rise.

The only thing I have to ask for is reimbursement for materials and shipping. If I had the funds, I’d simply send authors their books for free. But unfortunately, I cannot afford that. I cannot bookbind at a loss. While I do appreciate tips on Ko-fi, it will never be a requirement, and all tips will go to future bookbinding endeavors.

Terms and Conditions

This section details the rules that must be followed before requesting a commission including fandoms I’m currently binding for, tags I will not consider, etc.

If any of the conditions below are not met, I will not consider your request.

Authors First, Fans Second

Since I am following the gift economy of fandom, I will always take requests from authors and those who wish to gift authors their fics first. I would still love to give fans an opportunity to receive a fanbinding, but they will come second. They must also receive the fic author’s permission to have their book bound before I consider fulfilling their request.

Author’s Permission

Unless the author has explicitly stated they have an open binding policy, you MUST get the fic author's permission before requesting a commission. This permission could be in the form of a DM from the author that shows them agreeing to have their fic bound. The author does not have to contact me directly, I simply need a screenshot of them giving the a-okay. If I cannot see the usernames in said screenshot, I will not consider your request.

Artist’s Permission

Just as stated above, if there is artwork involved in the fic, you must also get the artist’s permission to have their artwork in the book.

If there are multiple artists involved in the work, you must get ALL artists’ permission before requesting a commission.

Gifting a Fanfiction

The only exception to the rule above is if you would like to gift the author with one of their fics. Gifting should be a surprise!

Once their book is complete, I will need the author’s address. I’m fine with either you contacting the author to get the address, or I will contact the author. Then, I will be the one to send their book to them.

If you’d like the book sent to you first and then you ship it to the author, please contact me beforehand. I will only do this on a case by case basis. If this option is abused in any way (as in I send the book to you and it never makes it to the author), you will be blacklisted from future commissions. I do not wish to cause any authors to lose trust in fanbinders.

Format of Fics

Please send your fic to me as an Archive of our Own link. I will not bind fics from other sites.

Fandoms and Tags

Fandoms I will bind for: Mob Psycho 100

I will bind all Archive of Our Own ratings available (General Audiences, Teen & Up, Mature, Explicit, No Rating). However, if you would like to bind an explicit or mature fic with any sexual themes, please double check with me first.

Warnings/Tags/themes I will not consider: Underage, Rape/non-con, Dubious Consent, Pedophilia, Incest, unhealthy BDSM, Sexually charged gore.

If any of the above occur in the fic, even if untagged, I will not consider your request.

Although I am open to many types of literature, please note that I have the right to refuse your commission if I find the subject of the fic uncomfortable. Fanbinding is a relaxing hobby for me, so I do not wish to spend my time proofreading something that I find upsetting or simply unenjoyable.

If you are unsure if I will bind the fic of your choosing, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Time frame

The time it takes to make the book will vary depending on the length of the fic. At the very least, the book will take three weeks to make (not including shipping time). The maximum time will be up to four months. If I am unable to bind your book by the four months deadline, I will contact you ASAP.

Payment

Once the book is finished and I have calculated your shipping cost, I will send you the amount due as well as a link to my PayPal. I will not ship the book until I receive payment.

Shipping

I am based in the United States, so all my domestic shipping will be done through USPS. Once I calculate how much shipping costs to the address provided, I will contact you and charge accordingly.

International Shipping

I will ship internationally, but PLEASE double check that the US ships to your country. I’d hate to have your book complete, only to find it is unable to make the journey. As long as you’re willing to pay the occasionally insane shipping fee, I have no problems shipping internationally. For reference, the last package I sent internationally was $75 just for shipping, so please take that into account when deciding if you can afford reimbursement or not. I use Shippo for all my international packages, so if you’re not sure if you can afford the cost, I recommend checking there for the price range.

My book has arrived!

Hurray! Once your book has reached you, it’s yours to do whatever you want with it, so feel free to post about it if you wish. If you do any sort of unboxing post/video, please make sure the addresses/phone numbers are covered (internet safety y’all). I will make my own post as well so I can archive all the books I have completed. Let me know if you would like me to tag you or not. The only thing I ask is that you do NOT resell it or claim you made it yourself. That would defeat the purpose of the fandoms gift economy (and it would make me sad…😢)

Original Works

If you would like an original work bound, I am open to doing so, but they will be on a case-by-case basis. This is mostly just because bookbinding is truly a hobby for me, and I’d like to spend my time reading fics from fandoms that get my serotonin going (not to say an original work wouldn’t get me hyped. I’m just really deep into MP100 rn 😅).

The terms and conditions for original work are the same as for fanbindings, EXCEPT I’ll need to be sent a link to a Google doc of your story through DM. Additionally, I’d like for you to send me a list of “tags” for your story just in case there are any themes in it that I might need a heads up on. Basically, if you were to post this on Ao3, what tags would you use?

Pricing wise, the book will follow the same prices as fanbinding, but I will additionally charge for labor ($10/hr). To give an estimate, the 15k book I’ve just about finished took about 6hrs over the span of a week. Depending on the length of the book, that number will increase, so keep this in mind when thinking about affordability.

How to Request a Commission

If you would like to place a commission request, please DM me with the information below:

Proof of permission from the author - I will not bind a fic if proof isn't provided, UNLESS you are the author OR you are gifting the author a copy of their fic

Link to the Fanfiction – must be an Archive of Our Own link.

Book Design (optional) – If you would like your book to have a certain look, feel free to put down a description of what you’d like. Things like the color of the cover (or colors you wish to avoid), color of the spine, if you want a vinyl title on the cover, as well as chapter typesetting. Please note I might not be able to fulfill your request if it is too detailed. Please refer to my past works for examples of what your book might look like. This is completely optional though! If you’d like it to be a surprise, I’m happy to work my magic.

Once your book is complete, I will message you asking for the following information:

Name – This is for the address when shipping. A pseudo name is perfectly acceptable.

Full Mailing Address – The address you would like the book sent to. This includes apt/unit number.

Phone number (for international shipping only) – Some shipping companies require a phone number for international shipping. If this is the case, I will ask you for a number you’re comfortable giving out. Once it’s put into the shipping information, I’ll immediately delete it (no rando calls coming from here).

At this time, I will also send you a link to my PayPal. I will not ship the book until I receive payment.

Pricing

As stated before, these prices are just for the materials used for the book itself. These combined with the shipping price will be all that is paid for.

30k - 60k words – $28

60k - 90k words – $33

90k - 120k words – $38

120k - 150k words – $43

> 150k words – Please Contact me. This will require multiple volumes.

Shipping Cost - The cost will vary depending on your location. For US residents, the maximum shipping with be around $15~$20. For international shipping, please refer to Shippo for calculating the approximate price.

If you have any questions about anything above, please don’t hesitate to send me an ask or DM me!

And a special thank you to all who have supported me on this bookbinding journey thus far! I never would have considered commissions if it wasn’t for your kindness and encouragement! 💜💜💜

[babovens]

Fanbinding:

Broken, Repaired, New

“You’re a good kid, he said, ruffling his student’s hair. There’s a moment of quiet and Reigen sighs, “Mob, remember this. Guys who hit women are the biggest losers in the world.”

What an honor to bind this sweet fic for a second time for @princeluna! Wow wow wow I feel like I’ve improved drastically from the first time it was bound, especially with the typesetting (Pspspsps the section break symbol is a Chinese money plant for those who have read 👀)

Thank you for trusting me with your story, and I hope it makes it to you safe and sound!

[babovens]

Fanbinding: Call It What You Want

Happy New Year’s Eve! This book is a short lil 15k story my best friend wrote during summer break, so my Christmas gift to her was making it into a physical copy.

She has my very first book I bound, so I wanted to give her another one of her stories with my improved skills (and she loved it! Muuuuuch better than the first ahdkfhslahdlsh)!

[babovens]

HIYAAAA I'm Kippie/lovelycoris/formerly fancyfennekin AND I saw!! Your binding for Cinderella-Esque!! And it's SO PRETTY. You have my half of the permission as the author to offer open binding!! I may be commissioning a binding for myself as well, I'm VERY EMOTIONAL and PLEASED at how you organized the bind you've shown already. Much love your way!

(Accurate gif of my reaction seeing this 👆)

AHHHHHHHHHAGDKAHDKFHSLAHFLFJDLSJALFNDLSJFLGJDNXKAJEKFJSLSJ

KIPPIEEEEEE I’M SO GLAD YOU LIKE IT IM JUST- I have no words I’m just melting rn 💖💖💖 I’d be more than happy to make you a copy whenever you’re interested 🥰

So! With Kippi’s opening binding policy, all who are interested in commissioning Cinderella-Esque can have at it!!!

BUT! For those who would like to include @inkedberries art, you must get permission from them as well. Although my fanbinding commissions are non-profit, it’s still important to me that all parties consent to having their work put into a physical book 💜

[babovens]

hey quick q! i didn’t see this on your commissions post (tho im on mobile so i may have missed it) but: are you open to binding original works at all?

Hi hiiii!

Great question because I haven’t even really thought about it until now (so apologies, this might be a bit long 😅)

The short answer is yes! I’m absolutely open to it!

The long answer is yes, but I will take original work commissions on a case-by-case basis. This is mostly because bookbinding is truly a hobby for me, and I’d like to spend my time reading fics from fandoms that get my serotonin going (not to say an original work wouldn’t get me hyped, but I’m just really deep into mp100 rn 🤣)

The terms and conditions for original work are pretty much the same as for fanbindings, EXCEPT:

- No need for authors permission (since you’re the author)

- I’ll need to be sent a link to a Google doc of your story through DM.

Themes/tags I won’t consider, shipping prices, and timespan are all the same.

Pricing wise, the book will follow the same prices as fanbinding, but I will additionally charge for labor ($10/hr). To give an estimate, the 15k book I’ve just about finished took about 6hrs over the span of a week (and that’s not counting the hours it takes for the glue to dry overnight 🙃). Depending on the length of the book, that number will increase, so keep this in mind when thinking about affordability.

I’ll add all this to the original commissions post! Thank you for the question!

[babovens]

Thank you to all who commissioned me for a fanbind! Once the current commissions are finished, I’ll open up more slots. My next opening might take a little while though, since grad school is upon me 🫠

[babovens]

Fanbinding: Return. Continue.

After six months in Mogami’s mind world that weren’t even real anyway, Mob returns to his old life. Everything is fine… after all, Mob and Teruki are the sort of friends that never fight.

Okay… I knoooooow it says this fic is unfinished, but it never will be in my heart because holy heck this is well written. @uncannycookie you have written an AMAZING fanfic and great googly moogly that bathroom scene… 10/10 I re-read it all the time just to fucking bawl my eyes out!

Of course, I couldn’t help but add @auro-cyanide art to this masterpiece because of all the wonderful fan art she drew that *wheez* make me cry because damn… y’all need to stop being talented (jk please don’t it gives me LIFE)

This also marks the 10th book I’ve bound! HURRAY! What a fitting way to try and do a rounded spine! I think it’s pretty good for my first try 🥰

[babovens]

Fanbinding: Issho

Teru was tired of spending all his days cooped up in the house. Would his mother really notice if he went out? He might actually be able to make some friends if he saw other kids outside of school. Except the kids around here where all kind of mean to him… So what if he ventured a little further?

In which Teru meets Shigeo before his life falls apart and accidentally drags the entire Kageyama family plus one self proclaimed psychic down with him when he does.

What an absolute honor and privilege to bind my favorite fanfiction ever written by our very own @toastytoaster22!

Stunning. Incredible. I’ve literally read it… oh gosh 6 times now??? And it’s a long one my friends. So long I had to split it into two volumes haha!

Not only was this my first time applying edges, but it was also my first attempt at guilding (that’s the gold on the edge of the paper). It’s certainly one of my best binding works! And ohhhhhhh it was so much fun applying the title 🥰

I cannot recommend this fic enough (especially to those who want some Dad!Reigen omg this is like the ultimate fic GO GO READ IT NOW AHHHHHHHHHHH. It is comfort fic supreeeeeme). But in all seriousness, she has put in so much love and care into this fic and it shows in every sentence, every word, every character.

Thank you Toasty for being a fantastic author, kind person, and wonderful friend, and thank you for trusting me enough to bind your baby 💜

[babovens]

Bookbinding: Cinderella-esque

Okay okay guys, confession:

I. Love. Cinderella AUs.

Like, I’ve made it my mission for every fandom I’ve been apart of to find a Cinderella AU and I thought Mob Psycho 100 was gonna stump me...

BUT

@inkedberries (artist) and Floral Fancies (author) have created THE MOST ADORABLE Cinderella AU I’ve ever read!!!

If you want some cute Ritshou and some Terumob (or, if ya like rare pairs there’s an alternate route with some CUTE Shoumob I mean, it’s adorable I just ashamabdlenamshajdhsn!)

Next on the bookbinding list:

Break 😉

[babovens]

Girlieeeeeeee!!! How did you even get started with book-binding fics?? I wanna try it out sometime because you've completely inspired me!!! Did you watch a video about it? Did you just try it out one day? Like where do you even begin? I need the juicy deets haha

WHAT IS UP SPIFFY XD

AHHHH I’M SO EXCITED YOU’RE INTERESTED IN BINDING!!! So you’re getting ALL my notes over the past 5 months of binding YEET

But note, I have only been doing this for 5 months so I’m still new to it :)

Buckle up kiddos! Because I’ve got my whole list of supplies, tips, videos, tutorials, etc. compiled into this post.

Bookbinding tips and tricks master list 

How did I get into bookbinding?

Believe it or not, this actually started as a New Years resolution! The past two years were very dull for me creativity wise. Just as I was adjusting to college life, which was hard enough, my parents told me they were getting a divorce at the beginning of 2019 (on April fools day my dudes... they didn’t plan that one well). 

I tried several times to find a craft that I could burry myself in during this time, but honestly? Nothing I tried kept my attention span for long. Instead, I began reading books and fics (and was busy getting DEEP into Mob Psycho 100). 

That’s when I began reading Issho. I normally don’t read long books (because my attention span is… bad), but it was exactly what I needed with what I was going through at that time. Once the fic was finished, I literally sat there and thought to myself, “Oh my god if there was a physical copy of this I would 1000% buy it right now like... holy shit that was so good.”

And I was like, “Why don’t you just make your own–” “HOLY SHIT I CAN JUST MAKE MY OWN!”

And then I got really into bookbinding XD

Supplies & Such

The essentials (and the low budget alternatives):

PVA Glue - This stuff drys as hard as a rock and is great for paper crafting in general.

Ruler (but I’d get a safety ruler for, uh, reasons)

Cutting mat

Chipboard - You can also use the cardboard from the backs of sketch pads, or even cereal boxes as the cheapest option.

Book Fabric - Here’s a tutorial on how to make your own

Thick white thread (You can do other colors, but they normally will show through the book so that’s a style choice on your side)

Cardstock (for endpapers)

Specialty Paper - This just means paper with a pretty pattern. You’ll use this for your cover if you don’t want a to use book cloth for the whole cover.

Utility blade - To cut the edges of the book to make��‘em smooth.

Sandpaper - To smooth out the freshly cut edges.

Bone folder - Okay, honestly? I just use a butter knife to get nice crisp edges when folding the actual paper for the books XD.

Heavy books - this is to make sure the glue dries nice and secure)

Needle - to sew but also to poke holes in your text block)

Awl - You can just use a thick needle to poke holes if you want.

Binder clips - I use small ones to clip the end pages to the actual cover itself before I glue it.

Something to smooth out a thin layer of glue - I use a silicone paint brush but I’ve seen a regular paint brush and even a rubber spatula!

Not needed, but I encourage these for “pro” binding:

A Printer - Clearly, you can make plain books without a printer, but if you want to print fics, you kind of have to buy one unless you want to go to a print shop. And if you invest in a printer, MAKE SURE IT PRINTS DOUBLE SIDED!

Silhouette cutting machine - This is for making vinyl titles on your books. (YA’LL WHILE I WAS TYPING THIS I JUST GOT A NOTIFICATION THAT MINE CAME IN THE MAIL TODAY I’M SO HYPED!)

The Guillotine™ - I’m getting one of these so I don’t have to use a utility blade.

Book Press/Finishing press - This replaces the heavy books. You don’t need it, but if you don’t want to mess around with accidentally shifting the book while the glue is drying, I highly recommend it. You can even make your own!

Then there's the optional fun stuff. If you wanna go all out and do gilded edges, rounded spines, or gold leaf imprints on leather, I recommend looking at TALAS for these items. They’ve literally got anything you could ever dream of for anything bookbinding. For paper, I get all of mine either at HobbyLobby or Michaels (Both have different selections, so if I can’t find what I want at one store, I go to the other). As for fabric, I always go to JoAnn’s. They have sooooooo many cool types of fabric that can be make into book fabric!

Typesetting a fanfiction 

Aaaaand now for the hard part... 

Typesetting.

Theres many MANY ways to typeset, but here is how I do it as a Word user:

First, you’ll want to change the size of your document to be US Legal. To do this, go to the layout tab at the top of the document and select size. It should be there as a preset.

Next, in the same tab, go to custom margins and change the margins to these settings: top 1.5″ bottom 1.5″ Left 1″ Right 1″. This way, when you are cutting the edges of your text block with a utility blade, you won’t cut too close to the text.

Now for the set up of the first few pages! First, you’ll want to set up two blank pages. That way, when they print out, you’ll have one page of nothing before the title page.

The third page is where you’ll put your title page (title of book, author, artist, etc.)

For me, I like to use the fourth page for all the info Ao3 has on the book (the link, the fandom, tags, published date, all that jazz). This is optional though, so if you don’t want to do that, leave this page blank.

Then, for the fifth page, you can begin writing your paper!

Because you are changing the size to US Legal, you’ll want your text to be pretty large (remember, 4 pages are fitting onto one piece of paper). I recommend starting with font size 18 as the smallest and then working up from there.

This is just a suggestion, but I also recommend using the “Justify” option for your paragraph alignment. It just makes the book look cleaner as a whole!

Then, export your document to a PDF!

Now for the signatures. A signature is a booklet. To make your full book, you stack multiple signatures on top of each other. 

For this to work, you’ll need Adobe Acrobat (trust me, it is worth the investment in the long run. For bookbinding, and in general, I use this literally every day). Get ready though... this is the tricky part. (Here is a good tutorial I found for this part!)

Are ya ready for some math??? I wasn't 

First, after you open your PDF document, you need to check the number of pages your document is. It must be a multiple of 4 (So you must be able to divide the amount of pages by 4). If not, you’ll need to add some extra pages.

You’ll want to add the extra blank pages at the end of the document. To add extra pages, go to “Organize Pages” and there should be a tab at the top of the page that says “Insert.” Simply click on “Insert Blank Page” and you're set!

Now, to figure out how many signatures you need. 

Signatures tend to be in groups of 12, 16, 20, or 24 pages (so booklets of 3, 4, 5, or 6 pieces of paper) and you need to decide how to divide your pages.

I’ll take the fic Break as an example. It was originally 117 pages and I needed to make it a multiple of 4, so I added 3 blank pages to the end. That way, the number of pages added up to 120.

The next step is some trial and error (and there’s probably a better way to do this, but I suck at math so here we go). You need to figure out which of the groups (12, 16, 20, 24) fit into your amount of pages. With Break, I got lucky and knew that 20 x 6 = 120, so I need to print my pages in groups of 20.

TIME TO PRINT!

So, although Acrobat is great, it does this dumb thing where it shrink the page to ‘fit everything in’. To stop this from happening, go to print and then, when the window to print shows up, you’ll want to click on “Page Setup.” There, you’ll get a window that should have the option of “Paper Size.” Go to “Manage Custom Sizes” and change each of the “Non-printable Area” measurements to 0. Now, it won’t shrink your stuff!

Time to print signatures! Select “Booklet” and then go to the box that has the number of pages. Back to the Break example. I wanted to print 6 signatures with 20 pages each, so I want to input that into the pages section by printing first pages 1 - 20, then 21 - 40, 41 - 60, etc. in a booklet form.

Now, my printer sucks and doesn’t do double sided pages, so if yours is like mine, you’ll have to manually make them double sided by printing the odd pages first then the even pages. But, if you have a printer that actually, ya know, does its job, you should have an option to print double sided. Be sure to check that box and your signatures should print like a charm!

Please let me know if you’d like me to make another post or video about this part. This is the section that took me weeks to figure out so if it doesn't work out the first time, same my dudes...

Processes of binding a book

I’m honestly just gonna link my YouTube playlist for this one! My favorite people to watch are SeaLemon for beginner bookbinding, and then DAS Bookbinding (YouTube ; Website) for more advanced (and expensive) bindings. He’s got crazy cool techniques like rounded spines and leather book covers which I hope to do when I have the funds (shameless Ko-Fi plug)

Tips and tricks I’ve learned the hard way so far

Measure it once! Twice! Thrice! Those little 1/8 of an inch can make or break your finished product.

When you are working on the actual case of the book, make sure to apply the glue to the board. If you apply it to the paper directly, it can warp the page and it’s really hard to stick it to the board properly.

When gluing your special paper to your cover, make sure to stretch it out (but careful not to rip it). You just want to make absolute sure there are no air bubbles. Use the bone folder/butter knife to smooth it out.

When it comes to PVA glue, you need to apply a thin layer. Be sure to smooth out the glue in some way to make this happen. 

After you’ve glued your end pages and your book is ready to press, make sure there is some sort of thick page (I use the cardboard from my cereal boxes) between the glued side and the actual text block. Otherwise, when it’s put in the press, the body text could warp (and that sucks... I had to throw away my first book because this happened...)

Be careful with blades (yikes)

Speaking of blades, if you use a utility blade to cut the edges of your paper, make two slits on either side of your text block before going ham with it. That way, when you’re cutting, you have a guide and the sides don't slip and cut funky.

Take your time. You don’t gotta rush. I already need to redo one book (cinderella-esque) because I rushed the heck outta it. Yes, you get that serotonin when it’s finished, but now the sides of it are all weird and I can’t really fix it.

Always check that you have added an extra page when printing! If you are going in groups of 20 and you print 1 - 20, remember to START with 21 and print pages 21 - 40 so you don’t re-print page 20 (I did that with Break... so much wasted paper and ink :’))

If there are any questions (seriously, any) about what I’ve posted above whether its “What is this tool?”, “What fonts do you use for your fics?” or even, “Words are hard... can ya make a video?” let me know! I’ll be sure to either add it to this post or create a new one!

[babovens]

Babovens’ bookbinding links

Master list of all my books so far

My Ko-fi for progress on upcoming books and where donations are made

Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials

Commission info/rules

[babovens]

Handmade books no. 2!

So, I guess I’ll do some little updates for my 2021 bookbinding journey! There are just so many fics I like that I decided to learn how to just bind them for myself for funzies <3

This is my finished product for “Butterfly Effect” by @mobfrog (PLEEEEASE read it!!! It was the first mp100 fic I read and it holds a special place in my heart)

[babovens]

IT’S HEEEEEEERE!!!

I ordered a Silhouette Portrait so I could make custom Vinyl titles for my books AND LOOK!!!

IT WORKS SO WELL HOLY CRAP YA’LL

IM GONNA BE SCREAMING ABOUT THIS FOR THE NEXT YEAR ASHFLAHFLAHDNAGD!!!