#beginner book binder

[storkmuffin]

ok so uhh I made a book and it even sort of looks like a book!

but omg I don't like cutting the board for the hardcover!

I almost gave up. After the hell of CUTTING, the gluing was no longer so scary.

I didn't make the boards big enough but it sorta works.

not bad for a first try.

[locklyle1kanij]

I’m in the process of planning to make my friend a copy of all the young dudes, and i’ve never done any book binding before like ever and i’m excited yet terrified! If anyones got any tips on book binding that they’ve learned from experience pleaseeee let me know!!

Especially with printing the book bc that’s what i’m the most confused on and, how do you decide the number of pages per section to put the book together and with making the holes to thread the string through to thread the book together, how do you decide how many holes to make?? I’m sorry if this doesn’t make any sense but i’m not sure on how to word it.

[honeytonedhottie]

masterlist (2024)⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🪷

law of assumption and manifesting

how i write my scripts

a look into my own manifestation

some manifesting exercises

random success story

beginners guide to manifesting

robotic affirming

law of assumption ins and outs

reprogramming subconscious mind

rampaging with manifesting

valentines day prep challenge (day one)

valentines day prep challenge (day two)

valentines day prep challenge (day three)

valentines day prep challenge (day four)

valentines day prep challenge (day five)

valentines day prep challenge (day six)

valentines day prep challenge (day seven)

honeys tea on self concept (improved)

how i make affirmations tapes + affirmation tape

you know how to manifest

ways to apply the law

for when u think u "failed" at manifesting

reprogramming ur mind activity

building a new life and identity (remake)

what to do when the 3d hasn't aligned

how to deal with self doubt when manifesting

i pledge allegiance

how to manifest faster

dealing with the unfavorable

self care and beauty

for healthier hair

shampoo and conditioner recommendations

long list of self care practices

at home spa day

doll hand-book

maintaining a clean and fresh appearance

"your glowing"

general hygiene secrets and tips

hot girl summer prep

glazed doughnut skin secrets

things that are on my list to buy (beauty binder)

mental well being and healing

the feel better formula

the tea on self love

disconnect and heal

ways to feel better about ur appearance

sustained satisfaction

how to keep going

embracing being alone

for rest and relaxation

the happy pill

self care assessment

how to unwind

shadow work prompts

how to stop being toxic

how to feel enough

honeys girlblogging and that girl-ism

starting a video diary

how to deal with mean girls

ur guide to effortless glamor

little habits to adopt

embodying the wellness girlie aesthetic

the wizard liz mindset analysis

hyper girliness

dear diary

starting ur fitness girlie era

dopamine detox challenge

starting a collection

honeys guide to throwing a slumber party

HONEYS IT GIRL MAGAZINE - FEBRUARY EDITION

giving urself princess treatment

video dairy entry ideas

cultivating creativity and a deeper sense of self

starting and managing ur blog

how to be rich and luxurious

HONEYS BUSINESS INQUIRIES

a glamorous well being

incorporating luxury

HONEYS IT GIRL MAGAZINE - MARCH EDITION

productivity and self development

focusing on urself

getting seriously organized

honey's resource bundle

getting it together

a fresh start

trusting and betting on urself

becoming ur own project and self upgrading

reset routine

goal ideas

practicing self discipline

things to do while on a dopamine detox

making an effective planner

the art of conversation (from a professional yapper)

restocking and replenishing

school and studying

school notion tutorial

becoming an academic weapon challenge

studying methods + tips

how to get good grades without excessive studying

academic resources

ways im romanticizing school

pretty and well educated

notes from honey🎀🍰

places to go vision board

notes from honey - note one

notes from honey - note two

things that make my mornings a million times better

[snek-panini]

Got a bit of a different bookbinding post today. @renegadeguild got an ask from a new binder saying they were intimidated by everyone's gorgeous binds (me too, actually, some of you guys are scary good), and so they've asked people to share their first binds. And I realized I'd never even taken photos of my first one, so here it is, warts and all:

This is E.M. Forster's The Machine Stops, a public domain scifi short story that you can read for free at the link. The first reason I chose it was that it's an interesting story, and I'd bought a print-on-demand copy a few years previously that was just terrible. Baffling cover choices, basic errors in the typeset (like quotes that face the wrong way), weird size that didn't fit on my shelf; just not a good product. I couldn't do it with more indifference than the PoD people. The second reason was that I was too intimidated by the thought of asking a fic writer if I could bind their story and then producing something with a thousand sloppy beginner mistakes, and then they'd want to see photos and I'd have to show them this and it would have been mortifying, but Forster has been dead since 1970 so I could not disappoint him. It was very freeing. I bound it in 2021 as an experiment, to see if I liked this hobby enough to stick to it. The cover is green cardstock and faux leather scrapbook paper that I bought at... probably Hobby Lobby. I added the title later, as a practice project when I first got my Cricut; for the first two years of its existence it had a blank cover.

There are more photos under the cut!

In this photo we can see:

--Too much glue when attaching the leather-print paper, so it oozed out onto the cover.

--Cricut font too thin and too much heat/too long of a press, so the letters have gaps and the glue also oozed out here. It's a continuing theme with this bind.

--I tried to use a bone folder to give it a sharper hinge crease and accidentally pressed too hard and tore a hole in the paper; you can see this in the little white vertical line near the top of the hinge

The fore edge is not square. I actually don't remember why this happened. I may have eyeballed the board position when I made the case, or the paper may have slipped while the glue was wet, or I cut it crooked and didn't notice till later. Either way it's bad enough that the book doesn't stand on its own. There was a crooked man/who walked a crooked mile/and found a crooked sixpence/against a crooked stile./He bought a crooked cat/which caught a crooked mouse/and they all loved together in a little crooked house, and I bet they read this little crooked book from their little crooked library.

Top view, you can see that the case is too big and the text block doesn't sit straight in it. It has no endbands or bookmark, and it's hard to see in this photo but there's glue on the top of it, at the spine. This still happens to me but I know how to trim books now so this bit gets cut off. You can also see that the scrapbook paper has some cracks where its white core is visible. This is why I do cloth or actual faux leather on the spines now. Endpaper shows uneven trim (did I not use a ruler for this??), too much glue causing major seepage, and it doesn't sit evenly in the case. I'm not sure if this is because of the case itself being crooked, a badly-trimmed endpaper, or if the text block is also crooked. Or it may be a combination of all these factors. Unclear.

Typeset photos! Here we see:

--Title page has a page number on it. This is a pet peeve of mine and I fixed it after this book.

--There is no half title, summary, or metadata. All my later binds have these things.

--It's typeset in Times New Roman. Unlike many I don't actually hate this font but reading it reminds me of being in high school so this is the only book I used it for. Baskerville is my beloved now. The font is also much bigger than it should be. It's not huge but it's like a large print book so it feels weird for me to read it.

--Lol what are margins

--Lol what are page headers

--Actually I think I left the headers out so it wouldn't have a header on the first page of each chapter, because I knew about page breaks but not section breaks at this time.

--It's on regular-ass lightweight printer paper. There's nothing wrong with this but I switched to heavier weight paper shortly after to help with bleed-through and the light stuff feels so flimsy now.

--I didn't understand how Word's book fold worked at this time, so when I had to set the sheets per booklet and it had an option for 4, I chose that thinking it would give me 4 sheets of paper (16 numbered pages) per sig. It did not do this. It gave me 4 numbered pages per sig. So every signature is 1 sheet of paper. Every page is its own signature. I am still mad about this but it sure drove home how the setting works and also how to make kettle stitches since you make one after every sig. A book of 48 pages has 12 signatures which is just ludicrous.

--There's no photo of this but it has a piece of printer paper on the spine because I didn't have mull. I did use PVA though. Lots and lots of PVA.

--It's stitched with regular sewing thread, which means it doesn't have much swell for a book with that many sigs, but it's less sturdy and more likely to tear the paper.

And that's that! It probably sounds a bit like I was tearing it to shreds but I actually love this book quite a lot. I learned so many things that I applied to my next binds, it was an invaluable experience. It let me fall in love with the hobby so I could make the awesome things I make now. I've got those all posted on my main blog under the tag #snek makes books, or you can see them all on my side blog @papersnakepress. For a first book it's functional and readable, and still better than the PoD copy I had before. I've been thinking of doing a rebind as a sort of progress gauge, actually. Maybe next year.

[firebound-press]

hello I heard you mention bookbinding resources in response to my tags and I wanted to ask if u know of any beginner ones for someone who has never tried it before? 👀

HIIIII YES I DO!!!!!

Here’s a fun infographic the renegade server made for cheap materials!! And here’s a fun infographic on what programs are available for typesetting!

Here is the doc that can get you started on bookbinding with step by step instructions,

And here is a link to the renegade hub! Come join the discord server for more tips and resources!

https://renegadepublishing.carrd.co

If you go to the tumblr page, @renegadeguild, you can see a collection of other peoples binds. Lately they’ve been reblogging peoples first binds to new binders not get overwhelmed or intimidated!

I really hope this helps, feel free to send another ask if you have more questions, I love helping new people get into bookbinding :D

[wolfsbanesparks]

Hello!

Recently finished reading Split and I absolutely love it! And decided to take a look at what else you had and saw you do bookbinding. I've been interested in trying my hand at it, but I don't know where to start. Any tips or videos you recommend?

Hi anon!

I'm so happy to hear you like my story! Split is one of my favorite things I've written 💜

So I'm still relatively new to bookbinding myself (I started a little over a year ago) but here are some resources that helped me get started!

So first of all I'd recommend checking out @renegadeguild here on tumblr as they have complied a ton of resources for bookbinders (particularly those of us binding fanfic!). Particularly helpful to me was How to Make a Book by Armoredsuperheavy which is a step by step guide from initial download of a fic to final construction. Renegade also has a discord you can join with a lot of experienced binders (and other beginners!) who will share their tips and tricks to help answer your questions as you go along. It's a very welcoming community so I'd highly recommend it!

For videos DAS Bookbinding on YouTube is a great resource with videos on different techniques you can use for different styles of binding. There's videos on all the basics to get started so it's great if you're more of a visual learner!

There's also Sea Lemon on YouTube. She does a lot of other crafty things besides bookbinding but her bookbinding videos are great for DIY and binding on a budget, so it's great for beginners!

Hope this helps!

[java-dragon]

Bookbinding/Fan binding for beginners by... a beginner PART ONE

SO YOU WANNA BE A FANBINDER EH!?

RIGHT! so it felt like maybe it might be sorta kinda helpful to put something about a 'how to do the thing' together. Buckle in this is going to be a ride and a half. Edit as of November 16th 2023 The Master List for EVERYTHING is

HERE

SO, first thing is first- if you're fan binding there is a bit of etiquette to follow. But it is just good manners to ask permission to fan bind the fic you're interested in. See if the author has a FAQ available where they state the Yay or the Nay. Submit a DM or a comment. But as a note of disclaimer- this is for PERSONAL USE ONLY. THIS IS NOT MEANT TO BE SOLD ANYWHERE. LOOKING AT YOU ETSY FAN FIC SELLERS THAT CAN GET EVERYONE INTO A FUCK TON OF TROUBLE. That is a breech of fair use laws. Don't breech fair use laws. Don't be a dick.

If you happen to have a EPUB or PDF copy of a fic that has been deleted and you wish to bind it or if you receive no response to the author in question, nod your head, know that you did your best and proceed on with the project and make your fic to put on your shelf. Sleep well knowing you did your best and you can do nothing else.

But if you receive a Nay- don't be a dick honour the author's choice and plop the fic on your ereader and call it good.

Now that we got that all out of the way. ONWARD!

MATERIALS! Musts: (The optional materials will be marked as "OP") Access to a Word processor Printer with duplex printing (It prints on both sides of the page) Fic Printer Paper- regular printer paper is FINE if you're being budget conscious. But if you'd like to splurge:

Hammermill Copy Paper But the Most bang for your buck is Church's Paper

Please note: These are US based links, and I am going from what and where I am located you might have to go to a local paper shop. If you want your book to feel very book-like see if your paper shop can take 11 x 17 paper and cut it in half for you which yields 8.5 x 11 paper on the short grain (paper has a grain there is a stiff side and a floppy side, much like fabric, by cutting the paper in half it makes it more 'floppy' and thus more book like)

a punch cradle I use one made by HoneyMinCo - or some sort of punch guide

Awl

Glue- Elmer's Glue All, Tacky, Lineco , PH Neutral all will do what you need it to do

Waxed linen thread

Curved Needles

Book press- you can make these for cheap with wooden cutting boards, bolts and wing nuts.

A brush you don't mind getting glue all over or you can use a silicone face mask brush like this hell I even use my fingers at times

box cutter or any sort of cutting tool, rotary tool

scissors

metal rulers help

spacers (Not necessary but helpful to have you can also DIY this for cheap) OP

Davy Board/Chip Board/Book Board AKA dense AF cardboard

and some sort of thick paper- like a cardstock

bone folder - butter knives also work in a pinch

Recommendations:

For Printers- Epson ECO Tanks are the best bang for your your buck ink wise and has duplex printing. Inkjet and colour options. Some binders swear by laser printers for speed and the general look for the final product but use what you have. Just make sure you have extra ink on hand.

The upfront costs can be pretty steep but a lot of the materials can be steep but you can get crafty and raid a dollar store and charity shops.

Up Next- How to get a Fic from AO3 to your word processor and how to format a document to get it ready for printing and likely more links, and some people to watch on TikTok or Youtube.

Edit: 11/1/2023:

There is a Fan Binding Starter Kit Found here

[zhalfirin]

How did you get into bookbinding? What would you recommend for someone who's interested in getting started?

Hey there,

thank you for asking. I got into bookbinding by undergoing training. I'm a professional bookbinder, which made it much easier (just getting shown how things are done and having experienced binders look at my mistakes and explain where I went wrong is incredibly helpful).

For someone who's interested in getting started in bookbinding and does not have the opportunity to take classes. I would say, first pick the style of binding you want to try. I would recommend to start simple. Give yourself the time to build up your skills and get to know your materials (glue, paper, board, maybe bookcloth). Many like the coptic binding to start with, but you can start out with a case binding too. It will be more complex, but it's totally do-able to begin with too. Then search the medium you learn well from and look for information there. For example, there are fantastic, beginner friendly books. I like 'Books boxes and portfolios' by Franz Zeier in that respect. It focuses on the basics, but not only of books but also boxes, folders and portfolios.

There is also really great online content written and with pictures to lead you through the processess step by step.

As for videos. Sealemon has easy to follow instructions. I'm personally not a huge fan of how she works, because she skips too many steps I find important too, BUT professional binder here. As straightforward bookbinding is in theory, there are a lot of details one can pay attention to, but which are not essential to produce a fully functional and good looking book and she does get one there. Bookbinding can be a money drain, but it doesn't have to be! You can go a long way with simple, improvised tools. Pretty paper can be bought in craft shops and printer paper from bureau supply sections, box cutter and x-acto knives. Cans of food, milkpack, big stones for weights. If you don't own a cutting matt, you don't need one. Some flat and clean board that is 2mm thick or more will perfectly do. The few things I do recommend a bonefolder, it just makes things easier on the fingers (and nails) and other materials can leave coloured streaks. (As do rings and nailpolish btw. so if you like that, apply a clear top coat on the polish and take off rings before working with white paper). A 25/3 or 30/3 linnen thread for sewing together with a block of beeswax to wax the thread before sewing. (Beeswax candles will do, but not normal candles. They are made of stearine which will make the thread sticky and more difficult to use). On a last note, there's @renegadepublishing and their discord serverw here you find all stages of binders. experienced ones and beginners to ask questions. The server is huge and can be a bit overwhelming, but there's always soemone there (or a few) who will do their best to help and likely has run into a similar problem at some point. So this got a bit lengthy and I'm sorry for that but I hope it helps.

[lolotheparagon]

Scarecrow: Batman. To what do I owe the unexpected displeasure?

Batman: The ponies. They're calling you Dad.

Scarecrow: ... yes, they are. Why do you-

Batman: Here. *hands him three bags full of books and binders*

Scarecrow: What-

Batman: If they're anything like my brood, you'll need these.

Scarecrow: "Superpowers And Conflict Management"? "Authoritative Parenting: A Beginner's Guide"?? "So Your Kid Wants To Be A Hero"??? Where did you find these? Did you write them? And what's with the contingency plans in the binder?

Batman: Watch out for the fratricide attempts, that tends to happen the larger the family gets.

Scarecrow: That sounds like a you problem.

Batman: Good luck, Crane. Don't let them eat plastic, or you'll never live it down.

Scarecrow as Batman grapples away: Why is my family more stable than yours?!

I love this. Batman and Scarecrow arguing over parenting is fucking hilarious considering Bats’ reputation with his own family in the Arkham games lol

[violet-hearth]

Magical Note Keeping ...

Happy Friday! 

Today I wanted to take a step back and talk about information keeping, i.e. grimoires and journals. This will be a mostly beginner focussed post, however if you are a regular practitioner who has been feeling stuck or stagnant, I hope this can give you a little motivation to find new ways to view your practice. 

Magic is a personal and experimental practice. Information keeping - whether this be general witchcraft knowledge or the specifics spells you are doing is an important practice to keep. If you do not keep records, how will you know what has worked and what hasn’t? 

NOTE: I do not practise Wicca and therefore do not feel comfortable talking about the practice of a ‘book of shadows’ but use whatever terminology and definitions feel most comfortable to you 

A grimoire is generally understood as being a journal or spell book documenting your magical “workings, musings, inspirations, and ideas” (Queering Your Craft). It is a solely personal record that can be customised to how you work best - whether this is through several themed notebooks, using apps like notion to create a wiki-style database, or through keeping an ‘everything journal’ that is a combination of information, spellwork, and journaling.

Regardless of what you call it I highly recommend keeping a research notebook or journal where you can record your thoughts, notes and reflections on the books you are reading.

I personally use a combination of a 46 pocket notebook where I journal, take notes, keep my shopping lists, write about spells, and record my tarot and carromancy readings, as well as other more specialised notebooks and digital note taking apps. You can personalise your system of information keeping however you like, but if you feel stuck here are some formats and ideas to try out: 

Junk journaling or scrapbooking: create collages for manifestations, paste in printed and handwritten spells, utilise art magic 

Create a ‘cook book’ of spells, recipes, and your favourite dishes for a more kitchen and hearth notebook 

Work in a sketchbook and create a more visual notebook whether this is similar to the junk journal or through sketching and painting plants and step by step recipe comics 

Use a binder or folder to keep all your note and spells organised 

Use notion or obsidian to create a ‘wiki’ of all your information and spell tracking 

Create a reference book of associations, spells, and rituals

Record your walks in a nature journal (this can be for both rural and urban), take note of plants in the pavement, trees, birds, animals, people, the weather

A Note from ‘Queer Your Craft’ by Cassandra Snow:

“Queer community has always been drawn to personal accounts and the written word, and these can be a fantastically witchy way to own and tell your own story as you move through it. Sure, you can decorate it to look more queer or personal and include explicity queer stories and spells, and I recommend all of those things. It's also worth noting that recording your own triumphs and pitfalls and chronicling your own journey towards liberation (not to mention that of any movements you're a part of) is a badass move all its own.”

In my personal practice and experience, art and writing are powerful tools of expression whilst also a way of reflecting on and healing from things of our past. As Juliet Diaz notes in ‘The Altar Within’ (which I would HIGHLY recommend!):

“Reflection is a powerful tool. From scanning your day to addressing lingering things, reflection helps us understand our lives and the lives of those around us. If we don’t reflect, our minds will try to make sense of life in their own way, causing more noise in our heads.” 

Juliet Diaz recommends setting time aside each day to unwind, make yourself a cult of tea, and spend 10-15 minutes a day with your journal. When we come to witchcraft from the perspective of being from minority groups and poverty, we carry a lot of shame, worry, and stress. Journaling often helps us process this. The goal isn’t to live the ‘love and light’ new age mindset (in fact I urge you to avoid it entirely) but to be self aware, and to be reflective of our feelings and our practice. 

Whilst Juliet Diaz recommends stream of consciousness to help you clear your mind, if you wish for more formalised reflections techniques I suggest Gibbs Reflective Cycle to help you look back on past experiences. I find having a structure useful on days when I am overwhelmed or processing larger events and can be used for spell work, rituals, or your everyday journaling. 

Journaling and record keeping are both important parts of developing a magical practice. They aren’t required, but can be helpful tools to keep things in order. No matter what format (if any) you use to keep track of your craft, take a deep breath and remember it doesn’t have to be perfect. Be kind to yourself and use whatever tools are comfortable to you. 

Sources:

Queering Your Craft by Cassandra Snow 

Sacred Sex: The Magick and Path of the Divine Erotic by Gabriela Herstik

The Altar Within by Juliet Diaz 

Witchery by Juliet Diaz

[youtube video] Putting the "Craft" in Witchcraft with Marshall Witch of Southern Light by The Witch of Wonderlust 

[youtube video] ROCK your Grimoire! Sacred If You Make It So: BOS Love [Tour],Tips & Prompts by Molly Roberts

[kingburu]

Hi, just wanted to let you know that Rewrite the Stars is my favorite Jasico fic of all time and easily one of my favorite Nico fics in general, and as a beginner book binder, it’s one of the fics I’d most like to bind. So I was wondering how you feel about people binding your fics, I tried to search around your blog but I couldn’t see anything official…

Hi! How sweet l if you! I didn’t realize book binding had become a common practice, actually. I would love to see what you come up with!

[storkmuffin]

adventures in book binding continue

like i thought I might, I dislike glue and messed it up.

I dont think there's a rule I can't just do this with double sided tape?? let's try that next time.

[shethevampyr]

Mind headcanons!

- The said "mechanical hands" are prosthetics, they connect to his upper arm and her elbow down is entirely prosthetic. Both arms are like this. She's never shared if he's an amputee or was just born that way

- Of HMS, he reads the most, especially novels

- Fibromyalgia

- Adding to this, he uses different mobility devices depending on the day! Most of the time she doesn't need anything or just uses a cane, but on flare days he uses a wheelchair

- Really wants a bearded dragon. Like really wants one

- Favourite food is scrambled eggs

- Loves geography. He wants to visit many different countries one day and see their unique architecture, flora, and fauna

- She also really likes going for hikes

- Likes to draw on himself out of boredom

- Likes to accessorize but differently than Soul, he instead likes wearing earrings, necklaces, rings, and full makeup looks. He absolutely goes the full mile to look good

- Gets pissed off if people use incorrect grammar (you're vs your, its vs it's, etc)

- Bigender and uses he/she pronouns

- Formed (?) afab. Never got top surgery and instead just uses a binder when she needs it

- Favourite book is Treasure Island

- Guilty pleasure is watching true crime (not part of tcc though)

- Owns the dissociation and ouchie plushie dreadfuls because I said so

- Beginner photographer. She doesn't want to do it full time or anything but he likes taking photos of random things he likes

- Most of her days are spent lying on the sofa, though he'll get up and do things if absolutely necessary. He takes charge of things like getting groceries (despite not wanting to) and making meals, but the side effect of that is Heart and Soul have to eat the same thing everyday

- He likes to sew, and if Soul's clothes are ever fixed blame her for that

- Probably plays the sims

- AVPD + NPD

- Hates Soul's chicken for literally no reason besides the fact she finds it annoying

[swordsmans]

As a beginner book binder myself, seeing your works has been an inspiration!! If I may ask, what software do you use for typesetting?

And would you mind speaking about what type of stitch you do on the spine? My signatures sometimes looks a little tense and idk how to fix em :')

Thanks for sharing your work! I'd like to bind books as beautifully as you do waaaahh 💜

hi!!! hello!!! ahh, thank you so much!! that makes me very happy ahh!!

i use a primarily adobe indesign for typsetting, with a pretty substantial time spent in adobe photoshop for a lot of the graphic design elements of my typesets. as you can see, i love a maximalist typeset so the adobe suite is what works best for me, but it's definitely a preference. i know some people prefer more minimalist typesets--and those are just as doable in other, less expensive programs like libreoffice or even google docs!

as for stitching, i do a combination of a running stitch (across tapes) and kettle stitches (to connect at the ends). tension is my enemy though so i totally get it. ive found that gluing is actually where most of my "stiffness" issues come from! the thicker your PVA layer on the spine, the less give you have. since i dont round my spines (yet--thats something ill be working on next year) in my next set of books, ill actually be removing one entire glue step to see if that also helps reduce page stiffness. instead of glue (endbands and bookmark)-dry-glue (mull), im going to attempt to only apply PVA once with my mull, combining the endbands, bookmark, and mull into a single step. we will see how that turns out!

THANK YOU SO MUCH AGAIN!!! im really happy youve been enjoying my work!! its been such a fun journey :3

[booksandwitchery]

Intro to Grimoires

Recently read The Beginner Witch's Guide to Grimoires by Julie Wilder, author of the White Witch Academy textbook series. This was a short, cute little introduction to grimoires for witches of any belief system, but it also had great words about witchcraft in general. Wilder offers a lot of sage wisdom/information, which I will transcribe and/or paraphrase below:

Your intuition will always be the voice that feels bold, expansive and full of possibility. Your fear-based voice is the opposite--it is small, familiar, and contracting. Intuition isn't woo-woo; it's juist about listening to yourself.

Witchcraft definitely carries some existentialist vibes. Within reason, witchcraft involves making a choice without overthinking it, taking notice of our thoughts and feelings, and then noticing patterns that occur as we lean into these choices.

On Grimoires:

I. A grimoire's purpose is to document and guide a witch on their magical path and practice.

II. Grimoires give you a way to remember specific incantations and the steps of your spells (if applicable).

III. You can use grimoires to look back and see what your favorite forms of magic are--track your preferences and inclinations along your journey!

IV. You can use your grimoire to discover your magical leanings and aesthetic style

V. Grimoires are great for tracking the progress and results of your practice.

VI. Your grimoire should feel special, but not so precious that you are afraid of using it often. It can be a notebook, journal, digital document, or even a three ring binder. Some people even use their own homemade paper, which I want to try so badly now.

VII. A grimoire can contain drawings, visualization entries, imagery, symbols, correspondences, poems, notes, spells, incantations, etc, etc...

VIII. Bond with your grimoire. Yes, this is cute and fun and wholesome. Let your grimoire be a reflection of yourself.

I definitely recommend Wilder's book, it was super adorable.

[wakinguponsaturday]

Almost a year to the day after first asking @its-sixxers if I could print out and bind Half Light (after figuring out how one actually does that), I've finally finished it!!!

She's 825 pages long, has some of the early pages warped from glue, and blood (?) staining the text block, and I am so excited to fall in love with Nines and Mary all over again. Thanks for letting me do this, it's been a really rewarding project and I got a new hobby out of it!!!

Please go read Half Light and everything else Six has written, she is immensely talented. Mary is my favourite character in Bloodlines bar none and reading her story endeared me to VTMB when the game itself did not. Six's Fallout works are also masterpieces, and I haven't checked out her newer stuff with Elder Scrolls but I fully intend to because even if I've never touched a Skyrim game in my life, I know I'm going to adore it too!

More info about the process under the cut.

SeaLemon was an invaluable resource starting out here because I barely know how to sew and I had no idea how to approach the actual construction of a book. I'm gonna plug her right off the bat because she's very beginner-friendly if anyone else wants to learn.

But before all of that I had to format everything in Word! Chapter by chapter I copied the text over from the downloadable PDF from AO3 and would scan through the fic to ensure the formatting was correct (italicization, bolding, paragraph breaks, etc). I'd do this for about an hour at a time over the course of a couple months, until I decided to do the rest of it all at once after one March night at 10PM where I decided to learn how to bind it all, because fuck it, why not. (Answer: I was freaked out about my upcoming departmental talk and this seemed like a good distraction).

Printing all of it just on regular printer paper (don't know if I'd do that again in the future, but it's what I had on hand) it ended up being 52 signatures, or collections of 16 pages (4 pieces of paper) folded in half. Pierced holes in all of those using an awl and an old phonebook to hold the pages open, and then used my old embroidery thread to sew them together. This part took me maybe two days because I was just so damn pumped about it lmao. I also don't have any kind of bookpress to weight down the pages, so I had made due with old textbooks and MCAT prep material.

It stayed this way for LITERAL MONTHS as I gathered all the other supplies - chipboard and brushes from my local craft store, PVA glue online, and by far the hardest part was fabric. I've since learned that you can make your own fabric using book cloth and basically anything you want (if I had known this book would have been coated in red silk I swear) but for now I just wanted to be sure it was something designed for this purpose, as the woman at Fabric Land assured me it needed something specialized. So binder's buckram! Took a while to find something local and the color selection was pretty limited, I was hoping for a dark red or a dark blue but the green was the best they had in stock. Took even longer to get here. And by that point I had enough going on that it fell by the wayside until uh.... last week.

I glued the spine, again realizing that maybe I should've just made my own bookpress but powering through with textbooks to hold things in place, and let that sit for a couple days to fully dry. Ideally it would be flat, but beggars cannot be choosers. Gave her a lil ribbon too.

Not pictured because I forgot, the final text block with black construction paper glued to it to form the inside cover (would probably use something thicker/crisper in the future, something more like cardstock perhaps?). But then it came to putting the cover together! And that was just cutting chipboard to fit and gluing it correctly onto the fabric, leaving gaps around the spine.

Let that dry, and then I glued the text block in and let everything sit for just over 24h, again with makeshift weights to prevent the fabric warping (it's the second book from the bottom).

And then tada! Finished book! (This one's from before it was pressed but it looks the same now)

All in all extremely cool to hold in my hands and I look forward to the next fic that makes me this insane. If I get permission to do The Sun Is Now Fading I might take a crack at that and make a little set! Follow your dreams and one day you too will be able to take notes in the margins of your favourite Vampire the Masquerade fic.