#beginner book binder

[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

[elodieunderglass]

Eggs for Killie! (Sorry, Killie.)

I have been sitting on a set of lace bobbins since I bought them nine years ago (in Brugge, no less!), waiting until I had the time to make a pillow to use them, and learn bobbin lace. Instead I decided this month that one of the Ikea cushions on the couch would be Good Enough, and I've made my first little bit of lace ever with the wrong thread:

... and I have a second attempt at the same stitches set up on the cushion. It's still the wrong thread, but this is just for practice, so I don't care.

My second Scary Project is finally picking up tablet weaving again, after not having touched my beginner's project since before covid. My friend who taught me has since passed away, and the whole thing became Far Too Big to start. But I finally did, because I want a strap for my banjolele:

I was nervous about getting started in case it Went Wrong, but it very clearly has (I think the problem is with the written pattern itself; that's supposed to be a braid motif, but the dark purple line isn't connecting properly on the left hand side). Turns out that I'm fine with it being Wrong, because I'm learning, it'll still do the job required, and the next one will be better. HURRAH.

oh wow jack, this is amazing! there's so much going on here and I'm so glad that you threw your heart over TWO fences.

It must feel amazing to use those beautiful bobbins for their intended purpose, and to pick up a project that feels so meaningful and yet so big as the tablet weaving. This reminded me of two quotes from Anne Lamott.

“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won't have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren't even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they're doing it.” ― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird “Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report written on birds that he'd had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books about birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.” ― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

[froidefille]

I made a thing! As a slightly late 1 year anniversary of the greatest album of all time release, I present you with

The Tortured Poets Department lyrics book

📋 typeset by the lovely @sayornispress 📖 bind by me (I still can't believe I did it!!!!) 👩🏻‍🏫 technical binding info and inspo from @phoenixortheflame, @wisewitchbindery and memoru (the last one is a Polish resource!)

This is a fanbind of the TTPD lyrics by Taylor Swift, made for personal use only. The typeset is made to mirror the official lyrics videos which is SO.COOL!

It will be a gift to a friend who introduced me to Taylor's music 🤍

My rambling about it under the cut below!

oh

my

god, I'm so excited!!!!! This is a very first bind that I share with an audience of more than 1 internet person so please be gentle with me haha

I only found out about what binding is and how AWESOME it is by fanfic binders here on tumblr. I do plan on ficbinding in the future so watch that space!! Honestly, having those beloved words on paper rather than your phone screen is just SO PRECIOUS.

It's actually my second bind. The first one is honestly still just so close to my heart I haven't shared it with the Internet yet, maybe in some time :') As I am just a beginner this bind has maaaany flaws - I didin't get the format right, trimming my text block with an old photo trimmer was a Bad Idea™, I printed the photo on the wrong end of the canvas so I had to just glue it on :D And so on and so on, but I'm gonna learn from these mistakes when creating the next one!!! For the things that did work out: I wanted the theme colours to be the colours of TTPD on the Eras Tour so white, black and gold. I used the plainest cream canvas available, with just a white and black photo on the cover, gold lettering on the spie and a lil sticker on the back. For endpapers I printed my favourite quotes from the songs and then foiled it. AND I managed to sew with a non-wax thread without crying too!

I had the ambition of starting from the very beginning - so making a typeset myself. And then I lost my patience about half an hour in and decided to stick to ready typesets first :D

Now, for the Taylor contents! I absolutely love the concept of lyrics videos, they just make the words really hit you, you know? So when I saw Phoebe very kindly sharing the Taylor typesets they made - I may have screamed a little :D And I absolutely knew that it will be a gift to a fellow Swiftie - a friend whose fault it is I am in this Taylor Swift-shaped madness since last year!

My Swiftie story is pretty new really - I liked Taylor, sure, I liked how kind she was, I liked her mainstream songs, absolutely loved how she DEVASTATED me with Safe and Sound back in my The Hunger Games era. But I didn't really know her other songs or much about her. And then Ela took me to the cinema to see The Eras Tour and well. Here we go, some months later and I am still going on and on about the brilliance of it. I got to see it life in Warsaw, which was a life-altering experience and couldn't get it out of my head ever since.

Hence, the literal studies of the lyrics :D

It really is a special moment for me because I dreamed of learning how to bind your own book. And it really is a full-circle kind of situation. Why? Well, because going to see the Eras Tour life made me believe dreams do come true - so chase them! So I went to bookbinding workshop, bought the materials and here we are!

[autumnmobile12]

Kay, so at 10 pages and counting, What Happened On Friday is turning out to be my longest comic yet, so here's the first page as a teaser.

...

Originally, I wasn't going to have so many books on the shelf because they're really tedious to draw and I don't think Touya's a book guy. (And I fully admit I gave up on drawing in titles.)

But two things:

He teaches piano in Ambush Simulation, and in spite of being a reluctant, whiny bitch about it, he is oddly committed to that role. So most of it is music-related.

He is also frequently hospitalized and there's only so much scrolling on your phone and reading random pamphlets you can do in a hospital. So he's gotta entertain himself somehow.

Also on the shelf, you can see the Four Wise Monkeys and the polar bear plushie mentioned in Ambush Simulation.

Also, did anyone spot the cameo character?

...

Touya didn’t answer and in an attempt to avoid his eye, Shouto found himself looking into his brother’s room.  It was an ordinary room, although he wasn’t sure what else he’d expected.  Touya kept a cluttered desk, mostly covered in binders that read things like Lesson Plans, Accounts, Schedules, and the limited shelf space contained mostly books.  From the door, Shouto could make out a few of the larger print titles:  Mozart, His Life and Times; Beginner’s Guide to Teaching; Takemitsu, The Great Composer; A Baroque Study; The Works of Nakada Yoshinao; Piano, Start with C; Psychology of Learning.  He really was dedicated to doing a good job, he thought.  Even if he hadn’t wanted to teach in the first place.  Shouto let his eyes drift over the rest of the shelves.  There was also a carved set of the Three Wise Monkeys, only the set included a fourth monkey.  On a higher shelf stood the figurine of a Pro-Hero he didn’t recognize.  Her costume was a blue and black dress that billowed in a frozen wind while she wielded fire in both hands.  And on the very top shelf, wedged in the back where it was hard to see, he saw a child’s old polar bear plushie.

...

Full comic soon!

[mrghostrat]

since we’re on the topic of bookbinding, i’ve been wanting to get into it but i haven’t actually done any research (yet) other than vibes, so do u have any tips for complete beginners?? :)

@geminibookbinding is who inspired me to finally look up the whole process and figure out where to start! this is the super helpful tutorial i got from them

i had dabbled with binding before though, using Sea Lemon's tutorials to make blank sketchbooks yearsss ago. i still use her text block and diy hardcover videos as a refresher/reminder while i bind!

the biggest thing that stopped me from learning to bind printed fiction was not understanding how to print the text from home, specifically how to get the pages in the right order for signatures. it's actually so easy with some very simple to use programs: QuantumElephant for PC users (free), and I use BookletCreator on Mac ($20)

i want to go into more detail about my process and supplies from a beginner perspective, i hope this helps:

format the text in a word processor

export your document as a single page PDF

enter that PDF file into Quantum Elephant or BookletCreator, to rearrange the pages for your signatures. your program will give you a new PDF file that you can then print.

4. double sided printing: i was so so scared of this at first, but it's incredibly simple. no matter what printer you have, somewhere in your print settings will be an option to print even or odd pages.

print all the even pages first, then when the stack is finished printing, flip them over, insert them back into the paper feed, and print the odd pages.

5. fold the signatures together so you have a stack of little booklets, then mark on the spine where your sewing holes need to be. manually punch the holes using an awl, or diy an awl by stuffing a cork on the end of a straight needle.

6. sewing: take regular sewing thread and run it over a block of beeswax. this makes the thread easier to manage and holds it in place better while you sew. a curved needle is also much easier to use than a straight one, especially for a kettle stitch (using Sea Lemon's tutorial)

7. gluing: glue decorative pages (or plain, but thicker paper) to the front and back to create your end pages, then press the book flat to apply PVA glue to the spine. press it overnight so the glue dries flat. (optional: glue a ribbon to the top of the spine, then sew on headbands) finally glue an additional piece of paper (or mull) around the spine to strengthen it.

8. optional: trim the edges of your book down to create a smooth edge. this one's given me the most trouble because it's very hard to get right with a knife, and the proper supplies are expensive. check your local stationery shop (i.e. Officeworks, Staples) for an industrial guillotine service

9. cover: once you have the final measurements of your text block you can start making the cover. this is essentially gluing cardboard, binders board, or plywood etc to a sheet of fabric. the fabric either needs to be bookcloth, or have some kind of non-porous back so the glue doesn't seep through. you can diy bookcloth from any fabric with tissue paper. then glue the decorate end pages to your cover to attach the textblock!

[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

[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.

[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!

[matte-green]

Beginner Witch? Start Here

Hey!

Don't worry, we've all been where you are. Excited to start, overwhelmed with information, no idea what to do or where to begin. It can be very discouraging, so let me assist! These are some tips that have helped me IMMENSELY, plus some places to get started.

1. Use a Binder for your Grimoire or BOS

If you're like me and want everything organized and sectioned out, a binder will help immensely. I currently use a A5 6 ring notebook for my grimoire and it makes it VERY easy to move things around where I want them. This is the one i currently use and i bought this along with it for pages and tabs!

2. Learn about closed practices early

There are a lot of people who will see a video of some white woman online waving burning sage around her house and think "oh, she's a witch cleansing her home of evil spirits" (ugh) but this is actually called Cultural Appropriation. I found a really good post on here by @man-i-just-really-like-plants giving a brief breakdown of which practices are closed and what it means. I feel this is essential to know ahead of starting your practice.

Research! Learn!

You've probably already heard this, but its true. Here are some things I recommend you research

The History of Witchcraft (i recommend Triumph of the Moon by Ronald Hutton)

Clairsenses (This page gives a good rundown!)

Herbs that grow locally, and how to harvest them sustainably

things that you are drawn too (crystals, waters and their uses, kitchen witchcraft, ect.)

Just try not to overwhelm yourself! you have plenty of time!

Take all resources with a grain of salt

Anyone can write a book, an article, a blog post, or make a youtube video. So read, watch and practice as much as you can and use what works for you. It is YOUR practice, what works for someone else might not work for you.

Oh, and one more thing

You do not have to be Wiccan to practice Witchcraft!

I see this a lot in newbies, and they stress themselves out over the rules of practice within Wicca because they think wicca = witchcraft. If you aren't looking to be wiccan, don't be! There are Norse Witches, Christian Witches, Secular Witches, ect.

You don't have to be a part of any particular religion to practice! The energy surrounding all of us in this universe, and your intent, is all you need!

If you have any questions just ask! And if there is anything anyone wants to add, go right ahead!

~matte

[rigelmejo]

So I like to find older language learning textbooks, or just specific ones. I could make some posts on them if anyone would be interested. I have some weird ones, and then some genuinely useful ones, and rather old ones which are a mix.

Some of my favorites:

German Through Pictures: learn like a child, or like me and my friend in high school translated to each other (with pictures!) when we didn't speak the same language. It is a simple book, but very easy and you WILL learn some basics. Its simple, its a nice idea.

This book is very cheap used, I found it at a library book store sale for 4 dollars.

Read Japanese Kanji Today: there's an older version of this book, equally good. This book is free in a lot of digital libraries (a lot of college libraries have it in ebook form, if you are on an app like Libby or Hoopla it's worth searching). A kanji mnemonic stories book that is not dauntingly huge. Good for beginners to wrap their heads around how to start studying Kanji. Be aware, it doesn't cover much, so don't spend too much time studying it if you're trying to make progress (not like perfectionist me in college who... was too obsessed with memorizing and so I never finished reading this).

https://archive.org/details/jensen-arthur-le-francais-par-la-methode-nature

Le Francais Par Le Methode Nature: I have this book to thank for getting comfortable learning French in French, for getting comfortable reading more, and I love the teaching style. I love textbooks written in The Nature Method, where they teach entirely in the language. The Arthur Jensen books in particular (and a few others of this time period) have 3000+ common words and a good overview of grammar taught, setting you up to transition to regular daily conversations and novel/news reading after The Nature Method textbook. My ideal. I wish desperately for a book like this in chinese or japanese. I've thought for hours about how to add pinyin for hanzi, romaji and hiragana below kanji for japanese, in order to make it still equally comprehensible to start seeing regular chinese and japanese text immediately. Chinese or Japanese would need more pictures for explanation, since there's less cognates. But i really think a similarly designed textbook would be very achievable. But I do not confidently know chinese or japanese grammar enough to try to translate English by The Nature Method into Chinese or Japanese. If someone does, I'd love to talk cost for that kind of translation job. I'd need that base text translation, then I could draw pictures and add pinyin and romaji/hiragana myself... (or also do what one great person did when he wrote a tiny Comprehensible Input japanese site - use emojis).

Anyway. I love these type of books. I wish more existed desperately. There's a French, English, and Italian one. There's also textbooks written with the same "all taught IN the target language" approach - a Greek one called Athenaze, and a Latin one called Lingua Latina.

Be aware because of the age of some of these, some language info is outdated. But for me the sheer VOLUME of nonstop practice reading the language makes up for a few issues of age.

French for Beginners by Charles Duff: I love the way Duff teaches, lots of practice reading immediately. He has a Beginner Spanish textbook I also got, and also love.

Chinese Grammar Self Taught by John Darroch: this book is NOT actually the nature method. I got a hard copy that's really old. Its lovely and has gold lettering on the cover. The book uses an old pronunciation system so its easier to go into this book if you already know how hanzi are pronounced or have an alternative source for that. If you're a nerd like me who Likes seeing the old pronunciation system, the older language features (like le being liao more, like the use of nin instead of ni more often), the print hanzi back then? Its really cool. The grammar lessons are also very easy to read - probably my favorite grammar explanations I've read. The section in the beginning explaining hanzi radicals and the types of hanzi, the sound+meaning type and symbolic type, on its own makes the book worth it. After reading that section, hanzi made so much more sense to me, got easier to remember and learn. I just think its a really neat book. It also has a dictionary of about 2000 hanzi in the back. Which serves as both a good vocabulary list and practice going through a/stroke order dictionary. The grammar book also teaches a decent number of words. A very useful little book.

Its the polar opposite of a chinese textbook I once had that only taught 200 words and made me so mad i donated it and forgot the name of it.

Japanese in Thirty Hours: this book is free on some univerity sites, if you search google itself or another web search. I bought a physical copy for 9 dollars. Its my favorite beginner grammar book for japanese - in particular, because it describes a few grammar points in a way that I found helpful. Also, like the chinese book above, this book pulls its weight! A lot of information in a small book. It has over 1000 words in the back vocabulary section you can study, a TON of grammar explanations and sentence drills to practice, easy to read, and the book's goal is to get you speaking (with the use of a dictionary/looking up key words you need to say) ASAP. It does it's job. The sentences are a bit unnatural, but so is Genki's sentences (like saying watashi wa so much even though in Japanese it wouldn't be explicitly stated so much).

Reading Japanese by Hamoko Ito Jordan, Eleanor Harz, Chaplin: I love learning a language by DOING. So I love this book. It's a bit slow paced for me (but only since I'm not an absolute beginner). It's a great, dense book of 624 pages. You practice reading all hiragana, katakana, 425 kanji, and a ton of example words and kanji. Even though I can read somewhat, the katana section of this book is intense even for me in that it makes me practice reading a TON of katakana words and situations in order to get the learner truly comfortable with encountering the writing system and reading it. There's also a companion grammar book by them, Beginning Japanese. Due to the very general title you'l need to search author names to find these books.

Weird bits: unique romaji system. I was fine with it, since I already knew the pronunciations of everything I saw in this book, from prior study. If you're an absolute beginner though, it would be worth it to learn the regular romaji system and hiragana/katakana romaji sound representations in it before starting this book.

Beginning Chinese Reader by John DeFrancis: note that you can find this cheap used sometimes, and very expensive other times. My copies were around 60 dollars a piece because the books were out of print and rare at the time. There's several books in the series: Beginning Chinese Reader 1 and 2, Intermediate Chinese Reader 1 and 2, and Advanced Chinese Reader. (Pdfs can be found online if you go searching).

The positive: 1200 hanzi are taught, and thousands more words (tons of combininations of the hanzi into many words). The main plus of these books is sheer volume of reading practice. Its TONS of reading practice, thousands of pages.

There's graded readers nowadays which are more entertaining with funner stories, but they are short. My mandarin companion stories were very short, my Sinolingua Books were quite thin, and most of my "beginner" reading in chinese ended up being easier novels in chinese (like tu tu da wang, xiao wang zi, sa ye and simpler written B)) because I just could not find thousands of pages of gradually increasing difficulty graded readers (although Pleco does offer a decent amount of some condensed versions of stories like Legend of the Monkey King, etc).

So yeah, the plus: huge amount of reading material to internalize hanzi and new words, and get really comfortable reading.

The negatives: its old. Old cultural details, old language things that don't all apply anymore, the technology words we have now didnt exist when it was written. And its written so dry and boring, unfortunately. For me, the elements that age it help me get interested in catching those, enough so that i can get myself to read it. But the material itself? Boring (at least in the beginning).

Regardless, I find the concept of these textbooks to be wonderful. I would love to find some modern chinese textbook series that provides over 1000 pages of graded reading, with words repeated at intervals to reinforce memory of them. If you know of any (even with just 400 pages practice reading that gradually teaches more words) please let me know.

Madrigals Magic Key to Spanish: I love this book. I have Madrigal's books for Spanish, French, and German. I read this spanish one over the course of a summer once, it probably helped me get better at reading Spanish. It works excellently in combination with Language Transfer Spanish podcast, and if you like learning materials that teach based on similarities to what you might already know in your native language (grammar similarities, cognates) and clear explanations of language patterns (showing how adjective word endings are sometimes X like -ent in english or french "intelligent") then this book's teaching style will work well for you. And, like many of my favorite books, it teaches a LOT of words.

So! That is a snippet of some of the language books I have. I've got a lot more... I love checking out textbook methods and the variety so I tend to look for them whenever I see used books.

[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.

[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!

[loveelikeadog]

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

[affectionate-remedy]

What's this? There's a book, left out in the living room. The front cover reads 'Rope Bindings for Beginners.' The first few dozen pages consist of step-by-step diagrams of how to tie certain knots and what they're used for. If one failed to read any further, they might think this to belong to a Boy Scout. Speaking of which, reading further, the next few dozen pages show those same knots and ropes pictured being used on tastefully nude bodies, spun into corsets, cuffs, arm-binders and the like.

Also, accompanying it is a tiny, featureless, wooden doll, like the ones artists use to sketch body poses. Wrapped around the doll's 'abdomen,' for what little accuracy that word had, is a small, thin rope. The rope is vaguely in the shape of a corset, tied almost masterfully well.

. . .Sumi must have forgotten about them, and left them out.