#binderary 2023

[sayornispress]

Two author copies delivered! Both for @bropunzeling (AO3 here).

More photos and info under the cut!

I actually did my copies of these a while ago--both in February, one in 2024 and the other in 2023. collide the spaces that divide us was one of my earliest attempts at social media formatting, and one of the last books I ever made with my inkjet printer. I did end up fixing a few things on that one's typeset, but it's nearly identical to my first copy. You may also notice in the photos that I chopped off a bit too much off the edge--I didn't yet know how to use my guillotine, and in all the time that's passed since then, it's become defunct (sharp enough to cut off a hand, but not sharp enough to cut through a stack of paper lol)

It's neat to see such a clear example of how much I've improved as a bookbinder in a year and a half--my copy on the left, author's on the right:

Also, a comparison of color ink (left) vs color laser (right):

Like this, it's easy to see how much more vibrant color toner is than ink. Ink works much better for complex images, but since I don't print a lot of photos, but do make a lot of social media typesets, this works much much better for my purposes.

Soon after that, I bought a black-only laser printer and had a whole new set of challenges. It was in this era of printing that I made only fools rush in. It has one of my most complex title pages to date, as they're not really my forte.

Below are my copy, the title page, and an example of how I did texts in this particular typeset.

My copy has a cloth spine and a different cloth as the cover, with a strip from the endpapers to hide my sins act as a bridge between them. This is one of the binds from last Binderary that I'm most proud of.

The title page is in several different pieces--sort of jigsaw-puzzled together from vectors, Google Drawings, and a few different fonts.

Black-toner-only printing meant adjusting how I did social media formatting, and this is one of my favorite ways I solved that problem. I like the simple, almost minimalist formatting that sets the texts apart but doesn't steal the show.

I'd been meaning to offer author copies for these books for as long as I'd had them, but it's hard to understate how little I wanted to use my inkjet once I got a laser XD It's both slower and more expensive to use an inkjet, so as soon as I got my color laser printer set up, I sent the DM!

I organize my handbound fics by ship--that is, every ship has a set spine cloth and title color--so one of my favorite things about author copies is that I get to be a little more creative about covers!

[gargoyleandgremlinpress]

Sportsball Lesbians anthology by Zulu

More Binderary! This A League Of Their Own anthology has a copy for me and one for @zulufic, who's one of my long-time IRL friends. (Her reaction to seeing my first set of books, "Would… you do my fic?" Me: "Yes, that is what I already have planned for your Christmas present!")

The typesetting for this book went just fine. That was almost the only step that did.

To start, I printed the wrong copy, and tried reprinting just the chapter headers but the pages were one line off. When I pressed the folded pages, I used a big wooden cutting board, conveniently forgetting that it was oiled wood, and had to reprint the top two signatures. I decided to lean into the vintage paperback vibe due to the Great Paper Fiasco of 2023 where I ended up with four reams of two-shades-more-yellow buff paper instead of cream, which meant my original cardstock endpaper plan didn't match, and went through four different options to find the right one. I mismeasured the bookcloth for the back of the case, and had to make two more pieces, and there were some minor trimming issues. When I put the stencil on the spine and weeded it, I left it overnight before painting because it was getting late, and then discovered that it had fallen off by morning.

But I persevered! And I put @zulufic's copy direct into her hands last night. WORTH IT. In the meantime, she has written exponentially more ALOTO fic, and I have some sportsball lesbian reading to catch up on.

[simply-sithel]

Gifts by @chubsonthemoon [link]

An adorable story that made me happy to read- never mind that I'm unfamiliar with the fandom, the sentiment was universal. Twas very sweet and an exceptionally well suited gem to set within the form of a crafted & gifted item.

The color guidance on this one was tropical island, a very verdant green. Always oh so pleasing to find that perfect little patch of print to fussy cut. Origami paper is excellent for the minis, being so thin and all. An extra small mini- with 2,153 words, it only came out to 39 pages (that 28lb paper really helps bulk out the wee ones)

[overlyenthusiasticfictionreader]

Fanbinding of Incendiary by lastSaskatchewanPirate

Incendiary by lastSaskatchewanPirate

Fandom: Transformers - All Media Types Rating: Explicit Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationship: Megaton/Optimus Prime Characters: Megatron, Optimus Prime, Rodimus, First Aid, Ratchet Words: 9,915    

I bound this as part of Renegade Bindery’s Binderary 2023 event! A copy for me and another for the author. Another set of quarto sized books.

This is another short fic I come back to on a regular schedule. It’s sweet, and hot, and agrees with my head-canons 😂

Incendiary is a series, containing Flash Point and Blastoff. I really leaned into the flame theme with the origami paper on the cover and the imagery inside.

These are my first books with color images in the text block. Color in the text block takes almost the same number of steps as foil in the text block, and I combined those processes, so it was quite the process! The first page of each chapter has smoke in the background!

Once again, my text block was too wide for the ribbon I have on hand, but I have enjoyed the braiding and tassel making for the bookmarks!

Incendiary has a bit of everything, fluff and smut and laughs. 💖 Thank you  lastSaskatchewanPirate for a delightful story!

[somedayourocean]

a smol cat journal, because bitches love cats (im bitches)

[snek-panini]

I'm somewhat late posting this one, since I finished it a couple of weeks ago, but this was Binderary Book #3! A bind of Pray for Us, Icarus by Atalan. I'm not sure this fic needs any introduction from me, but suffice it to say that it's wonderful and involves retelling the events of canon with a memory loss twist. It's one of those fics that exists in undeniable conversation with canon; you can't really separate it from the canon without losing a lot of meaning. This fic is so good it gives me story hangover when I read it. It gets pretty angsty in parts but has a happy and totally satisfying ending.

I tried so many new things with this bind, and most of them came out really well! I'm a little in love with it. More pics and process talk below the cut!

One of the reasons I waited to post is because I never got a response from the author when I reached out about binding this one. That's only happened to me once before, and last time it was on an orphaned work so I expected it. Hopefully they don't mind that I've posted pics.

The cover on this one is faux leather. It was my first time working with it and I loved it. Feels really nice, looks beautiful, holds a fold well (this brand, anyway), and takes glue and embossing powder like a champ. The front has a 3D cutout that I made with layered sheets of thin cardboard, then covered over with leather and pressed into the corners. That's another first for me (my other cutouts were all 2-material windows) and I loved it so much I did it over again on my next bind (not done yet--pics are coming). I did press too hard and tear the material in one spot; the gilding around the title is there to cover that. The other issue I had was with the rose stamp on the front cover--turns out this stuff is way more slippery that I expected, and it got shifted while I was pressing it, trying to get the details to take.I didn't notice this until after using the heat gun, at which point it was too late to re-do it, so now I'm living with it. Not ideal, but we live and learn.

Top view, spine, and endpaper. The only design choice I made on this volume that I'm not nuts about is the blue endbands. They're...fine. But I didn't have one available that was better, and I haven't taken the leap into making my own yet. They're not that bad, I just don't love them.

Title on spine! This is another first, possible because of the material. The book cloth I usually use doesn't play nice with the embossing powder so I can't use it on the cloth spines that I usually prefer. But the faux leather works fine with it, so I went for it here.

Endpapers are scrapbook paper, a really nice shade of light green that didn't shop up well in the photos. Trust me, though--they look fabulous with the green ribbon bookmark and the brown leather. Rich and warm and lovely. The case on this fits really well, which is something I continue to struggle with. At first I thought it was too big again, but in hindsight I think it's perfect actually.

Interior shots! I...still need to up my game on the title pages. I did for the bind that came after this one. I find I like the box though. Keeping that.

The illustration next to the chapter title is a sprig of rosemary. Memory loss is a major theme in the story, and the quote "rosemary for remembrance" comes up prominently in the first chapter, so I thought it was appropriate. There are a lot of flowers and plants in this story, and I really wanted to feature all of them, but finding coordinating artwork of them all was too big of a challenge so only two made it in: the rosemary and the rose on the front cover. The rose was a rubber stamp and the rosemary was a free image I found online; all I did was resize it. The same image appears at the beginning of each chapter. I finally figured out how to prevent Word from making all my images blurry, so there will be more included artwork like this in future binds.

That's a wrap! I love this bind. Like a lot. I want to show it to everyone I know but I don't want to explain fanfiction to them so it's here. My next Binderary bind is almost done and will be shared in a few days, (it needs its cover attached and to be titled) and then I owe someone an author's copy before I launch into another fanbind. I already have plans for it though. Can't sit still too long.

[nocturnus33]

A classic cover.

BE by tothewillofthepeople

Grantaire is earnest in this, and it’s heartbreaking. Enjolras can’t look away. This is just a rehearsal. Grantaire is still wearing skinny jeans. They have lights and phones and textual analysis and thousands of years of history between now and then and yet– When Grantaire speaks, the distance collapses. (Grantaire as Hamlet.)

Title: Middle Ages Deco Headers/Accents: Letter Gothic Standard Body text: Adobe Caslon Pro Case title: Goudy Initialen

38,667 words | 224 pages

Binderary book 1: a long-favourite EXR fic. I love wild Les Mis AUs and I love Shakespeare and this is all of that in such a lovely lovely form. Stage manager Enjolras is inspired. Also, I've been frothing at the mouth to use my special blackletter fonts and go suuuper overboard designing and this was Perfect for that purpose.

More pictures/design/process under the cut.

Design and Construction Case: Flat-back case binding with bradel board covers and spine. The spine cloth is Hollander's pearl linen in charcoal grey. The painted titles were done in Amsterdam acrylic ink in silver, with a pair of scissors because I don't own a painting brush and likely never will. The cover papers are printed on 80gsm white printer paper and glued with a regular Elmer's glue stick and PVA on the turn-ins, and the whole case is sprayed with workable fixatif to (hopefully) preserve it longer-term.

Covers: The front and back covers were designed in Photoshop. The centre image is a William Morris pattern, and the top and bottom little circles are Renaissance printer's ornaments (pngs by the lovely @helle-bored of Renegade Bindery) that I vectorized in Illustrator (Illustrator and I were sworn enemies until this month. Now we're forced friends. Like enemies to lovers).

Insides: Endpapers are a William Morris pattern recoloured in Photoshop to be a richer green and red, obv, for EXR. Printed with inkjet on 80gsm printer paper and glued to gold cardstock, and sewn into the textblock. Endbands are pre-sewn from Hollanders, dyed gold with acrylic ink to match the endpapers.

Typesetting Typeset was done in InDesign. This is a one-shot with scene breaks, so to match the theatre theme of the piece I replaced the horizontal line breaks with flagged scene numbers. I tried to strike a balance in the typesetting between classic Shakespearean aesthetic with the blackletter drop caps and cover fonts versus what you might see in a theatre script book with the monospace accents. The title spread uses a transparent decorative frame, again from Helle's collection; the large box in the middle with the title was part of the original frame and then I duplicated and resized it for the author name and my imprint.

We All Do It, or, the Mistakes Section I somehow managed to print the cover papers nine inches tall and didn't see a problem with it until they came off the printer. Truly who knows how that happened. I was working on the case at two in the morning and cut the spine cloth the wrong length three separate times...earned the measure once cut twice badge big time for that one. The endpapers were an ordeal and a half for real. What I learned: print them too big and glue the cardstock to the back, then trim the paper to size, not the other way around otherwise you'll end up with big ugly gaps where the trimming was a few millimeters off. Whoops.

And...more pictures

I'm particularly pleased with how the covers here came out so here's closeups. Also, the arc on the spine that you can see in the endband on the last one is really pleasing to me lol I fought a war trying to get the flatback hinge calculations right.

[gargoyleandgremlinpress]

Five Dogs, One Cat by Ryfkah

"If you’ve ever believed me in anything, believe I want what’s best for Jin Ling," the first line of the letter reads. Jiang Cheng has to stop and take a moment before he continues on to the next line: "You must come to Carp Tower as soon as you can and lavish praise on the ugliest dog I’ve ever seen."

I love this fic! It's a funny, touching, post-canon MDZS story about Jin Ling's relationship with Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian, and comes with an inevitable side of Yunmeng bros reconciliation.

This was another Binderary project, and a belated Christmas present. I made one copy for me, and one for the friend who introduced me to both this fic, and The Untamed. The cover is printed on a piece of cotton sheet (temporarily backed with freezer paper) with a home laser printer. The endpapers are Nepalese Lokta paper. The spine is acrylic paint using Cricut stencil vinyl. At under 14k, this fic made a cute little half-sized quarto book, just under a hundred pages.

I did my best to match up the different dogs in each chapter using public domain images. There are a few errors in the chapter opening typesetting I only caught AFTER everything was all glued (of course).

This is probably the lower limit for what I'd want to sew endbands on. The spine was skinny enough that it was decidedly fiddly.

I am a sucker for a classic 5+1 format, and I just love the ending for this one!

[simply-sithel]

The Bar at the End of the Fandom by firstlightofeos [link]

A binderary request from @daemonluna I was thrilled to bind! Not only did it turn out quite nice (that's a scrap of @epitomereally's dyed bookcloth there on the spine, cover paper from @aetherseer and end paper from... @spiderverbiclespress?) but the story was new to me and highly amusing. Haven't bound a copy for myself yet but do mean to!

[overlyenthusiasticfictionreader]

Fanbinding of A Day in the Life of Dr. Rafael Esquivel, Ph.D. by White Aster

A Day in the Life of Dr. Rafael Esquivel, Ph.D. by White Aster

Fandom: Transformers: Prime, Transformers - All Media Types Rating: Gen Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: Gen Characters: Soundwave, Rafael “Raf” Esquivel, Ratchet, Bumblebee Words: 30,737

I bound this as part of Renegade Bindery’s Binderary 2023 event! A copy for me and another for the author.

I really enjoy this fic, and come back to read it on a regular basis. It is just heart warming and gives me warm fuzzies. 

These quarto-sized books are bound in homemade bookcloth: I was aiming for rust/decay effect, given how the nanites are dismantling Cybertronians. The silver paper helps here too, as Cybertronians turn gray when they die.

I hope you can see in this photo, but I foiled all of Soundwave’s text in shiny green foil. I am very proud of the effect, and I now have a greater appreciation for special effects inside the the text block!

And I ended up making separate bookmarks, because all of the ribbon I have was too wide for this text block  😅 But I learned some new skills along the way, which is one of the goals ;)

@white-aster Thank you for a delightful fic! I hope you enjoy your copy!

I’ve also included this fanbinding in the Renegade Publishing Fanbindings collection on ao3, located here.

[nocturnus33]

I'm in love with the cover and the end papers.

My beloved Chessmen series by @kaydeefalls

This might just be my favorite project so far.

Do not be fooled by the first picture, I did not break the series into volumes. These are just the two copies (one for me, one sent as a gift to the author) showing off their two sides.

Because these wonderful stories are an X-Men/Inception fusion, binding them as a Tête-bêche (that's right, it's letters in fancy hats time) felt very appropriate. What that means is: you open a book, and there's a story. You read it, close the book, turn it upside down, open, and there is ANOTHER story. (The last photo is the place they meet juuust about in the middle.)

I linoprinted the chess pieces (and the little ballerina) on the cover, and, of course, completely lost my shit over the whole chess metaphor that Raven uses. Each character in the story is assigned a chess piece, and I used those pieces to mark their respective POVs. (Except when they are in Limbo, because something fun and different happens in Limbo.) I think this was also my first time sewing a two-color endband? And for sure my first time rounding a book and making an Oxford hollow. Very stressful, and also fun!

[epitomereally]

Renegade Binderary 2 of 3: Kept in Cages by @sweet-s0rr0w and @ihopeyoubothstaysafefromharm

Deep in the heart of the Ministry lies the Beast Division: a hidden room where ancient beasts roam, and winged creatures soar, and grumpy giant ferrets eat all your biscuits unless you keep them well hidden. Draco Malfoy would know – he’s been working there for five years now, after all.

Meanwhile, on Level One, ex-Golden Boy Harry Potter is stuck in another interminable policy meeting, completely unaware of the mysterious comings and goings just three floors below. But when a giant snake emergency requires the assistance of a Parselmouth, Harry finds himself thrust, unprepared, into Draco’s weird and wonderful world – and naturally, he can’t keep away…

In this fic, Sweet and Joy wove an incredibly hopeful and gracious journey of healing for both Harry and Draco against a lush backdrop of magical creatures & friends. I am so happy to have bound this fic for Sweet and me. I bound this as a part of Renegade’s Binderary 2023 (where we challenge ourselves to make as many books as we can). I specifically focused on some of my favorite fics published in 2022 that I hadn’t already bound :)

I was quite burnt out of writing & reading fic at the end of H/D Wireless 2022 and so I slept on this fic for months and SHAME ON ME! It took me until December to read it and I was just blown away by the world that Joy and Sweet built together. I had this two-toned blue/green bookcloth, knew I wanted to have a cut-out, found this gorgeous William Morris tapestry, and boom, the design was born. I also want to say that Joy’s gorgeous illustrations & Sweet’s beautiful words were so evocative that designing & typesetting this was a breeze; if you have any doubt, see how @a-gay-old-time (who did such an amazing bind of this here) and I came to very similar design choices independently :)

I also used text from @sitp-recs' rec here and @getawayfox's rec here at the front of the book, which I would love to start doing for all of my binds.

I learned a ton of stuff that is totally boring to a non-fanbinder, but was huge for me: footnotes, full page illustrations, double French-core endbands (still need some refinement, but I am so happy to be able to use more than two colors!), cut-outs!! Some technical challenges of this bind: getting the cut-out exactly in the right spot, using a guillotine for the first time & having some pretty tight margins as a result, painting on Duo bookcloth (the texture makes it really tough!), but I'm still so happy with this bind. I also have to acknowledge @pleasantboatpress who inspired both the headbands and the cut-out with their absolutely gorgeous binds.

Materials:

Title font: Argaka

Body font: Alegraya

Endpapers: Birds by William Morris (public domain)

Bookcloth: Duo Laguna (sadly no longer being manufactured :()

[celestial-sphere-press]

Book Decoration: AKA All The Ways I Don't Use a Cricut

(this post is for people who don't want to buy an expensive cutting tool, or for those that do have an expensive cutting tool that would like to mix things up a little)

1. Print That Shit

If you're already printing your own textblocks, an easy step for titles is to print them. Above is a title printed onto an "obi" of decorative paper. I measured out where I wanted things on the finished book and laid it out in Affinity, then printed it on a full sheet & trimmed it down to wrap around the book. A more simple method is to print & glue on the label into a slight indent in the cover (to protect it). A third option is to do the spine in bookcloth, while you print on paper for the cover and then glue that paper onto the boards (this usually looks even better when it is a three-piece bradel bind).

2. Foil Quill / Heat Pens

The heat pen is one of my go-to tools, but it can be a bit touchy about materials. The most popular version is the We R Memory Keepers' Foil Quill (which is one of the most ergonomic), but other pens exist that can get you to a higher heat temp, finer lines, or more consistent foil. For example, I have a pen created by a local Japanese bookbinding studio that fares way better on leathers than the WRMK quill & with a finer tip, but it's hell to control. Best results in general are on paper or smooth bookcloth (starched linen, arrestox, colibri - even duo will work but its less solid). The fuzzier a bookcloth is, the less your foil quill wants to deal with it. This means the heat n bond method of making bookcloth does not play nice with a heat pen usually, but there are two solutions: 1) use this tutorial on paste + acrylic medium coated bookcloth instead that will get you a perfect surface for the heat pen, or 2) use the pen on paper & then glue onto the cloth. I did a video tutorial for both foil quill use and this type of homemade bookcloth for @renegadeguild Binderary in 2023.

You get the most consistent results by tracing through a printed template that is taped in place, as I do in the video above.

3. Paint That Shit

Acrylic paints will do you fine! The above is free-handed with a circle template, because I wanted that vibe. If you need straight lines that won't seep, lay them down with tape first & then paint over it first with a clear Acrylic medium, then your color. Same goes for stencils. Two more examples of painted bookcloth:

4. IT'S GOT LAYERS

By using layers of thinner boards, you can create interesting depths & contrasts on your cover. You can also make cutouts that peep through to the decorative paper behind. The most important part to this technique is the order in which each edge is wrapped. To get a good wrapped inside edge, you will split the turn in into tabs to get them to conform to a curve. You can also layer multiple colors of bookcloth without multiple layers of board, as seen below left, so long as you mind your cut edges for fraying.

5. Inlaid... anything

Mirrors! Marbled paper! I saw someone do a pretty metal bookmark once! The key is creating a little home for it to live in, which is pretty similar to the above layering method. On one layer you cut the shape, & glue that layer onto the bottom solid board before covering. You can do the top layer as an entire 1 mm board (like I did for the mirrors) or a sheet of cardstock, like I would use for inlaid paper.

6. Decorative Paper

Decorative paper is always helpful & adds to the paper hoard... & its effects can be layers with other techniques, as below. Marbles, chiyogami, momi, or prints & maps of all kinds can be great additions. Some papers may need a protective coating (such as wax or a sealer).

7. Stamps (with optional linocut)

While I've not used many more regular rubber stamps, I do know some who have, successfully! And I've used one once or twice with embossing powder (see photo 3 up, the gold anchor on the little pamphlet bind). What also works is to carve your own linocut or stamp, & then use block printing ink to ink it onto your fabric (as i did above). A bit time intensive, but it was nice how easily reproducible it was, and I liked the effect I got for this particular bind.

These methods are not exhaustive, just ones I've used, and there are of course many others. I haven't gone too into detail on any of these for the sake of length (& post photo limits) but feel free to ask about more specifics. Usually I'm using them in combination with other options.

[gargoyleandgremlinpress]

Freedom's Just Another Word by Synecdochic

This was a great opportunity for some nostalgia revisiting a fandom! Freedom's Just Another Word (For Nothing Left to Lose) is a Stargate: Atlantis canon-divergent future fic where Rodney comes back to earth alone, and is about grief, regret, and coming to terms.

Blobby little flower on the spine is to cover a paint smudge. Endpapers are scavenged from my wife's gel plate printing experiments, and the cover and spine are stenciled on with acrylic paint. Cover pattern is on cotton cloth sent through the printer and is left over from another project.

The gate symbol text dividers read "hope."

I did the typeset for this one as part of the @renegadepublishing 2022 exchange, and made two versions for my recipient, @rhipidurafan. This little quarto (quarter of a letter-size sheet of paper) is the full text of the story, and a full half-letter version includes a second copy with Synedochic's DVD commentary version. (So many text boxes… so many…) You can see a screencap of that below here.

True fact: I dropped it on the floor right after taking pictures, and now I need to glue it back into the case on one side. I cut the cloth the wrong way when making the case, and the pull on the covers from the grain direction is definitely visible. I am pretty happy with it regardless!

This was one of my Binderary books in February. I'm glad to have it finished on my shelf!

[nocturnus33]

Binderary!

Binderary 2023

This February, I participated in the @renegadepublishing Discord's binderary bookbinding event. For this event, I decided to bind a book for every day in February, but in order to be realistic about my time constraints, I chose to do each book as a single-section pamphlet bind! I chose 14 different fics by authors (and friends) in the Malevolent fandom and did the typesetting for them during January, then bound 2-3 copies of each fic over the course of February. Here is the final spread!

Each cover design utilizes either public domain images from sites such as rawpixel and the Noun Project or art created for the fic! It was a pleasure to work with the authors of these fics this month, along with the associated artists, and I had a wonderful time with this project. Below is a list of the various fics and their associated authors and, if applicable, artists.

Phagia | PrettyArbitrary, author; Vandy, artist (cover, chapter header)

In Vino Veritas | @organchordsandlightning, author; @ratscantwrite-alt, artist (cover)

(you're) the only song i want to hear |@acemartinblackwood, author

Sanctity of Your Form | @sqwormywormy, author; Wyrm, artist (chapter header)

Gingerly Held |@shadow0haven, author

Guess This Makes Me The Godfather |@croik, author

An Invitation | Anonymous, author; ihaveyoureyes, artist (centerfold)

The Neighbors | Llwyden, author

A Home to Go Home to | quakergoth, author

The Sharp Static of a Restless Mind | @anonymoussong, author; @hyenasatanist, artist (centerfold)

City Hall Fundraiser | @organchordsandlightning, author

Dessert | @suttttton, author

Repetition//Retention | @kahtiihma, author; @shadow0haven, artist (cover); Kraik, artist (chapter header)

Recrown the Creation/You're Half of the Flesh and Blood That Makes Me Whole | LoyalMonsterFan, author

Pictures of the title page and chapter header for each fic can be found below the cut! Some images and text may be NSFW.

[bluejayblueskies]

Bookbinding Year in Review

I bound a lot of books this year, so I thought I'd do a quick little recap of my progress as a binder! Starting off with some stats for 2023:

Total books bound: 68 Total words bound: 1,428,472 Average words per book: 21,007 Total books gifted: 44

I bound a lot of short fics this year, most notably as part of Binderary, a bookbinding marathon event hosted by the Renegade Publishing server in February. I aimed to bind a book a day, specifically binding shorter fics in the pamphlet style--a single signature sewn to a cardstock cover. I hit that and beyond, binding a total of 36 books for the event! I plan to do Binderary again this year, though my project for it is a surprise ✨

(The observant will notice that there are fewer than 36 books in this picture--I finished up a few more after this photo was taken!)

Other events I bound for this year included:

For a total of 54 books bound for an event! That's ~80% of the total amount of books I bound this year!

My top fandom was unsurprisingly Malevolent, coming in at 53 fics. The Magnus Archives was a close runner-up at 8 fics. The other seven fics bound were in the 9-1-1 and Hello From the Hallowoods fandoms, as well as some journals.

I'm really happy with my progress as a binder this year! I participated in a lot of events, gifted many books, got some fun new equipment, rebound my first ever bound book, and generally grew a lot as an artist. My favorite books from this year have to be this set of two volumes I did for @phynoma's work the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the ambition of the world for the Rusty Quill Big Bang:

The embroidery was very much a labor of love, and I'm so happy with how they turned out!!

I also loved collaborating with visual artists in various ways, including working with @kahtiihma to commission artwork from @shadow0haven for her fic Repetition//Retention and incorporating over a hundred pieces of artwork from @captaincravatthecapricious and @genderfluid-druid in my bind of @organchordsandlightning's fic formaldehyde.

I plan to do some more collaboration with artists in 2024, as well as many more gifts and author copies, so stay tuned for that!!

Some other statistics below the cut, for those interested:

Books bound per binding style

Books bound per size

Top 10 Authors Bound, sorted by number of books (duplicate copies included)

With_the_Wolves (12 books)

Croik (8 books)

SupposedToBeWriting (8 books)

Kahti (7 books)

PrettyArbitrary (5 books)

shadow0haven (5 books)

AlexanderPeterson (4 books)

AnonymousSong (3 books)

arthureameslove (3 books)

bluejayblueskies (that's me!) (3 books)