#binderary2025

[celestial-sphere-press]

BINDERARY IS HERE!!

Renegade has gone through a lot of changes this year & there are more to come - I would definitely check out what's going on in the Renegade-Roundup meeting, either by attending during it or checking out the video afterwards.

Binderary 2025: Week 1

In the Renegade Bindery Discord Server, we are once again running Binderary during the month of February. Attendance is free, and a link to the 18+ Discord Server can be found on our website.

Whether you’re new to the world of bookbinding or an aged veteran, join us for a month of binding fun! This event is all about community & learning, be it trying something new or refining existing skills.

All our workshops are run by members of our fanbinding community, and some of them are even on Tumblr!

Here’s the list of who’s running the week 1 workshops:

Specialized Typesetting in LaTeX: Celandine My Immortal and the History of Fan Studies: Parsley Typesetting in Google Docs: @sayornispress Introduction to Typography and Typesetting: @bearclubbooks Renegade Round-Up 2024!: @fanboundbooks, @robins-egg-bindery & @celestial-sphere-press You Shouldn't Have to Pay for that: Making Your Typesets Pretty For Free: @daemonluna Bookbinding Craft Along 1: Noodle

[cmdonovann]

BINDERARY 2025 HAS BEGUN 🎉

binderary has begun, so i'm back! where have i been for the past few months? don't worry about it! i'm here now and i have made a bajillion tiny books. these are all letter octavos that i cased in yesterday for the first day of binderary. i'll post more detailed individual photos later, don't worry.

(also, in case anyone was wondering, my ko-fi shop is still temporarily closed for craft show reasons. i'll open it again with the new books from binderary sometime this spring!)

[wagtailcrafts]

Binderary 2025 Plan!

So I've finally made a plan and started my prep for Renegade's Binderary 2025! I'm going for calm mode (1 book per week) with a touch of technique master (learning new skills). I'm going to work on four titles that have been on my to-do list for a while. They're all longfic because I'm a glutton for punishment (I think the shortest is 170k?). As such, I'm allowing myself to prep typesets and do all my printing in January, and February will focus on book assembly.

Week 1 - A Court of Flames and Shadows by flamesandshadows Fandom: ACOTAR Pairing: Azriel/Eris Skill focus: Prose Typesetting. I'm putting more thought into the design of this typeset including fonts, dingbats, chapter headers etc, and adding more ornamental elements. Not going over the top but definitely a step up from my last binds. I also plan on trying line-by-line typesetting for the first time.

Week 2 - Until my Feet Bleed and My Heart Aches (Rivals Part I) by Reiya Fandom: Yuri on Ice Pairing: Viktor/Yuuri Skill Focus: Non-Prose Typesetting. This fic contains a lot of non-prose elements like news articles, comment threads, and social media posts, that will require a totally different approach if I want them to look decent.

Week 3 - Of Bright Stars and Burning Hearts (Rivals Part II) by Reiya Fandom: Yuri on Ice Pairing: Viktor/Yuuri Skill Focus: Editioning (sort of - making both this book and the previous one as identical as possible) and slip case construction.

Week 4 - Switch by Ceres_Libera Fandom: Star Trek AOS Pairing: Jim Kirk/Leonard McCoy Skill focus: Over the top cover design. Decided to have a bit of fun with this one as I've not been able to get the idea of a rhinestone bedazzled cover out of my head. Totally impractical but I think it could end up looking really good (or terrible... watch this space). Might add edge gilding to this one for extra OTT-ness if I have time. Technically my second time binding this fic but I've learnt a lot since then and want to try again bigger and better.

I'm really looking forward to these projects and hope I can get them all done on time. Watch this space!

[roseserpentpress]

Belatedly finished Christmas gift for my father: a dos-à-dos binding of the communist manifesto, German on one side and English on the other. (Finished it a few days ago, but metaphorically that's in time for binderary, no?)

The spine is self-made salmon skin leather; skinned, cleaned, fleshed and tanned with oak galls, then dyed with the natural red dye called lac. I ended up screwing up a few things with the oak gall tanning, making some of the dye uptake a bit patchy, plus the skins had lived in the freezer not folded properly and a bit longer before tanning then I hoped, but it ended up okay and functional nevertheless. I was very excited to incorporate it into the binding (also with another of the red salmon skins I made a wallet out of, for myself).

The dos-à-dos binding style was really fun, and I intend to another, also with fish skin leather!

[snek-panini]

Binderary begins tomorrow! Updates:

I'm no longer sick. Yay!

Another roll of green book cloth has been ordered, so I can work on those other two cases when it gets here.

Second book was cased in but had two issues (HUGE amount of warping due to endpapers being too thick and pulling on the boards too hard, and a MASSIVE hideous ripple in the front one). I caught it soon enough to peel it out of the case with minimal damage to the boards but the old endpapers had to be cut away from the text block and replaced, and the mull tore and also needed replacing. That's all been done and I'm going to try casing it in again later today.

I made a case and cased in book #3, but during case in I managed to get the back endpaper too far into the hinge, which made an ugly crease at the hinge and caused there to be a visible strip of board at the outer edge. This was yesterday. Fortunately I never throw away scraps so I found some work-arounds and I think it's gonna look good when it's dry. This one's my personal project so I'll show it off at some point but right now it's still drying.

Still working on typesets. Planning to put in some work on one of the wips today, but it probably needs a couple of days' work before it's done.

It's a quiet night at work so I'm doing Binderary planning. For anyone not in the know, this is bookbinding's counter to Inktober or NaNoWriMo, run by the Renegade Bindery discord. It runs in February and I'm pre-gaming.

The first year I did the event I made 4 books, and last year I did 11. Which was insane and I'm not doing that again even though I succeeded. This year's goals mostly involve finishing wips and learning new techniques.

Goals:

Finish my six existing naked text blocks. They need covers and titles, and four of them need to be mailed to the recipients. Two are for me.

Finish typesetting my two existing fic files. I have one I'm actively working on and one I started months ago but got distracted from. I don't have to print these, just finish formatting the documents and do the front matter.

Print and bind the one finished typeset I have. It's ready to go and I have spoken to the author, it's just waiting for the other wips to be cleared out.

Fully typeset, print, and bind one totally new fic. This involves learning a new binding method (secret Belgian/crisscross) and possibly a new endband technique (braided leather). Don't know if those will combine well in reality but in my head it looks good.

Pull the trigger and buy a new printer. I'm tired of the bullshit my hp inkjet keeps pulling, I want to do higher volume and I want to print legal size without pre-cutting it. I'm debating between two models but it's time to commit.

Research the Manga Problem. I want to print out-of-print and digital-only manga but I'm not sure about the logistics (stripping drm, formatting so it reads right to left, margins etc.) Actually printing it requires the laser printer but formatting does not.

I'm not prepared for an intense grind like I did last year. I'm just not, I don't have the energy. And some of this is ongoing right now, I'm not waiting till February for all of it. But this is where I'd like to be at the end of next month.

[glassheadcanon]

Creative stuff I'm looking forward to this month/year!

I'll soon have two weeks of "staycation" to get more time for some long-awaited projects:

Candy Hearts Exchange reveals is coming up on the 14th - My assignment is done (in an anime fandom), along with one treat (in a video game fandom) - I'm really hoping to have at least a couple more treats for other fandoms written by then but have gone down a bit of a rabbit hole with research for one, and if I'm not careful, it may become a longer fic than I planned for. That's not necessarily a bad thing if the story's all there, but it just means I'm not likely to finish the treat in time. :(

Binderary has started! This annual event, put on by the fabulous @renegadeguild (which I only found out about last year when Binderary was almost over), has helped me so much after only just starting on my own bookbinding adventures last January. I have a few text blocks in various stages of neglect progress to continue with, along with a copious amount of marbled paper I've made, plus washi and chiyogami I've been hoarding but truth be told, my main goals this month are to finally: 1. Get over my anxiety about working with leather (I've already made some expensive mistakes - ie. initially buying the wrong kind and for Christmas, my kid brother so kindly bought me a whole set of lovely leather working tools and gold leaf (!!!) 2. Try out the foil quill pen I picked up a while ago 3. Improve my skills with sewn headbands But I may just need to decompress first by doing up a few journals or tiny books for practice to build my confidence and skills back up before getting to the projects that are intended as gifts...

I'm in the process of revamping an older, original novel WIP that's been pushed to the wayside for a few years now. I'd already done a ton of research for it, right before 2020 (and then the rest is history), even over 50K of drafting for it during a past NaNoWriMo, but it was never what I really wanted. Completing a beloved longfic between 2020-23 has given me far more insight into what I want out of my own stories. So I have a way better idea now of how I want to rebuild this one, from the ground-up, by starting with the characters themselves.

While I can't announce the details yet, there's a fandom collaboration project that I'll be contributing to very soon.

[cmdonovann]

free blank journal typesets!

okay, so since it's binderary (and since i've already posted a bunch of these in the renegade discord server's fileshare channel) i figured i ought to share some of the assets and typesets i've made that other people can use to make books!

first up: my gdrive folder of blank journals and journal pages!

this folder includes such bangers as:

my custom d&d player journals (in both letter folio and letter quarto sizes!)

a writing project journal with wordcount tracker and character profiles!

blank recipe books, garden notebooks...

...and much more in the folder!

the folder includes a README document with permissions information and such, if you want to credit me or anything! i only ask that you use these for not-for-profit projects only, and do not make money off of them. (also, if you want to donate to my ko-fi for using these, you can! but it's absolutely not required lol. i'm just broke and unemployed so if you appreciate my work, i will never say no to a tip XD)

[wagtailcrafts]

Maybe it's cheating to start my binderary projects early, but I'm busy in February and really want to get these done ✨

2/4 text blocks sewn.

[celestial-sphere-press]

@pleasantboatpress & I will be teaching a class on cutouts & board layering! Friday, 7 FEB, 8:00 pm EST. We will be discussing the process to make things like the below & other cutouts!

Binderary 2025: Week 2

In the Renegade Bindery Discord Server, we are once again running Binderary during the month of February. Attendance is free, and a link to the 18+ Discord Server can be found on our website.

Whether you’re new to the world of bookbinding or an aged veteran, join us for a month of binding fun! This event is all about community & learning, be it trying something new or refining existing skills.

All our workshops are run by members of our fanbinding community, and some of them are even on Tumblr!

Here’s the list of who’s running the week 2 workshops:

All About Bookplates: @silentsunpress Typesetting in LaTeX: @queercus-books VI: Villainous Imposer: @simply-sithel Typesetting in Affinity: @kate2kat Typesetting in One Click: Microsoft Word Macros 101: @owlwinter8 Bookbinding Craft Along 2: Noodle Cutouts and Cover Board Fun: @celestial-sphere-press & @pleasantboatpress Italian Paper Case Bind Pt. 1: Eka InDesign for Beginners: @misanthropiczombie The "Single Section Conservation Binding" as a Beginners First Binding: Experience, Variations and Ideas: minx Decorative Papers: Triple Threat: @starblightbindery, @duran-binding & @mourningmountainsbindery

[cmdonovann]

public domain typesets :3c

okay final post for today i swear. here's my gdrive folder of typesets i've made of public domain books for binderary! you can just print any of these bad boys and make a book! have fun :3

(and again, there's a README with permissions info, you get the drill, just don't make money off my work. and you can donate to my ko-fi if you really want but it's absolutely not required, lol. thanks!)

[cmdonovann]

free typesetting ornaments!

okay, more posts of free stuff for binderary! yeah!

here's a bunch of bookbinding/typesetting ornaments that i made! a while ago i went on a kick of drawing random little ornaments to use in book design and typesetting, and all of them are available for free to use in a gdrive folder here!

there's also a README document with permissions info - basically, please credit me if you use these, don't use them for for-profit projects or make money off them, and please make note if you edit them from the original. you can also message me if you have ideas for new ones i could make! i do still make more of these every so often.

(also also, these are free to use, but if you really WANT to donate to my ko-fi because you like them... i will never say no to a tip, i am so broke lmao the economy is in shambles)

anyway enjoy!!! have fun!!!! feel free to tag me in a post if you use any of these in your books, i would love to see them and hype you up!!

happy binderary!

[cmdonovann]

more binderary books ahoy!

a dot-grid notebook textblock ive been meaning to case in since like november. also, using up the last of my very first batch of homemade bookcloth!

[wagtailcrafts]

So I'm actually gonna be kind of busy in February so decided to start my first Bindery project early and hooo boy he's shaping up the be a chonky guy.

It's actually almost exactly the same word count as the last fic I bound, but so much bigger physically? I changed the font I used, which might be the culprit. I'll need to play with the font size and spacing in my next binderary projects because I don't really want them to be bigger than this.

There is a fair bit of swell in this one, which is good because I'm finally ready to attempt round and and backing, instead of just rounding.

[wagtailcrafts]

2 of my 4 typesets for Renegade's Binderary2025 are complete!

I think I have finally tamed the beast that is Microsoft Word

[celandinebergerac]

Phew!

Thanks to @queercus-books for hosting the first workshop of Binderary 2025!

I’m happy it’s done, I was a bit stressed!

Lettrine has nos secrets anymore 😉😉😉

Binderary 2025: Week 1

In the Renegade Bindery Discord Server, we are once again running Binderary during the month of February. Attendance is free, and a link to the 18+ Discord Server can be found on our website.

Whether you’re new to the world of bookbinding or an aged veteran, join us for a month of binding fun! This event is all about community & learning, be it trying something new or refining existing skills.

All our workshops are run by members of our fanbinding community, and some of them are even on Tumblr!

Here’s the list of who’s running the week 1 workshops:

Specialized Typesetting in LaTeX: Celandine My Immortal and the History of Fan Studies: Parsley Typesetting in Google Docs: @sayornispress Introduction to Typography and Typesetting: @bearclubbooks Renegade Round-Up 2024!: @fanboundbooks, @robins-egg-bindery & @celestial-sphere-press You Shouldn't Have to Pay for that: Making Your Typesets Pretty For Free: @daemonluna Bookbinding Craft Along 1: Noodle

[renegadeguild]

Binderary 2025: Week 1

In the Renegade Bindery Discord Server, we are once again running Binderary during the month of February. Attendance is free, and a link to the 18+ Discord Server can be found on our website.

Whether you’re new to the world of bookbinding or an aged veteran, join us for a month of binding fun! This event is all about community & learning, be it trying something new or refining existing skills.

All our workshops are run by members of our fanbinding community, and some of them are even on Tumblr!

Here’s the list of who’s running the week 1 workshops:

Specialized Typesetting in LaTeX: Celandine My Immortal and the History of Fan Studies: Parsley Typesetting in Google Docs: @sayornispress Introduction to Typography and Typesetting: @bearclubbooks Renegade Round-Up 2024!: @fanboundbooks, @robins-egg-bindery & @celestial-sphere-press You Shouldn't Have to Pay for that: Making Your Typesets Pretty For Free: @daemonluna Bookbinding Craft Along 1: Noodle