#bound by someone else

[little-cat-press]

back in october or so, @simply-sithel sent me a tiny book! She bound my story, Touch Starved, and it is so little and cute!

She made the marbled paper herself! And there is a little loop thingie in case I want to hang it on something.

I'm not sure what size to call this bitty book, but it is Smol. Smaller than my other tiny books by nearly half!

[little-cat-press]

They look absolutely fabulous! Good job.

It was designed for letter, yeah, and also to be printed a size smaller... they were intended for 32-mo, or L9 as I've been calling them (roughly the same size as A9, just with half-letter proportions rather than A series)

The margins were probably also affected by the fact I made them larger to accommodate trimming xD

but honestly, wide margins on a small book absolutely don't hurt. You get extra space to touch while turning the page!

... this reminds me, I meant to make some posts about the books I received in the mini book bang, and forgot to do so. I should do that...

Empty Graves by @unpretty and Empty Spaces (waves and particles) by kathkin

I participated in @renegadepublishing’s tiny book bang last year, and as participant I got access to all the typesets from the event. I saved the ones I thought I’d want to do, and yesterday I looked through that folder, spotted two fics with the word ‘empty’ in the title and thought “oh neat, i know and like these fics, and I can make matching-but-not-same binds for them”. I was delighted to re-discover that they were typeset by the same person, @little-cat-press, so I went ahead with the matchy idea.

Empty Graves is a Superman fic from the POV of Martha Kent, and just so happens to be one of my faves in unpretty’s sprawling series. I chose the marbled cover paper because it evokes stars and galaxies and space for me. The fic is very contained, localised - the Kent farm - but high stakes; Martha will protect her son from the universe if she has to (and she does), because her family is her universe. I liked the idea of wrapping this small-but-big fic in something that resembles the vastness of space. The spine is green to match the hints of green colour on the otherwise dark marble.

Empty Spaces is a Back to the Future fic from Doc Brown’s POV, and featuring transmasc Marty McFly. The Back to the Future movies are foundational to me, and this fic is simply wonderful, highlighting the unique friendship between Marty and Doc. For this I knew I wanted something that evokes time travel, and wound up with this section of a larger marbled pattern that resembles the sci-fi woosh of time (and space) travel. This spine is blue to match the hint of blue visible alongside the green.

Both marbled papers are from Jemma Lewis Marbling & Design. The insides are printed on 90gsm Munken Pure Smooth Cream. These are self-ended, so no endpapers. The bookcloth is sourced from Ratchford but I don’t know which brand it is.

These are A8 sized (printed on A4) - I believe the typesets are intended for letter sized paper, but as I’m not in the US A-series it is. This prints fine on A4. The margins to the sides are slightly wider than originally intended, but that doesn’t seem to be an issue here.

[dailyhatsune]

cons of using bluesky: you don't exist

don’t worry, you won’t need an account on tumblr to view this blog (at least, i hope so)

[mari-lair]

LOVE HOW PATHETIC THEY ARE WHEN SEPARATED

[little-cat-press]

I really want to do one of these. my first mockup when the concept was originally going around didn’t work very well lol

Lectern Book Case!

After this tiktok video with a suprise find of a lectern bookcase made it's round and @spockandawe made two very cool and helpful posts about their process, I wanted to try my hand at it:

This is Dishonor On Your Cow by mandarou for which I did two versions. One is sewn and one is assembled with the Lumbecker glue technique. I used that one for my experiment, which I regret in hindsight, but alas.

About my process:

I tried following the measurements spock did, but to be honest my brain didn't want to do the math so I found a slightly rougher solution.

First I did a mockup to see how the single parts should be assembled and what would be possible obstacles. (I recommend doing that! It was very helpful)

on the right is the mock-up on the left is part of the real one. You can see that the edges of the three pieces don't line up very well.

To get the pieces for the case:

this was my sketch:

Pieces A and B I got by cutting the piece I would for a normal case:

Side a is the length of your book block plus 2x3mm and side b is the width of your book block minus 2mm (because of the hinges).

(I guess whatever measurements you're normally working with will work here as well.)

Then I measured 2,5cm from side b and drew the diagonal, as you can see in the picture. Piece A is already oriented right. Piece B has to be flipped (marked with the arrow).

And piece C you get by making one side as long as the corresponding side from piece B and decide on your angle gamma. (That's the only real math I used here). I took 113° but it doesn't have to be precise. It just influences how steep the book will stand, later on. (I would use one above 90° though).

Then I arranged them and cut the two spine pieces:

You can see that on spine piece needs to be as long as piece B and one as long as piece C. The width depends on how thick your book block is. I also wrote on the pieces which side is for the front and which for the back. This also helped with putting it together with the right side up, because I confused this one time and it's really easy to assemble it wrong. Then I marked down, which sides would touch later on (one side for piece A and C respectively, piece B gets cut on two sides. Don't worry it will look, like it's too short) and cut away 1mm to allow space for the hinges.

Then I glued everything except for spine C on package paper. You can see that I left space for the hinges. Normally I do 7mm. I did this for the spacing between Pieces B and Spine B . Pieces A and C I aligned so that the meeting point between them would be a straight line, as to avoiding the problem that arose in the mock-up. See here:

I also made sure that the pieces would align on the left side as well. The spacing was a little secondary. It's not that important.

Then I trimmed the packagin paper, glued the bookcloth on and added spine C:

I made sure to use the bone folder to really impress the hinges from both sides.

(Additional tip. Before you do that, test if you assembled it right)

I added a piece of cloth in the middle (you will be able to see parts of the inside of the case when you open the book), I cut away the excess fabric to the sides of spine C and folded them outwards and glued them down. I left them up along spine C.

Then I brought the case in position and used those fabric flaps to glue it into this position. Afterwards it won't lay down anymore, so do your decorating and everything else beforehand.

Lastly, I cut a piece of cloth for the bottom because you will be able to see it as well, when you open the book:

(Just do an approximation and then cut it down piece by piece. Unless you're really good with measuring and angles. :D)

Then I assembled the book. I put the book block inside and marked where side A would be on the endpapers. I only glued that part because the rest will have to disengage from the case (That's also the only part that doesn't need and inner lining):

And this is the finished book

You can see part of the spine. Next time I would conceal that as well.

I also highly advise against using a Lumbecker binding. This kind of case puts a lot of stress on the book. Mine is falling apart already. I think a sewn book block would hold up better.

Anyway, it is very late and I tried my best describing the process. If anyone wants more details or a better version of the sketch, hit me up :)

[maladaptivewriting]

being on marauders tumblr has made me realize that a lot of people would actually share anne rice's (terrible) opinion about fanfiction if they didn't write fanfic themselves.

[wild-woofs-press]

For the 2023 Renegade Bound Fic Exchange (cc: @renegadepublishing).

Fic: Play It Again by metisket Words: 63,206

fonts title: Bebas author name: Amiline body: Cochineal

bookcloth: duo flieder • endpapers • htv: siser infinite galaxy

[sheridoodle]

Watching the Poirot series for the first time and I’m entirely convinced this is just some eccentric queer friend group’s ‘Monster of the Week’ party.

[little-cat-press]

it is absolutely gorgeous. So so so beautiful. And yes, the coffins are an excellent motif.

I also really love the cutout. cutouts. And how they line up in the case. Just gorgeous. It looks so cool.

Coffin by @kieraelieson. Sanders Sides, 70k, casebound at quarter size (with slipcase!), plus two bonus oneshots done up in paperback booklet style that fit in the back of the case.

Typeset in Georgia, with Vampires used for the titles/headings, and Last Rites used for the drop caps and cover. All illustrations done by me - there's six full-page pieces in total, all throughout the book, plus the title plate and chapter headers! I'll probably put all of those in another post, eventually.

The cover titling is silver HTV, which makes for a striking look against the swirly flowery grey, and I may have gone overboard with the coffin imagery in the cutouts. But in my defense, it's the title of the fic and it's a hell of an eyecatching motif.

The sole copy of this binding is now in Kiera's possession! It is a very very heartfelt gift to her for all of the wonderful things she's created and the absolutely killer podfic she did for one of my longfics. It's my dearest hope that this chunky little volume makes her day as much as the podfic made mine. 💜

[little-cat-press]

Trying To Communicate by @copperbadge for @saltyteethbooks for the @renegadepublishing mini book bang!

@saltyteethbooks did the typeset, and I bound it, and sent it over to them.

I'm supposed to make myself a copy too, but stuff happened and I wasn't able to bookbind for like half a month, after procrastinating the first half of the month, and I finished this copy on the last day before we were supposed to get them in the mail.

So.

I'll make my copy later.

It was fun making a sextodecimal book! It's a cute little size, and I'll probably make some more after this. This one might be a little bit of an odd size, because it's typeset for A4 paper, but I shrank it a little to print on Letter instead, and then the printer shrank it a little more because it likes to add margins.

So it's got A proportions, but is a little bit smaller.

The title is done with a new gold paint I got recently! Nice and shiny, and I only had to use one coat plus a few small touchups in spots.

[things-arent-what-they-seem66]

Bound To You ( Prisoner x Guard Au I gave it a name!!)

Sera sees Adam on the couch with Lucifer on his lap while drinking a smoothie.

Sera: Whatcha got there Ad?

Adam: A smoothie?

Sera: I meant the murderer in your lap.

Adam: Mom, he’s just a baby.

Sera: He’s literally killed someone

Adam: My baby 💕

Lucifer has a sip of the smoothie: 💕

[thegreatyin]

i think if there was an ES centered around lark it would be like. so incredibly looney toons. one day your character arrives in their lodgings to discover their most treasured item, (insert a vast number of tie-ins here), has been stolen from their very own home and under their very own nose and the entire story is just chasing the culprit around london scooby doo style. the culprit being lark himself of course. how does this all end? i don't know. but it's definitely goofy and light-hearted and dare i say a little bit silly

[little-cat-press]

it really is a gorgeous little book, and I love the netting. It ties in especially well with the fact that much of the story revolves around merman Virgil being tangled in a fishing net!

I'll add some typeset pictures in a bit

This is the first of two books I bound for @renegadeguild's Tiny Books Bang.

The story is (don't) take this the wrong way by @delimeful and was typeset by @little-cat-press for the Tiny Books Bang. It's a mermaid AU of Sanders Sides (Web Series), which I had never actually heard of before. But when I saw that it was a merperson AU, this idea popped into my head and I knew I had to try it, especially after I read the story and really enjoyed it.

The inspiration is medieval girdle books, which are books whose covering material (typically leather) extended past the book to a knot that was both used as a handle when reading the book and could be tucked into the girdle when the book was not in use, thus the name.

Where my book is much smaller (it's a sextodecimo, about 2.25" by 2.75") it isn't designed to tuck into a belt/girdle, but rather is attached to a bracelet and dangles from the wrist when not in use.

When I think of mermaids, some things that come to mind are fish, treasure, and tridents, and I wanted to incorporate all three in the design. The book is covered in blue bookcloth, and then covered again in crocheted netting that was meant to bring to mind fishnets. I crocheted the netting from cotton-poly sewing thread doubled up. I incorporated a trident into the filet crochet, which is repeated on both the front and back covers. I blocked it on a piece of blotting...board? paper? It's soft and thick and meant to absorb moisture and came with my book press that started life as a flower press.

I then sewed the netting to the bookcloth covering the boards with teeny tiny stitches. It probably took twice as long to crochet the netting as it did to the rest of the binding combined, but I really like how it turned out.

The bracelet I picked to attach the netting to is gold-colored to invoke the idea of sunken treasure. Rather than attaching the netting from one end to the other, I folded both ends to the middle and attached it like that so when you have the book open it lays more nicely.

The design of the endpapers looks like looped thread, and also reminds me of netting. I secured the bookmark to the bottom of the text block and let it hang from the top, which works better when the book is hanging from the wrist and doesn't get caught in the netting. I also sewed a little starfish charm to the end of the bookmark.

Technical details:

Sewn-on endpapers

Rounded but not backed

No headbands (I think I intended to, but forgot and then decided it didn't matter enough to try to pull the cover back off)

Things I liked about this bind:

I really like the girdle-book-on-a-bracelet design, it came out almost exactly how I had envisioned it.

Things I'd like to change/improve for next time:

I wasn't 100% pleased with how trimming went on these. It wasn't terrible, but I probably need to come up with a different solution than just a utility knife and a straight edge.

Crocheting the netting really did take so long. I'm not even done with the netting that's going on my copy yet, which is why all the pics are from the typesetter's copy. Probably would not want to do netting for anything larger than this one was.

Overall feels: Loved it! I enjoyed the story, the design came out pretty much exactly how I envisioned it, overall I'm well pleased.

[musicalmoritz]

Literally infuriates me whenever someone assumes Hanako is the MC of tbhk just because his name is in the title. I understand if it’s someone who hasn’t read or watched the series but how can you be a tbhk fan and not know Nene is the protagonist??? She calls herself the heroine like a million times, both in the manga and the anime. A titular character is not the same as a main character, Hanako may be the male lead but the series still revolves around Nene. If he were our main character we would follow him on his own adventures and the plot would revolve around his death rather than Nene’s lifespan. Guys. Reading comprehension.

[citrusai]

some shippers when solas has had important relationships from thousands of years ago and he can't just forgive himself for failing those closest to him then and go "okie dokie!" when his wife tells him he can come back home

[zootopiathingz]

Random hc that both Nick and Judy are terrified of spiders. so whenever there’s a spider in the apartment it’s a game of chicken as to who’s going to step up and take care of it first. Nick’s method is to straight up kill it but Judy has too much compassion even tho she’s scared shitless so she tries to trap it and throw it outside but she never succeeds so Nick ends up having to kill it anyway