#cam's bookbinding adventures

[underlined-fires]

This is My Beloved Monster, the first book I made for the 2022 @renegadepublishing exchange, for Bladespark, who's also the author! It's a Hades (the game) Ares/Thanathos fanfic. It's so good, so please check it out!

I had so much fun with the typesetting and the case building! I just love doing cutouts. (layers! textures! it's fun) The title and cover ornaments are painted on, because I don't own a cutting machine and I was afraid foil wouldn't look good on a larger surface. (I usually get little blank spots when using foil)

[kirkscarr]

ok so i just finished my book cover for First, Best Destiny - Part 1 by the amazing @ophelia-j !!

admittedly i was going to wait until i actually attached the text block to the cover before i posted this haha, but i was SO excited after making this cover that i decided to just post it and then update with the finished product later!!

this book is absolutely embedded in my soul, and words cannot even describe how gorgeously it’s written. it’s a book that made me realize - hey, the adventure doesn’t end as you grow old.

you can read it here. i promise you won’t regret it!!!

anyways!!! here’s all of my other bookbinding steps for anyone interested.

cam’s somewhat incomplete bookbinding guide

please note that i am an AMATEUR hobbyist. please do not actually use this as a tutorial.

oh also!! bookbinding terminology will have a * by it which will be explained at the end in order to make this flow better. i’ll also link the tutorials i used at the end of this for anyone interested.

1) Formatting the document! I downloaded the original text as a PDF, and then designed a cover page, grabbed some art from the internet (i know, frowned upon, but this is just a personal copy so it is what it is), and then designed a table of contents and chapter icons!!

*side note! i added which episodes each chapter follows to the table of contents (pictured below) as this book was written as an accompaniment to TOS and the movies.

2) Next, I printed out all NINE HUNDRED PAGES??? admittedly i could have done it in less if I’d used a bigger page size, but sending things out to be printed is expensive so we made do. after printing, i folded them into signatures*.

*there’s an additional note about the paper i used at the end

3) punching out holes in all the signatures! although not technically necessary, I honestly don’t think i would’ve been able to sew this behemoth without doing it.

4) sewing the pages into a real!! actual!! book!! this was the part i was most nervous about. i’ve NEVER attempted to sew anywhere near this large of a book before, so i tried out a new method of sewing in hopes of making it a bit more sturdy. we won’t know if it worked until this book endures some wear and tear, but i’m pretty optimistic!

5) next up is glueing the spine! this is where it really hit me that a lot of bookbinding is just…glueing shit together. later i also added cardstock to the spine in hopes of helping it adhere to the cover better, and a book headband* for decoration.

5) now we’re onto the book cover!! they only sell bookboard in minor bulk around here, so we’re not even gonna discuss how much bookboard i now own… anyways! i glued the faux leather onto the bookboard and then let that dry.

6) last up! off to the cricket! a huge thank you to my friend for letting me borrow her cricket AND supplies! anywho, this is where i designed my cover art. i then adhered the design to the cover. after this step, i realized i…definitely need some kind of sealant - so, if any more seasoned bookbinders have suggestions for this i am all ears!!

all in all, this was a super fun project, and a great way to kill some time while i recover from surgery! i absolutely plan to bind the sequel at some point, but that may be a…ways away. i’m a STEM major and school starts back up soon so…time will be in short supply lol!

To be continued...

Terminology

*signature: group of sheets folded in half, to be worked into the binding as a unit.

*book headband: just look up a picture if you’re curious because tumblr says i can't add any more pictures lol.

*about the paper!! i actually got it from a local specialty paper store, but if you want something similar i've heard amazon has some good bookbinding alternatives!

Tutorials

please PLEASE go check out Jess Less on youtube. she's phenomenal. here are her vids and what i used them for.

don't laugh!! i actually stole MOST of my techniques straight from this video.

i used this one to help me format the book correctly! although i still ended up with some goofs haha (see: any pages on the left side have the page number in the margin LMAO).

[underlined-fires]

After binding Map of the World, the logical next step was to bind It's the Stars that Lie, the second book of Seperis' excellent Down to Agincourt series. (Such a good series, please read it)

I wanted the books to look similar, but not identical. So I kept the cover cutout (making a hole in the cover seems thematically appropriate for DTA), but went with a different shape and slightly different design.

It went much faster because I already had the typeset ready. (I typeset it at the same time as the first book) Also: cutting out a diamond shape? Much, much easier than a circle.

[underlined-fires]

I recently got into bookbinding (and I love it). For my fourth project, I decided to bind the first book of one of my favorite fanfiction series of all time, Down to Agincourt, by Seperis. Seriously, go read it, it's amazing. I cannot recommend it enough.

It's my most ambitious bookbinding project so far, but I had to give that fic the fancy cover it deserves.

I can't wait to bind the next books in the series (so many ideas for the designs!)

Construction notes under the cut

The title on the spine was written with a foil quill over tracing paper, while the golden design on the cover was done with acrylic paint.

The cutout was made over two layers of book board: a thinner one with the bookcloth on top, and a thicker one below, on which I applied black paint and... figurine varnish. Because that's the only kind of varnish I own.

It also turns out that cutting out neat circles is hard, so I bought a cheap circle-cutting tool that functions like a pair of compasses. Works like a charm.

Fonts used: Amiri (body), Archane (titles)

[underlined-fires]

I am now the proud owner of this freakishly heavy cast-iron press. I had to carry it in my arms for half an hour, but it was 100% worth it.

gonna squish so many books with it