#for the love of the craft i will learn how to bookbind

[poisned]

Oooo you wanna bookbind your favourite fanfic. Oooo you wanna bookbind your favourite fanfic so bad. You wanna tell the author you love their work by creating a physical version of it with love and care and preserving it in your personal space for the rest of your days. Oooo you wanna bookbind your favourite fanfic so so bad. It doesn't matter if it's 1000 words or 500 000 if you love it enough to want it forever you will bookbind it ooooo

[sillywizardman]

HI!!! After finishing Disco Elysium I wanted to read Sacred and Terrible Air, but there were two issues:

1. It’s not officially released in English

2. I don’t like staring at pdfs!

So I did what any sane person would do. That is take three days of my life printing and binding it.

TRANSLATION (“thank you Group Ibex” we all say in unison!):

PROCESS PICS:

I apologize in advance for anyone who has experience in this sort of thing this is so botched.

I have NEVER done anything like this before, I don’t even read books on my own volition, but if the Disco fixation wants me to learn how to sew and bookbind I’ll do that.

Four of the signatures above. There were nine total, eight of them with 8 sheets/32 pages and the last was five sheets I think. Threw the pdf into adobe acrobat and went straight to printing with those settings and the “booklet” option enabled.

Pricked holes through each signature! Used thumbtacks and a piece of foam I scavenged from my room, worked out great. It’s probably also worth mentioning I do not have a bone folder, book press, or any of the other fancy schmancy bookbinding tools. Flattened the pages with a pencil and pressed with D&D books…

SEWING TIME. I have never sewn in my life. My success in this regard can be majorly attributed to Sea Lemon on youtube, particularly this tutorial:

The process from printing to finishing sewing the signatures took ~8 hours. Now we hit our first roadblock, I had no glue for the spine! After going to sleep and waiting what felt like ages (literally 10 hours or so) before I was free to visit a craft store, I tried to find PVA glue because that’s what you’re supposed to use I think?? Yeah. They were out of PVA glue and my impatient ass got mod podge.

‘Tis glued! As you can see I added cardstock to the ends. Joyous day.

Also, you see that sketchbook in the pic? Yeah? You see that lovely cardboard?

It is now the cover. Rest in piss bristol sketchpad backing.

———

EDIT: I see a bunch of people want to attempt this so here’s a video on how to make the hardcover: https://youtu.be/Av_rU-yOPd4?si=7T5zgVJGAfPFBxn-

I didn’t use any measurements or advice from it but it’s a good reference for when it comes to assembling the cover from ~3:50 onwards. The boards are same size as your text block pages and spine, I think I made the cover width a bit longer just in case it doesn’t cover the text block though. Do not do this with the spine, I regret it.

And note, this is NOT a tutorial, it is the process of someone who got a bit too silly and decided to bind a book, obviously do your own research lol. Don’t be afraid to try it though, it’s surprisingly simple!

———

… So, now that’s done! I swore to myself I wouldn’t start reading SATA/PJÕL until I finished this project completely, meaning I’ll be doing that now yippee :]

[erosia-rhodes]

It took me 14 months to write my fic, but it only took 2 months to turn it into this:

That’s right, y’all. I learned the art of bookbinding. This is the dark path fic writing can lead you down. I wanted a copy of my 220K-word monstrosity on my shelf, but paying to have it bound is illegal. (Damn you, intellectual property law!) When I learned I’d have to make it myself, I was like, are you fucking kidding me? No way. That is insane. Then 24 hours later I was like, okay, I guess I’m learning bookbinding? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Then I started to enjoy it! Rejecting a life of crime gave me a new hobby. And it does look nice sitting on the shelf next to the Scholomance series that inspired it.

It really is gorgeous to me, mostly because I created the whole thing from concept to hardcase. I wrote the story, created the typeset, designed the cover, and bound it—all by myself! I feel a bit like Gwen Higgins creating that healing patch for El: tilling the soil, planting the linen seeds, spinning it into thread, and then weaving it into a patch. (Okay, I didn’t make the paper or the ink or the heat transfer vinyl, but we have to set boundaries somewhere.)

It was rather exhausting though. I feel like I’ve completed a never-ending quest full of side missions that each required a different set of skills and required me to obtain a wide variety of obscure supplies. I also spent a bunch of money that I don’t really have, which makes this the most expensive book I’ve ever owned BY FAR, which is ridiculous because all the flaws in its construction undoubtedly decrease its value. It cost so much that I feel obligated to bind a whole bunch of more books to bring down the average cost per project. That, or I’ll have to eat all the supplies instead of buying groceries next month.

I plan on writing a series of posts about how I made this thing, including all my trips to the hardware store, the fraudster on Amazon who sent me weird paper, and my newfound love for craft knives and bone folders. When I do, I’ll post the links down below.

In the meantime, if anyone has an urge to bind a copy of my fic themselves, here are links to zip files of the signatures and the cover images: Spellbreaker signatures | Spellbreaker cover images

Oh, and here’s a link to the fic on AO3. Spellbreaker: A Scholomance Sequel by Erosia Rhodes. Enjoy!

[three--rings]

Binderary 2024 wrap-up

When Binderary started, I hadn't touched any bookbinding since August when I broke my foot. Step one was getting my crafting space cleaned up enough to let me walk through it with crutches.

So my original goal was to get one single book done in the month, with a stretch goal of 4 total books, aka peaceful mode of the challenge.

I finished with seven total books, if you include the leather cover I made for my dnd notebook (which I do, it was complicated.)

Here are all my full books from this month on my shelf

I'm obviously most proud of my two large projects: the 999 script and the Planescape: Torment novelization. They were both involved typesets, and Torment was an experiment in binding style.

This month was about learning new techniques. From the entire k118 binding style, which I learned mostly from a couple blog posts, @spockandawe's advice, and at the end from the fantastic Binderary workshop on it. Plus I was using a guillotine for the first time, which I'm still getting used to.

And I very impulsively bought a Cricut Maker which arrived halfway through the month (thanks to enabling from Renegade folks and finding a used one for a good price.) So I had to learn entirely from scratch how to use that. My experiences with HTV Foil were BAD, but regular HTV is much easier. I then started working with stencil vinyl and paint, which was its own learning process, but worked pretty well on my leather books.

Meanwhile, I was also going through physical therapy for my foot and went from crutches to being able to walk unsupported in my boot, which is huge progress and made working on books much easier as the month went on. So this Binderary was a big time of growth and progress for me personally.

I also really love that Binderary is February because I get in a real creative slump in winter, and after two months of no creative impulses, Binderary always shocks me into high speed creation in a really nice way.

Thanks and love to everyone involved in planning and running this great event and everyone hanging out in the discord and workshop chats.

[kulapti]

Bookbinding of L'Ombre de ton ombre by windfallswest, Dec 2023.

L'ombre de ton ombre (Fantastic Beasts, Percival Graves x Credence Barebone) is another of my favorite Fantastic Beasts fanfics. It is a novel-length work that deals sensitively with the characters' experiences of grief, depression, and healing. The story has a strong visual element, with the setting and landscape playing a prominent role in the story: the landscape is beautiful and isolated, which fits appropriately parallels the characters' slow process of learning how to live again and appreciate beauty, while emphasizing the difference between being isolated in your struggles and being companionably alone with someone. Treating mental illness is often a long haul, and the structure and resolution of this story addresses that fact with a balance of frankness and optimism.

About this project under the cut.

The gorgeous endpapers are marbled paper by Brazilian artist @renato-crepaldi. Since the landscape is important to the story, I specifically wanted endpapers that reminded me of the Australian badlands. I literally looked for months until I saw this paper before finishing the book. I was so pleased with this!

I'm honestly not entirely convinced by the pinkish tone of the cover, but I made this book to be part of a set of four, and I do think it matches nicely with the others in the set (here's another one of the four).

The frontispiece art is an edited version of J.J. Audubon's illustration of gyrfalcons. Yes, bird guy Audubon. I love this falcon illustration and falcons play a symbolic role in the text, so it was a great excuse!

Materials: Textblock is archival paper, laser printed text, marbled endpapers, with linen and beeswax stitching, reinforced with cotton cheesecloth as mull. Sewn endbands are cotton embroidery floss. Covers are Italian rayon bookcloth (spine) and hand-dyed cotton batik backed with handmade wood pulp paper (ink-like cover pattern). Cover lettering is machine-cut metallic heat transfer vinyl. The case is constructed of archival bookboard, handmade wood-paper, cotton rag paper, and PVA craft glue.

[spockandawe]

Hello! I am a novice/hobbyist bookbinder; currently I'm making sketchbooks, but eventually I'd like to bind some fanfic so I can have a hard copy! Your work is awesome! 2 questions: how do you trim your text blocks? (If it's a guillotine, do you have a recommendation?) And do you have any links to tutorials for how to do the k118 binding? I looked up the binding on google and ended up here, hence my asking! (Yeah that's more like 3 questions but oh well! Thanks!)

Ahhh, yes! I do use a guillotine. My model is vevor, but that actual listing is gone now. It's pretty close to this amazon model, it's definitely more POWERFUL than the simple lever ones you sometimes see in craft spaces. Mine handles up to 500ish pages without trouble, and past that, I've tried chisel trimming (without the right press to hold it, i got a bloody outcome and a mangled book) and using a handheld orbital sander (slow and VERY messy, but works)

I do not have a better tutorial for k118 at hand, apologies. I went from the descriptions of the construction that you can find at the top of search results, then used the tightbacked leather covering methods discussed by das bookbinding in his videos. I'm hoping to maybe make a tutorial of some kind soon, because it always makes me sad when I can't answer yes to this question, so one may be forthcoming!

However, especially if you're new to bookbinding, I'd definitely recommend other styles like casebinding or coptic binding first, and getting comfortable with how leather handles on something like a bog-standard case before trying a tightbacked style. I didnt, my first attempts at leatherwork weren't k118, but tightbacked binding with laced on boards, and the learning curve was BRUTAL, it was the closest I've gotten to being completely discouraged away from a bookbinding skill. Whether or not you do a leather k118, you're going to be wrapping a a sheet of material where one side is covered in paste around a three dimensional object, manipulating it to do the turn-ins, and trying not to get adhesive on the pretty side of the covering material

It's the easiest tightbacked style I've tried so far and i love it! I think it is very attainable. I just also don't want people to get discouraged away from the hobby because this particular style was too hard to figure out. I think it's a little reductive to say 'people shouldn't try this style until they can understand it from the vague descriptions,' which is why I want to write a tutorial, but I also think it's important to level up some other skills first before tackling this one!

[mpchev]

hello hello! welcome to my academic blog!

my name is marie! i'm currently doing a dissertation on fanfiction bookbinding!

[updated 9/7/2024]

the original purpose of this blog was to find research participants (you can read what my call for participants looked like here — thank you so much to everyone who liked, reblogged, and/or replied!!)

i now use it to reblog/store the resources I come across on tumblr and elsewhere relating to fan studies, folklore, and ethnology, and eventually share the results of my own research. i'm also trying to document the big steps of the dissertation (which will include binding a fic!), both for the auto-ethnography aspect of it and because academia is a weird place — as a first gen uni-goer + international student, i would have loved any extra info i could've gotten my hands on before getting into this, so if that can help anyone, yay! (and if you have questions, ask away!)

tags:

# fanbinding dissertation -> for anything that's directly diss-related

# fanbinding resources -> how-to's, inspo, lists of resources

# fanbinding lit -> everything i'll hopefully have the time to read and might want to cite/reference

more about me & how i ended up here:

i’m in my 30s, white, queer (bi, genderqueer, she/they), and physically disabled.

i first studied music (i used to play the accordion!)

then translation (that’s still how i pay the bills — we do not dream of labour, but as far as labour go, that’s a pretty sweet gig)

then linguistics (words are fake and we love them <3)

and now folklore and ethnology! (yes as in tales and legends, but more broadly as in culture in context, which includes online communities and vernacular crafts, hence the lovely dissertation topic)

i was a big harry potter fan growing up (my final linguistics paper was called expecto transphobia: a study of dogwhistles on twitter, we live and we learn)(at least some of us do, looking at you joanne) and i vaguely remember enrolling in online hogwarts circa 2005 (took notes and studied for the exams and everything), but i sadly wasn’t around for the golden/cursed days of 2010s tumblr, and i only recently fell (head first) into fanfiction. started with all the young dudes, currently reading some wolfstar, some ofmd, lots of good omens, lots sandman, some tma. also trying to follow along dracula daily. and i’m halfway through a supernatural rewatch, so who knows what the future holds.

if i’m not reading (neverending tbr of academic papers, fics, scifi novels old and new, folktales anthologies, epic poetry, translated plays in beautiful metres) or working, i’m probably trying to translate beowulf in french (not enough people have, it’s a fun story with monsters and dragons, more people should!), with star trek playing in the background.

open source resources are my love language (let me know if there's anything i might help with), the internet is my happy place (thank you for your contribution), transmediality gives me warm fuzzy feelings, folksonomies are works of art, my kingdom for a good AU.

header: The Concert by Gerrit van Honthorst (1623)

pfp: Watermelon and Grapes by John F. Francis (1863)

(both taken from the open-access collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington)

[theshiftingfairy]

Some Wizarding jobs ideas for Harry Potter Shifters

Because life doesn’t stop after hogwarts.

I have finally figured out what i want to do after hogwarts in my Dr. In honor to that, i wanted to share a few ideas i considered before deciding.

If there is any Harry Potter shifters here, i would love to hear your own careers ideas 🙏

My main issue with most of these jobs is that my so is Charlie Weasley who lives in Romania and there is no way i would go between this man and his dragons. I wanted to be able to live with him and still be working.

Seer tea shop

I have a big interest in divination and do tarot, so i like to script I’m a seer and that what i learn about divination in my dr helps me in my practice in my cr. I imagined there could be a tea shop where seers are invited to do readings while the clients are enjoying their beverages and sweets. (and of course get tea leaves reading)

This is my favourite out of all my ideas, that’s probably what i would have settled on if i wasn’t planning on living in Romania.

Healer

Self explanatory, this could be at the wizard hospital St.Mungo. I, of course, imagined becoming a healer at the dragon reserve.

My fear with this is how emotionally draining this type of jobs can be. I don’t personally think i could handle it at the moment, and that’s my own limitations talking.

Herbologist

If you like gardening, you might consider growing magical plants for magical ingredients. This is what my Dr mom is doing, i thought i might follow her steps, ended up choosing something else.

Stylist wizard / Designer

I also have a Shining Nikki Dr where i am a designer and still it almost slipped my mind i had this idea. This one is inspired by one of my favourite Hogwarts mystery character Andre Egwu, stylist wizard !

I love this idea because i imagine haute-couture in the wizarding world to be using magic to enhance the designs. With embroidery who moves on the fabric, or literal magic effects around the dress.

Also, in the books, wizards are described as dressing completely differently than muggles and i love to see fan arts that imagine what modern wizards fashion would look like.

WandMaker

That’s what i decided i want to do. I’m an artist and love to pick up all kinds of crafts. I do bookbinding, macrame, crochet…Woodworking is something that has been in my mind for sometime and how cool would it be to make wands that actually do magic ? Also since i am an artist in my Cr, it’s easier for me to project myself in a manual work.

I also would love to make fun magic items with my other skills. I had this idea of creating what i call “twin journals” Where what’s written inside one of the journals is replicated in the other, so it would be useful instead of owls for long distance. I know some shifters have this kind of objects scripted for their so and them, but i like the idea of being the one creating it.

You might think it wouldn’t work for me as i would need a shop to sell those wands, but i figured i could still sell them in Romania. Ollivander is big competition anyway. I think i could also arrange to have my products send to shops.

I found this on Pinterest, for more ideas and infos. This is how i am just finding out that i need arithmancy for wand making. I’m shifting to after hogwarts so i know i would not have to attend class, but still, i don’t want to give up divination.

[swordsmans]

Hello! As someone who really really wants to attempt bookbinding, could I ask how you started? I am very overwhelmed with the amount of materials and equipment bookbinders use and it is not within my budget to get most of them, which is really discouraging :,)

I would love to know some cheap(er) alternatives to certain materials and which materials, in your opinion, is the most essential and worth splurging money on! I particularly have a lot of issues with using leather because it is WAYY out of both my budget and skill level haha!

Additionally, what are some of the reasources you used to learn how to bookbind? :o

Thank you!!! (It's alright if you don't respond to this! I was just wondering :])

hi, hello!!! im sorry for the late reply!!

to start with--i definitely dont use leather for the same reason!! even imitation leather is expensive, and tbh i like the ability to play around with colors and shapes that working primarily with bookcloth and paper affords me. you can either make your own bookcloth using regular fabric, a binder like HeatNBond, and tissue as long as you have an iron--or you can purchase it from places like amazon, hollander's, or other bookbinding supply companies. leather is ~fancy~ shit.

as for essential tools, that sort of depends on what youre trying to set out to do. western "cased" bindings require more material as a baseline, but glue-free bindings like coptics and japanese stabs require much less! really, as long as you have paper, a needle, thread, and cardboard, you can make a book! here are some of the tools i use, as well as some alternatives:

bonefolder(s) - i have two, a "traditional" one and a square angled one, both real bone. this is something i would consider an essential item, because you will use it for almost everything. you can buy a cheap teflon folder at your local craft store, but really anything you can use to crease your pages and evenly tuck your folds would work. a firm piece of plastic, a thick card--hell, a 6in ruler would work!

ruler(s) - god, i have so many rulers, both imperial and metric, in so many different shapes and materials. the ones i use the most are my 12in/30cm double sided metal ruler and my 3x4in/70x100cm double sided metal square, but as long as you have something you will be set. you can find cheap wooden or plastic rulers at your local dollar store!

weights - this includes freestanding weights and a press. while i do use a press, i also have some bricks from my local hardware store that ive wrapped in craft paper (because cleanliness is essential), a mason jar filled with rocks, and a giant stack of cookbooks. i use all of these for different things, but getting a few bricks would probably be your cheapest option; mine were $0.62 each at lowe's, lol! you dont need a press. anything that will get you even, heavy pressure will work!

waxed thread - you can use any sewing thread you want and wax it yourself by running the wax along the thread! small beeswax blocks are relatively inexpensive and will last quite a while, and regular sewing thread won't break the bank. you can certainly buy pre-waxed thread, but making your own works just as well.

awl - i have two awls and a punch cradle, and genuinely none of these are "essential". straight up just stick a sewing needle in a wine cork, bestie, and youve got yourself an awl. punch cradles are also totally optional; just make a guide with some cardstock so you know where to punch your signatures and youre set.

paper - this is the big rabbit hole, of course. fancy handmade papers can get REAL expensive and dont even get me started on procuring paper with the proper grain direction. HOWEVER, im currently using a mid-tier premium "printer" paper as my fill (though ill be switching to proper stuff when i run out) and you can definitely use regular sheets youd find anywhere with only minor issues. as for decorative paper--anything works! regular scrapbook paper is perfectly fine, and you can buy 12x12 booklets online or at your local craft store for cheap--it seems like theres always some on sale.

bookcloth - mentioned above, but making your own is probably the cheapest way to do it! however--bookcloth is only essential if youre doing a cased-in binding imo. if youre doing coptics/stabs/open sewn/glue-free/etc. bindings, you dont need it.

glue - glues are tricky. traditionally people use a combination of paste and PVA. however, you can use whatever glue you want so long as youre okay with the drawbacks of using high-moisture stuff. gluesticks, craft glue, whatever. you can also make your own paste with flour and water! if youre looking for some of the things id recommend getting the "good" version of, though, i would pick PVA. i buy mine by the half-gallon and its worth it, and i actually prefer it over nori paste (what can i say--im impatient! and paste takes 24 hours to dry).

cutting tools - this is the one absolute thing i would recommend getting: a good boxcutter with replaceable blades and a large cutting mat. this is the essential tool of all time, because while you can use scissors its nearly impossible to get a straight line on anything. i have a workpro w011043a, an xacto xz3601, and three pairs of scissors of various lengths--and my workpro is what i reach for the most. cutting mats can run a little expensive, but i cant stress enough how much easier your life will be with an open blade + cutting mat as your primary cutting setup.

chipboard - i use several different thicknesses of greyboard for my covers and spines, but you can genuinely use whatever cardboard you have on-hand. got an amazon box? that works!

of course, this is by no means a comprehensive list of tools--but these are my go-to tools for every bind! a lot of the fancy stuff like edging, foiling, bookmark-making, etc, is totally optional and opting out of those will significantly reduce your overhead costs. you can also start out with the inexpensive stuff and upgrade as needed! bookbinding is daunting and yes it does have a bit of an initial investment, but there are definitely ways to make it work if youd really like to get into the hobby. you can also look at starter kits on etsy, too! theyll often come with some of the essential tools as well as materials to make your first book, so you can try it out to see if youd like the hobby without going ham.

as for resources to get started, here are some of what ive used!! also not comprehensive because everyone is different, but a great place to start.

hope this helps!!!

[up-in-flames-writing]

Bookbinding is such a fascinating craft. Like, it seems so hard but it just looks so awesome, but it's also one of those things that we don't think about anymore cause of how damn common & easy bookbinding is now with machines. But these people take the time out of their days to sit down with a story, often a fanfiction, & meticulously craft a physical version of this piece of work that they love.

I already wanna set up my own paper making station, I'd love to learn how to bookbind. Mostly cause one day I want to take Roguish Types, my secret fanfic project, & turn it into a physical copy like with Fallout Equestria or some shit. Like, this is gonna be a long series, & at the end of it all I want to put it all into a series of 8 or so books that will sit on my shelf & I can proudly point to them alongside copies of all of my original published work, & tell people 'this was a labour of such overwhelming love, that I can't help myself but to share it with you.'

Is that too much to ask?

[hms-tardimpala]

Did the twin flame bruise paint you blue

I felt like posting pictures of an older bind I made (I think ultimately I'll put up all my works in my ficbinding tag). This isn't my first ficbinding, but if I remember correctly it's the story that inspired me to start bookbinding. I trained a little before I did this one.

Here's Did the twin flame bruise paint you blue by the amazing @jaynovz

The fic: Black Sails, silverflint, rated E, 138k This is a modern AU (often called Break Up AU) following James Flint and John Silver as they meet in New York city and embark on an extremely complicated relationship. I don't want to say too much, because I loved reading it month to month and experiencing it without spoilers. The fic is structured around two timelines a year apart, showing how we got where we got, and what's happening now. I'm explaining it very badly, but it's a treasure of writing and I can't believe Jay managed to wrangle the two timelines writing month to month. As always with Jay, the character studies and smut are off the charts good. That fic is a jewel, it's full of meaning and impressively crafted.

I don't usually read modern AUs and I read very little Black Sails fanfic, but I think this is a must-read in the fandom.

The bind: This was supposed to be A5 in format, but I cut the covers smaller by accident, so it's a little smaller. I had to trim the book and as you can see from my bandaged finger, I learned a valuable lesson about that. This was my first time using bookcloth, this one is sort of varnished, that's why it shines. I chose purple for the cover and headbands because it's Jay's color (and one of my favorites). I'm very happy with how well it creased near the spine, it's well-defined. And the book corners are the most modern I could find (I mean most of the ones I have are flowery and it didn't fit the mood of the fic).

Overall, I'm very happy with this one!

Materials:

Bookcloth, schmedt

Book corners, amazon

Headbands, APG reliure

Ribbon, APG reliure

Clairefontaine A4 paper, ivory color, 80g/m², bought in store

Gray cardboard, 2mm thick, bought in store

Man, this is such a beautiful color, I love it.

[transsexual-dandelions]

Weekly tag Wednesday !!

Thank u for the tags @spookygingerr and @especially-fuk-u !!

Name: dean :D

Age: 18

Your time zone: EST

What do you do for work: I’m in school right now so nothing, but this summer (probably in a couple weeks) I’m working at a pool store and maybe an ice cream shop

Do you have any pets?: yes!! I have a calico cat named Salem, she’s my best friend and so cute I love her so much

What first drew you to the fandom: I kept seeing clips of shameless on TikTok, I finally caved and started watching it over the summer, and I got hooked ever since (averaged a season and a half in a day), lurked around the fandom for a while but then started majorly interacting. I’ve never been normal about anything I’ve ever consumed, this is no exception (autism goes brrrr)

Morning person or night owl?: night owl baby!! Earliest you’ll get me up is 10am, I’ll go to sleep around 3-4 am (I also have insomnia)

What are your hobbies?: any type of art or craft, I paint, sew, draw, bookbind and just random miscellaneous stuff, my last art project was making spikes for my jacket from soda cans. I also read, like, a lot, mainly fanfiction bc special interest, but also I love non fiction (essays, memoirs, political theory) and some fiction (I love love love horror), I’m a major Jack of all trades, just constantly looking for something new to try

How tall are you?: 5’6” baby!

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?: anywhere warm and with a beach, I love summer and I’m built for it, I’ve considered New Orleans a lot for some reason, maybe California but I also hate west coast culture so um there’s that

Favorite color: yellow !! My and my siblings were color coded to prevent fights, and yellow was my color as a kid and it’s just stayed my favorite, and people always unanimously agree yellow is a color that Suits Me, saying i have yellow and sunshine energy, it also just best on me compared to other colors

Favorite book: this is such a hard choice, im going to say the perks of being a wallflower I think, ultimate comfort book really, but I also love to talk and think about Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

Favorite movie?: it’s a horror movie called the empty man, it’s SO weird and SO fucked up with the most normal and sane horror protagonist

Favorite fic: I could never choose, one I’ve been thinking about A Lot is the origins of girldadism, but I also love meanest hunk of woman and enemy lines I’ll recommend them till the day I die

Favorite musical artist: I love love love Green Day i could talk abt them forever I’m going to see them in concert this summer and I’m SO freaking excited, honorable mentions are Noah kahan and old dominion

What is your average screen time so far this week?: 8 hours and 10 minutes. Higher than I was expecting considering all I’ve been doing is studying

What’s the first app you open in the morning: Spotify! I need music all the time ever, it helps me get going in the morning on weekdays, and on weekends either tumblr, discord, or Instagram depending on who’s texted me

How long have you been on tumblr: I think this summer will be 6 years?

finally (and i know this one is hard) tell me a fun fact about yourself: I’m learning my third language (Ukrainian) and planning a fourth (French, probably in college (I’m so done with Spanish bffr)) I also make my own recycled paper! I think that’s always fun to mention

I’m tagging:

@mickeym4ndy @astaraels @em-harlsnow @mickittotheman @transmickey

@transmurderbug

@atthedugouts @jademickian @liza420

And anyone else who wants to !! Ur welcome to do so !! And no pressure, you can otherwise consider this a friendly hello, fist bump, dap, and/or an “I’m thinking of you”

[dreamlifebunny]

hi friends, sorry for not being online as much this week, it's been a bit of an emotional week for me so i've been taking it slow with my replies and posts. while healing my heart ive also dived headfirst into learning how to bookbind this week and ended up making FIVE tiny li'l notebooks yesterday while i was in a hyperfixation vortext! hehehe. it's such a comforting thing to return to crafting; i haven't physically made art in so long and it's nice to have a craft that isn't so computer-based (i love coding and i love writing, but it's nice to use my hands to sew and create things that i absolutely LOVE. i'm so obsessed with journals and it's nice to create my own!)

i'm still planning on posting what i had mentioned earlier (or at least most of it), but just wanted to log in and say that you are all incredible people doing incredible things and i hope you are so, so proud of yourself for everything you've made it through to be here today. every day you show up by learning how to create and live your dream life, and that is such a beautiful gift you are giving yourself. you're so fuckin' worthy of everything that you could ever desire, and your desires are absolutely guaranteed. everything is gonna work out perfectly for you, i promise you and i mean that ❤️

i have so many thoughts i wanna share with you all since taking a bit of silence to listen to myself (and reconnect with my wonderful spirit guides; the fun part about the law is that you can literally create your own spiritual team if you want one hehe, but that's a whole other post re: spirituality). gosh i have so many challenges and "things to manifest" ideas and i'm trying my best to format them in a way that i'm happy with, it's so exciting to be filled with so many ideas that i want to share with you all!!!

anyhoo, that's all for now. thanks for your patience with me and hope you're doing WONDERFULLY! 🥰

[opashoo]

any advice for someone trying to get back into art? know this sounds sudden and on-the-spot but i've loved ur work for years and i've been meaning to ask you for a while

This might not apply to your exact situation, but this is a little lengthy and involves burnout and reassessing how I handle my time and energy throughout the day, so I'm putting it after the break.

A summary of the most important advice I can give, though:

I've generally found that the first step in getting back into art is to be kind to yourself, whether that's allowing yourself to suck, allowing yourself to have time and privacy to draw, validating yourself as an artist, acknowledging your struggles. Brookes Eggelston, an artist who made a video on burnout, included in his checklist "Are you okay?" Like, just, is there something on your mind? Something bothering you? Is there something you need to do or a conversation you need to have with someone to put your mind at ease? It's important to be kind to yourself, or else getting back into art is going to be harder than it has to.

So it's a funny thing, I literally just googled how to deal with burnout, and specifically/separately how to deal with artistic burnout (I actually sat down and took notes). Reading this article also did help, even if I didn't actually draw again until a little while after.

The point that I found most helpful through all of it is that burnout and creative effort all ties back to managing my own time, health, and energy. Before I could even try to muster the energy to do creative work, I had to realize that I was already burnt out.

Even if I wasn't drawing, I was working on worldbuilding, conlanging, bookbinding, sewing, and all sorts of other things, with this idea that if I took a break from just drawing, then I would eventually be able to come back to drawing fully refreshed. That is not the case. I was constantly running on empty already because any creative energy I could have spent on drawing, I'd already spent elsewhere.

Through that, I realized that as I've gotten older, I've become someone who needs to be busy. It's why I've picked up so many hobbies. I needed to relearn how to slow down and learn to allow myself to do nothing. It was important, too, in being able to confront certain thoughts and feelings I'd essentially been running away from up to that point.

By understanding that, I started doing things to better take care of myself; taking more breaks while working on projects, not spending every free moment at work on a new project, not spending all my time at home gaming, and not pushing my mental and physical boundaries too far too often. I've been trying to take meaningful rest time, time that's not engaged with the internet, a game, or television. If it's a craft, it has to be one that's not demanding in the slightest, but it's typically better to be able to do nothing and just appreciate being in the moment.

Aside from all of that, the advice in the article I linked is legitimately helpful and one of it's points is one I resonate with. I've generally found that the first step in getting back into art is to be kind to yourself, whether that's allowing yourself to suck, allowing yourself to have time and privacy to draw, validating yourself as an artist, acknowledging your struggles. Brookes Eggelston, an artist who made a video on burnout, included in his checklist "Are you okay?" Like, just, is there something on your mind? Something bothering you? Is there something you need to do or a conversation you need to have with someone to put your mind at ease? It's important to be kind to yourself, or else getting back into art is going to be harder than it has to.

[searchingforserendipity25]

Fifteen questions for fifteen mutuals!

Thank you @theworldisquietheretooquiet, @theghostinthemargins, @welcomingdisaster!

1. Are you named after anyone? Both great grandmothers, they had the same name.

2. When was the last time you cried? Real crying, not just tearing up? When I watched Return to Seoul. I don’t cry a lot for personal reasons, but when it happens it’s a torrent.

3. Do you have kids? No, not really in the plans.

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot? Oh, sure.

5. What sports do you play/have played? Does physiotherapy count? I love to dance and am thinking of returning to it and trying out new styles, but my ankles aren't great. I enjoyed badmington and bodyboard a lot.

6. What's the first thing you notice about people? I am horribly nosy, but get easily flustered, so it’s a tossup between noticing everything and nothing.

7. What's your eye colour? Blue, a little bit yellow.

8. Scary movies or happy endings? Anything, as long as it’s not gory! I don’t usually watch anything too scary. Bittersweet endings are also excellent.

9. Any special talents?

Mm. I am good at identifying different smells, maybe. Interpreting historical art pieces. Photography.

10. Where were you born?

Just in time, and with a great deal of luck (and my Mom’s determined self-advocacy).

11. What are you hobbies?

Going to exhibitions, walking, listening to D&D podcasts, puzzles & crosswords, dancing, writing, reading. Used to crochet, weave and knit a lot more but it's more of a winter thing.

12. Do you have pets?

No pets. I love my friends’ pets, though, so maybe one day, but I'd rather pet sit.

13. How tall are you? Quite short.

14. Favorite subject in school? History, Portuguese Language, English, Natural Sciences. EVT (Visual and Technological Education), where we learned applied geometry, drawing, painting, bookbinding, sewing techniques, and how to plan and develops crafts and art projects. I still need to find a good paper for the cover of my last bookbinding project!

15. Dream job? Owning my own, fully funded independent printing press and bookshop with a very active schedule of concerts, talks and workshops. If I win the lottery…

Tagging, with zero pressure attached: @mayfriend, @nablah, @meadowlarkx, @melestasflight, @actual-bill-potts, @eilinelsghost, @that-angry-noldo,@onionowlwatchingu , @songlordsbug, @jouissants, @polutrope, @swanmaids, @kanafinwe-makalaure, @thescrapwitch, @revirag

[piranya]

If you could learn any crafting skill (without putting in the work) what are 3 skills you would learn? And what specific projects would you do? (Like sewing so I can make jackets in fun fabrics or molded metal to make that vampire belt buckle)

HONESTLY i would love to learn how to sew.. modern popular fashion you can get at stores isnt really my bag and its nearly impossible for me to find stuff i like that isnt a million billion dollars. ive seen a lot of patterns that id love to use but cant because my hands are very stupid.

besides that, i suppose, woodworking would be very cool, again having zero dollars sucks and a lot of modern furniture and such you can buy suck horribly and are often made of wood chips or cardboard or are a million billion dollars.

and id really like to learn bookbinding!!!!!!!!!!!!! i cant make things i NEED like clothes or furniture with it but boy itd be cool to be able to make books of my art or writing or photography without having to bastardize some lovely book that i spent a milion billion dollars on