#french link stitch

[getfuckedblr]

she’s here! one of the absolute best severitus fics - namesake necklace by @wiceba !!! i’ve printed this out like three different times and ended up either messing up the end papers, or the cover design (cheap htv is generally awesome until it melts bc it’s cheap and my iron is too hot). but yeah i’m calling this done!

none of my binds are perfect bc i can’t seem to cut in a straight line (?) which is actually like a lot harder than it should be??? but again this is for me to have my favorite fics on my bookshelf, not to sell so i’m satisfied!

[namorssideburns]

My latest bookbinding project has been this french-link stitch journal, the first I've done. The cover is a very nice pattern of paper I picked up at my local art supply shop. It's a bit wonky but I think it turned out pretty good!

[sits-bound]

First time using a French link stitch to sew the signatures together. I really like how secure it makes it all feel, especially since I didn't use tapes.

I used Sealemon's tutorial:

I didn't think to do this until after I'd punched the holes, otherwise I would have spaced them out more.

Hopefully I can get this glued together tonight, but as you can sort of see on my table, I'm working on a (garment) sewing project right now that's pretty thorny, so I may not get to it. It's okay. I'm happy as long as I'm making something.

[magnoliazul]

This was my first experience with sewn board binding.

It's been my favourite ever since i first learned about it, but it took me a while to figure it out - and i'm so glad i did! i absolutely love how it opens flat without loosing its shape, and how you can mix and match covers and spines.

This has been on my shelf for over a month now because I've been too scared of using it but the time has finally come!

[birdbindin]

Another very clear and easy to understand DIY video from Sea Lemon, this is on French Link stitching.

[thesweetpianowritingdownmylife]

Stitchtober day 30: Autumn forest

Aka LOOK MA I LEARNED HOW TO DO FRENCH KNOTS!!

Tried to do something inspired by Sew Beautiful, whose designs I really love.

I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it yet...maybe a necklace?

[aethersea]

I've always wanted to learn bookbinding, ever since I was a wee little nerd, but there are a lot of things I've always wanted to learn, and this one has both a daunting upfront materials cost and a daunting upfront research cost. however, my sister is a jewel among siblings and gave me for christmas last year a handy dandy bookbinding manual, a block of good paper, and a little bag of tools.

but I still didn't have a suitable workspace, nor any of the many important tools and materials that she didn't include in her gift. so I just read the manual and pined. until maybe a month ago I got fed up with pining, flattened a cardboard box for a cutting mat, and went to town.

and I'm real proud of myself, so here's me rambling, plus photos!

I went to the thrift store and got glue + some fabric to bind the cover, went to Michaels for a paintbrush (and later went back for a metal ruler lmao it's amazing how useful it is to have a straightedge for cutting the paper), and...could not find material for the cover boards. so I went home and pined some more. but the urges were too strong, so after a couple hours of moping I got a stack of printer paper at the grocery store (I could not bring myself to use the good paper for my first, inevitably weak attempts, I just couldn't do it) and started making a little booklet. which was a great idea, it turned out, since it makes for good practice with cutting the paper, measuring things, punching holes in the signatures, etc.

I have a big box of greeting cards from Michaels, which I used for the covers. it didn't feel like I was making a Real Book, so I got some colored paper from the stationery store and used that for end papers.

so fancy~

galvanized by this success, I ordered a stack of chipboard online to use for cover boards; and once I was confident that I could cut paper without making it look too stupid (getting that straightedge ruler sure helped lol), I made signatures out of the good paper, left them under some heavy books overnight since I don't have a book press, and then punched holes in them! (huzzah for this nice video on getting the holes right)

my sister's gift included good linen thread. it's unwaxed, but after some poking around on r/bookbinding it looks like that just means I'll have to be more careful to avoid tangles and keep good tension. I am fine with this. I can be extra attentive. (I considered just running it over a beeswax candle, but one commenter said if your wax has paraffin in it, it could melt in a hot car, ruining the spine. I can't guarantee my candle is 100% beeswax, I didn't make it, so maybe we just move on.)

I don't have good linen fabric to use for the tapes, but the important part there is that the fabric be thin, sturdy, and not stretchy. the probably-cotton I got from the thrift store fits the bill, so it'll do!

this is a french link stitch, which I got from this exceedingly good tutorial. apparently it's strong enough on its own that for a book of this size, I don't actually need tapes, but I'd already cut the things so eh here we are. and tapes plus french link will make it a stronger binding still (according to a friendly redditor on r/bookbinding), so we carry on.

specifically we carry on to the gluing step. now as I mentioned, I do not have a book press, and you....kinda need one for this step. you need to hold the book block in place with the signatures facing upwards, pressed together hard enough that the glue won't run down between them and stick the pages together (though you do want the glue to get between them just a little, just for like a 16th of an inch). you at least need some clamps and a couple boards to sandwich the book block with.

but you know what? I'm not a professional, this is my first ever book, if it's a little bit off it'll be fine. so we grab all the heaviest books off the bookshelf and improvise.

it's fine! I'm sure it's fine! and just in case it's not, I've tucked a bit of cardboard underneath to catch any glue that drips down so it won't land on the floor. see? I'm prepared! I'm acing this.

and actually, it really was fine. I used clear elmer's glue, applied with a flat paintbrush from the art supplies aisle at Michael's, and frankly I liked the way the flat paintbrush let me slip glue in between the signatures. I did poke around on a couple bookbinding sites to see what kind of glue I should use, and the gist is that although there are better options than this, elmer's glue is perfectly serviceable, and the main downside is it's not archival grade. but I don't need my first bookbinding attempts to last 200 years, that's fine.

the next step is to add the mull. mull is a specific type of fabric – extremely loose-weave linen – and the idea is to paste it down over the spine to essentially hold the tapes and signatures all in place in relation to each other.

but I don't have mull! so I'm using more of the thrift store probably-cotton, because it's thin enough and not really stretchy at all. I'm sure this will be fine too. I painted a layer of glue onto the spine, then left it to dry a bit while I measured and cut the fabric, then painted a generous stripe of glue down the center, where it'll affix onto the spine. then I added a bit more glue to the spine, just to be sure, and pressed the mull into place, rubbing it thoroughly to make sure it's firmly affixed to every signature, with no creases in the fabric or air bubbles beneath it.

honestly I might have overdone it on the glue. I've never done this before, I don't know! I think it's okay, though – I tried not to ever let it become a thick layer, just a slight coating, since the danger of too much glue is that it might crack once dry and weaken the spine.

and now we leave it in the press overnight to dry, and pick up the next step in the morning!

[heya-dollface]

Where can I find patterns for making Fashion Doll Clothes?

A friend and I were chatting tonight about doll clothes, and it occurred to me that if you've never dabbled in making doll clothes before, you may not know where to find patterns for them. So I'm sharing a list with you guys of every resource I know of.

Paid-For Patterns:

Requiem Arts: https://raddollclothes.com/

This is one of the big go-to's of the community. Requiem Arts has patterns for so many different fashion dolls, from Monster High (G1 and G3) to Rainbow High, to a number of BJDs, to Barbies, and even several for the boy dolls. I've gone to them for many a Descendants pattern since not a lot of places offer them. Her blog also features a number of great posts on size differences between dolls, fixing articulation, and more.

Dollightful: https://www.etsy.com/shop/DollightfulPatterns

If you need Monster High and Ever After High patterns with easy to follow instructions, this is the place to go! Dollightful only has a handful of patterns up, but her instructions are super easy to follow. They're just as enjoyable as her YouTube videos.

Moonlight Jewel: https://moonlightjeweldolls.myshopify.com/collections/ebooks

This artist has an interesting mix of patterns for fashion dolls, once again it's a lot of Monster High, but also a little bit of Rainbow High. I have her two pattern books, and they've got some wonderful picture instructions that put into perspective how to follow along. I hadn't realized until making this post that she's released a couple of individual patterns from her YouTube videos, that's really cool!

Enchanterium: https://www.enchanterium.com/shop

The Enchanterium sisters are a delight, and their patterns for MH, EAH, and Smart Dolls encompass a wide variety of genres. They even have some 3D printing files for shoes and accessories.

Cosmomoore: https://ko-fi.com/cosmomoore/shop/sewingpatterns

Cosmomoore is great if you need patterns for Rainbow High, Barbie, or G3 Monster High. All of the G3 patterns are under the Creepy Class tag. I've tried their skirt pattern for G3 Draculaura, it was a breeze to put together when you know a few basic stitches.

Free Patterns:

Enchanterium: https://www.enchanterium.com/shop/freebies

Enchanterium offers a number of freebies at this link! Most of them are patterns from their older YouTube videos, so there's those as a resource to follow along with.

Cosmomoore: https://ko-fi.com/cosmomoore/shop/sewingpatterns

Once again, this artist has a number of freebies, but they don't have a specific tag.

Poulpe en Ciel's Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1lkI6inme4K6wxw0IqTSGGju2bIQMln_A

This artist is known for having some truly extravagant patterns for Monster High and Cave Club dolls. And she offers them in both English and French! Highly recommend checking out Poulpe on Instagram, her dolls are absolutely to die for, and she puts so much heart into making her stuff accessible for the wider community.

Chellywood: https://chellywood.com/

Chellywood's website is a diamond in the rough. If you're looking for a doll pattern for a doll most people don't make patterns for, Chelly probably has it. Her website is organized by size and goes into individualized pages for each doll line. It's fantastic. And on top of that, she has YouTube videos!

MyFroggyStuff: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOJWM4ft-CgHQI3fhqNJzWLG30C45Xl3xs-tgatId430gKVW-J8w5cB9ViW2jRPFw?pli=1&key=Y2Y2UDJ6S01Gb2EwUHRZUVJDdm9FanpMdDZzY1RR

Barbie lovers rejoice, this is your kingdom! While there's no tagging system here, Toya has patterns for everything, from mermaid tails to cute easy dresses, this is a great place to go. Her YouTube channel is also an endless resource of creativity.

If you have any resources for patterns, or for places to buy doll clothing, feel free to reblog! I'd love to include more people from our lovely doll community so people know about them!

[your-hockey-mom]

could you plspls do an imagine about cooking breakfast for/with quinn? <3

The blankets were warm, weighted, and the room dark. 

Quinn's breath tickled your neck as he laid right up against you, arm anchoring you to his side as if you would try to leave. You had been awake for only a little bit but it didn't matter. Mornings like this meant the world: ones where he got to stay home for just a little longer. Any morning you got to share with him were not to be taken for granted. You would let him sleep until he decided to get up. It was still early enough. 

Several minutes passed before Quinn started to stir. The feeling of his facial hair against your bare shoulder made you giggle. 

"Mmmm, good morning, sweetheart." His morning voice was dangerous. Would make you sin in an instant if asked. You would restrain yourself this time. He was just saying good morning; a genuine good morning. 

"Morning, baby." You linked your fingers with his, still being the little spoon. He was so warm; he was always your little heated blanket. Thankfully, Quinn didn't mind that you got clingy when you were cold. It always seemed like you were cold. 

"Been up long?" His voice was low and his words ended in a whisper. It made your heart race. 

Your eyes had fluttered closed again. You could have easily drifted back to sleep. "I don't think so."

"You should have woke me up," Quinn nuzzled into you, somehow pulling you closer into his body. 

"I wanted you to get some sleep. Especially after last night." The game had been a rough one; another OT loss, and he had come home under a raincloud. What he needed most was some cuddle time and a good night's rest. You preferred to have those moments with a happy Quinn, but a defeated Quinn needed just as much love if not a little more.

"I'm fine, baby, but thanks for thinking about me." 

"Of course." You both lay there quietly; your breathing still synced. The feeling of his flushed skin against yours had your whole body on fire. You were going to need a cold shower if you laid here any longer. "Want me to make you something to eat?"

"I'll help you. Not fair that you always do everything." 

"But I don't mind!" You whine, feeling like he was somehow not happy with how you had been doing things. 

"I know you don't mind, but it makes me feel bad. Let me hop in the shower and I'll be your cooking partner." He kisses your shoulders several times, so thankful his lip isn't still in stitches. 

- - - 

"So, what were you thinking?" Quinn asks, locking his arms around your waist as you both stand before the open fridge. He rested his chin on your shoulder, looking at the selection with eager anticipation. You always kept the kitchen stocked during the season, so he really had no idea what there was to work with. 

"Omelets?"

"Ohhh, let's do that. I was thinking French toast, but that sounds better."

You lay your head against his, "Are you sure? I can do either."

"We can do either." Quickly, Quinn lays a kiss to your cheek before he reaches for the carton of eggs off the shelf. 

"You're such a brat," you say through laughter, but Quinn disagrees with you.

"Are you sure you aren't talking about yourself?"

"Quinny!" You playfully pout, popping him lightly with a dish towel you grabbed from the sink. However he's quicker and grabs it from your grasp before it makes contact with his back.

"Wanna play?" He teases, eyebrows raised. "I think you'll lose!" 

In one quick movement, he puts his hands on your hips and shortens the distance between the two of you. You fall into him; palms against his chest. 

"I just wanna make breakfast," you mumble, trying to keep up the act of being pouty, but it doesn't last long. The moment he leans in to kiss you, you melt. 

"Then we'll make breakfast. What do you want me to do?"

"Can you do the eggs? I'll chop all the other stuff."

"Fair." His hands fall from your waist to give your bum the softest squeeze before he turns back towards the island. 

"Brat!" 

- - - 

"I've got mushrooms, onions, red bell peppers, cheese, and ham. Am I forgetting anything?"

Quinn's digging around in the cabinet for the right pan when he looks over at you. He's just admiring the view when you finally catch him, having not gotten an answer from him. 

"What?"

"You're beautiful," he says lovingly with a smile pulling at the corner of his lips. "But no, I don't think you've forgotten anything.

You just shake your head, fighting back the urge to roll your eyes. He knew just how to make you flustered, but secretly, you loved it, and he knew it. He'd never take it too far where it hurt your feelings, just until he'd make you lose your ability to use your words. Normally, all it took was a well place compliment. 

"Will this one work?" He asks, producing a (hopefully) large enough skillet from the cabinet. To be honest, he had no idea what he was doing, but he was trying. 

"Mhm! Should work just fine."

Once the pan was heated through, you took charge pouring Quinn's eggy mixture into the pan while he stood at the ready to put in the filler.

"What do you want?" He asked, putting a section of hair behind your ear, standing beside you, 

"This one is yours! What do (you) want?" 

"Yours first, sweetheart." He touches your face, turning it towards him for a kiss. 

You just shake your head after. "This is too much for me!"

"Baby, I can wait."

"And so can I!"

Quinn's turn to shake his head, smirking as he does. "Compromise? Can we put it all in at once and just...share it?"

"Do you know how cute you are when you don't try?" You say, almost sidestepping his offer. "Yes, we can do that."

- - -

"Is that enough cheese?" He asks, worried he's going to somehow ruin breakfast. 

"Little more!"

"Wait, you're not supposed to have cheese! Baby~" Quinn's voice drops off towards the end, remembering your lactose intolerance. 

"Oh, I'll live!" Your voice is the complete opposite of his. It's playful, almost excited. 

"If you just want an excuse to lay with me on the couch all day, you don't have to put yourself through a painful stomach ache to do so." He sounds sad, or at least worried for you. 

"Baby, it's just cheese! I'll feel bad for a little bit and then I'll be fine! Happens all the time."

He just sighs, stepping back behind you. He's always wished that you cared as much for yourself as you did for him. No matter how much you reassured him that you were always fine, he still worried. 

"I never want you to be in pain." He whispers, close to you again; soft kisses from your ear to the curve of your shoulder. 

"Quinny, baby. I promise I'll be okay!" You touch his cheek as he leans into your hand. "I promise."

He breathes deeply, burying his nose in your hair. "Okay, if you're sure."

"I am,"

- - -

"Are you sure you got enough?" Quinn asks seeing how full his plate is in comparison to yours. 

"Yeah, I think so, why?"

"Are you sure? I don't need all of this." His brows are knitted together as you come to the table. You kiss the top of his head to soothe his current wave of worry. 

"You fuss too much over me."

"I do not. I love you." He sticks his lower lip out slightly. He hadn't had a good pouting episode in a hot minute. You forgot how much you both loved it and how much it could annoy you. The annoyance was only when he was being unreasonable. 

"I love you too, babe, but you're being a booger."

This breaks him: he smirks then laughs. "Yeah, yeah, okay."

"That's what I thought!" You give him a wink before taking a seat next to him at the island. Once you're seated, he spins you away from your plate and towards him. "Quinny!'

His thumb presses against your lips, fingers resting just under your chin, stopping any further whining for the moment. You let your fingers wrap around his wrist lightly causing him to smirk. There was the slightest flicker of mischief in his eyes but it faded as quickly as it appeared. 

"This was fun."

You nod, his thumb now gliding across your bottom lip. His eyes were flipping between your eyes and your mouth like he was struggling to decide what to focus on. With much anticipation, he'd kiss you deeply, letting his hand rise up through your hair. His ability to take your breath away wasn't fair, but the way it made you feel made you yearn for such moments. 

"Can we do this tomorrow morning?" He whispers, his forehead touching yours. 

"Anytime you want to."

[pseuddamntired]

Needle Lace Resources

This is a very long post, so I'm including a cut.

Tutorial-like Things, Others' Work

An overview of the stages of needle lace (specifically learning from Alençon, I believe. They link to a documentary type of video on Alençon lace): https://www.taixtile.com/needle-lace-first-steps/. This blog has links to other resources (one link is broken, if I recall correctly).

A very approachable first project, I think. From a lace maker who has done very cool illustrations with lace, Maggie Hensel-Brown: https://youtu.be/OLuRpJ96p4Q?si=gqBWqYxa755gFozr

This channel has videos of the stages of needle lace making. They specifically demonstrate Irish lace, I believe. But the stages are very similar to or the same as the stages in Alençon lace. https://youtu.be/dZVagIFCnLc?si=d8lRnPsmz5iTM0Z_

Pierre Fouché has a video about making dense filling stitches and even doing short rows to makes curves (something I tried but did not yet succeed at): https://youtu.be/DK5cMQND3b8?si=qySmT9yaoTcpsUV9 He also does really cool bobbin lace illustrations by constructing patterns in cell-like units.

An embroiderer tries needle lace in two videos. In one of them she tries different styles from different places: https://youtu.be/eTO7dA4oyl4?si=VInx35kql115bIIo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9Wa6-Qf5xw

Example of a different style of needle lace. Unsure what it is exactly. Some sort of cut work or reticella, idk: https://youtube.com/shorts/7DFogWC3tDI?si=uju74sPFbRj3_wrn

Sampler directions: https://youtu.be/oDKBfjDYBnU?si=shQYvaT4kAZD7BgV

Again, a more geometric style of needle lace. I don’t know the particulars of this style (styles?), since I’ve mostly been looking into styles similar to Alençon because I’m aiming for more illustration-like lace. This channel has multiple videos demoing and explaining that process: https://youtu.be/gJd6mkrsUCQ?si=AfVIiwljHvfismrX https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6dk721UwW4

Not so much instructions but video of a very skilled lacemaker working on a project: https://youtu.be/01H2GdEXLrs?si=2suFHSG4Kwa6Yl2m

Another lacemaker's work on their blog. I don’t know if they do as much lace making as they do other needle arts https://www.robesdecoeur.com/blog/needlelace-my-work-so-far

A lacemaker's work... the site is older and kind of tricky to navigate. Like. there's no home button, as far as I can tell. Album of their work: https://www.lacemakerslace.oddquine.co.uk/album/index.html Home page, I think: https://www.lacemakerslace.oddquine.co.uk/

Useful/Interesting Things to Know

Alençon lace -- specific French style from the Alençon region, which has a history of point lace and a current institution dedicated to preserving the skills and producing lace. This is the style that I was looking at examples of to try and learn from.

Search terms like different styles of lace that I’m not qualified to talk about but you can look into and do research on: Battenburg, point de gaze (very very fine work, like gauze)… More to be added as I learn about them.

The terms "needle lace" and "point lace" are both used to refer to lace made with a needle. I'm unclear on if there are subtle distinctions between them or if it's simply a matter of location. But having versions of a search query for both terms should help find more results than just using one.

Encyclopedia of Needlework by Therese De Dillmont is an excellent resource to learn how to do different stitches. It seems these stitches mostly come from Irish lace, according to the book. HTML copy of book available on Project Gutenberg here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/20776/20776-h/20776-h.htm I recommend using ctrl+f to search for "lace stitch" on the page. The end of each chapter in the HTML version seems to have a link to the Table of Contents that is at the end of the entire document. It has chapters for plenty of other needle arts, so it's a good resource all around.

If you want to find examples of needle lace, look on Wikimedia Commons! Using a variety of search terms will help you find more material for inspiration/observation than otherwise

If you want to design your own needle lace depicting objects, it might be worth looking at stained glass to see how larger shapes are broken up into smaller shapes that still feel complete.

You can use multiple colors! Let yourself use multiple colors, like stained glass!

Thoughts from the Learning Process So Far (some terminology used here, look them up so you know what the actual definitions are, but I’ll define what I mean by them)

Tacking vs Couching... I'm unsure about the actual definitions so I may be using them wrong here. In the videos I’ve seen tacking seems to be making a stitch that runs along the way the cordonnet will run. Couching seems to be just when the thread that secures the cordonnet comes up through the backing and goes down through the backing at the same point. With these definitions… Tacking went faster for me than doing couching, but it feels a lot less secure and precise for the form of lace I’m making. Unless I made the tacking stitches perpendicular to the cordonnet's path, the outline cord moved too much due to tension. If it's perpendicular and not a very short stitch, it might get in the way of your filling stitches or binding off stitches. Which might be fine, since you pull them out anyways. But it would also mean more holes in the backing, and at some point the holes are too close together and might tear the backing and pattern. I don't like that. Couching—much, MUCH more tedious for me because I’m not practiced at making the needle come up in exactly the right spot. but it feels more secure to me. The outline seems to be less affected by tension as you work. And I took some shortcuts for couching that helped. I don’t couch the doubled cord, instead I whip stitch back over the already-secured cord. I might make a post to demonstrate what I mean. It kind of messes with the shape/placement of my cordonnet, but for the sake of my impatience I’m willing to sacrifice the precise shape.

Backing material... To use fabric in backing like the instructions usually say, or not? Idk. For me, it’s hard to find the right hole for the couching stitches when I can't see my pattern from the back. It took a lot of trial and error until I got a feel for how to predict where my needle would come up. I don't like the way the poke-and-check method of stitching the cordonnet down tends to rip the pattern up (at least, with my easy-to-access materials. Probably better with better materials and more practice. Using my thumb to find approximately the right spot helped, but not enough). So I just used a sandwich of tape/paper/tape as my backing. If you're willing to fuss around with fabric in your backing, it might make it easier to remove the couching threads after you're done, and when I tried. The directions I've seen usually say to use a backing of doubled-up fabric, clay paper (I'm unsure what this is. might be a thicker paper than cardstock, or it might be paper made to contain clay particles. Probably more like the first option), and contact paper. My last attempt at making a backing used notebook paper (or other type of paper) with packaging tape on both sides to provide a smooth surface and structure. I think it worked fairly well, and I didn't have to figure out where to buy contact paper (or figure out exactly what contact paper was).

[namorssideburns]

Wip

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA for translating an artist's 2D art into a 3D medium for me to hang on my wall?

There's an artist (Junie, fake name) whose work I admire dearly. I was scrolling through some embroidery art earlier, and I realized that I could embroider on top of my closest approximation of one of Junie's artworks to hang on my wall. To do this, I would use a big enough hoop and blank fabric, and I would carefully draw this particular art piece free hand. I would then go back over it all with thread in the color palette that Junie chose for their original artwork (and substitute some of the yellows for bright sparkling gold).

I don't think this would be an AH move since (1) I would only embroider this piece for myself and not sell it. (2) I also have already bought Junie's artbook a couple years ago, and it's gorgeous, beautiful, hardcover, and hefty, so I've definitely bought some of Junie's work before. (3) Junie seems to only do digital and traditional 2D art--no 3D fiber art--so there'd be no way for me to pay Junie for an embroidered wall-hanging of this piece even if I didn't want to make it myself.

P.S. I thought about posting a picture of the finished embroidered work once I was done. If I did, I would 100% include a link back to Junie's tumblr and the original art post and make it clear that it was Junie's original artwork but my stitchwork (choice to backstitch, French knot, stem stitch, etc.).

What are these acronyms?

[greenhorn-art]

All The King's Horses | As You Are Now, So Once Was I by @samwpmarleau (grumkinsnark)

All The King's Horses [LiveJournal ch1] [Fanfiction.net ch1]

As You Are Now, So Once Was I [LiveJournal ch1] [Fanfiction.net ch1]

Fandom: Supernatural, Criminal Minds

Rating: Teen | PG-13

Category: Gen

Words: ~36,192

All The King's Horses: Protect and Serve. Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity. To what lengths would you go to uphold those oaths? When it comes to a particularly brutal and unsolvable case, the BAU just may have to resort to some more unorthodox methods. SPN/Criminal Minds crossover.

As You Are Now, So Once Was I: Sequel to "All the King's Horses." When Dean catches J.J.'s press conference on the news about a current case and notices a few...inconsistencies, he realizes the BAU is definitely going to need his help. Again. ON HIATUS

About the Book

FORMAT: Letter quarto, flatback bradel binding, french link stitch, no tapes

FONTS: EB Garamond [via Google Fonts], Supernatural Knight [via DaFont], D-Din [via Font Squirrel], Daniel [via DaFont], Permanent Marker [via Google Fonts], Arial

IMAGES: Seal of the FBI [via Wikipedia], Dean's handprint scar [by greenhorn-art]

MATERIALS: 24lb Xerox Bold Digital paper (8.5"x11"), 80pt binder's board (~2mm), 30/3 size waxed linen thread, embroidery floss (DMC #721), 1.9mm cording, brown cardstock, black Cialux bookcloth, gold foil transfer sheet (came with We R Memory Keepers hot foil pen)

PROGRAMS USED: Fic exported with FicHub, word doc compiled in LibreOffice Writer, Typeset in Affinity Publisher, imposed with Bookbinder-JS, title pages designed in Affinity Designer/Photo

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I first read these stories on LiveJournal back in 2013, some time after I first encountered Tumblr, Supernatural, and the wider world of online fandom. Once I discovered SPNxCriminal Minds crossovers I devoured so many of them. Something about POV Outsider on the Winchesters, the existing connections with investigating monster vs human-crazy cases, and run-ins with the FBI... it's just works so well.

Of all the SPNxCM fics I read and enjoyed, All The King's Horses is among those that bookmarked themselves in my brain. Since it's been living there all these years, I thought it deserved a place on my bookshelf too.

(Rambling below)

Sourcing the Fic

I used FicHub to download the fics off of Fanfiction.net as HTML. Then I pasted them into LibreOffice Writer and created rich text documents of each fic, so I could Place them into Affinity Publisher.

The stories were crossposted, first on LiveJournal and then Fanfiction. I included the metadata from both sites in the appendices.

(It's fascinating to see the differences in the same work between platforms. FFN requires genres, so if the author doesn't add them on LJ then by default there's more info on FFN. But FFN limits listed characters to 2, so authors have to pick and choose the most important. Then there's the author's amusing disclaimers and spoiler warnings for these fics, which are only included in the LJ version)

Shoutout to the author for how they linked/listed their accounts on other platforms! Thanks to that I was easily able to track down all the tags/metadata for the fics, and find them here to express my appreciation for their stories!

Typesetting

Fonts

EB Garamond is my new favourite body font, 11pt as per my usual.

The title page is entirely Arial: 1) it was the closest match I have to the case file prop I was copying, and 2) if it was a government doc they wouldn't be using anything but the most basic fonts.

Headings and the the bullets bracketing the page numbers are set it Supernatural Knight, a free font in the style of Supernatural's title.

The location segments are in D-DIN, the closest free match to the font Criminal Minds uses (which is probably DIN).

Daniel is used for Dean's 'rushed but legible' note.

Permanent Marker for the 'thick black Sharpie' case file labels.

Artwork

Title pages designed as FBI case files, copied from a prop found online (specifically Etsy's propfictionstudios', but it's all over the web so no idea who actually created it). I had fun plugging in all the fanfic/bookbinding meta!

The ID# above the author's name is the FFN story ID, and the date is the date originally posted on LJ.

The handprint used in the headings of ATKH is Dean's scar. I traced off of a screenshot from s4e01 Lazarus Rising. I chose to use the handprint instead of the anti-possession tattoo or a Devil's Trap as my SPN art element because 1) it's specific to Dean, and 2) indicates/reminds that the story is not set during the season 3 Agent Henriksen/FBI arc.

Grabbed the FBI seal off of Wikipedia.

Construction

Both fics typeset and printed separately, then sewn together into one book. Title page for the sequel was tipped in like an endpaper prior to sewing.

Endbands sewn with orange embroidery floss (DMC 721) around 1.9mm cording. I chose orange because Dean's being in jail brought to mind the orange prison jumpsuits Sam and Dean wore in s1e19 Folsom Prison Blues.

Black bookcloth for the cover, like the Winchesters' beloved black '67 Chevy Impala. (I'd wanted a Supernatural reference to balance out the Criminal Minds-ness of the FBI case files).

I'd originally planned to make lineart of the front of the car, and have it stretch across the bottom of the cover (maybe even wrap around to the back). Even found a useful reference to trace [from here], but it didn't look as good as I'd hoped. Instead I reused the FBI seal and swapped out its text with the titles.

(The effect of shiny foiled FBI symbol on small black book reminds me of one of those FBI badge wallets!)

The foiling process was an unnecessarily long and gruelling affair. My laptop served as a massive power bank for the hot foil pen as I spent 2hrs ever so slowly tracing the image, and then 15mins on the author name and touch-ups. Did it need to take so long? Moving slowly, pushing down hard, going over everything at least three times? I'm sure it didn't. BUT I did not want to chance peeling up the foil to check how I was doing and risk shifting it. It was worth it in my books (haha) ‒ I feel giddy and kick my feet like a schoolgirl whenever I see it!

New Things

Used 24lb paper for the first time, and I love it! It's a little thicker and heavier then regular 20lb printer paper, feels more substantial.

The page numbers & running/section headers are along the outer margin, instead of in the header/footer. This was my way around Affinity's buggy-ness regarding pinning things inline in master pages. (More about that below). If I had been thinking, I could have formatted them like the tabs on a file folder and cut the textblock to match. Oh well, the things you notice once it's printed 😔

This time I also started new chapters/sections using text flow & paragraph spacing settings, instead of using a master. As always, there are pros and cons.

Pro: much faster and less involved. (find chapter start, apply paragraph style VS working from the end cutting text, inserting a frame break, unlinking frames, inserting new pages with master, relinking, pasting, and adding chapter title to a different text box)

Con: images need to be added manually (whether by adding image directly, or by applying a master with the image). I forgot to do this for the second fic, so only ATKH have Dean's handprint scar.

Difficulties Encountered

Affinity Publisher is fighting me on pinning things inline on master pages. They like to disappear on regular pages I've applied the master to. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it only works on some of the pages. Idk what's up. (The bullet character only faces one way so I had use textboxes, flip/mirror one, and pin them inline to the page number).

So instead of having page numbers in the footer, bookended left and right by text boxes with Supernatural Knight's bullet, I put it vertically down the side.

Updated Publisher and all my paragraph styles' fonts changed/went funny. Something to do with the update's variable font support, I think. What was previously 'EB Garamond' regular, was now something along the lines of 'EBGaramond-Regular' which isn't a font. Issue seems to have ironed itself out in my original (near-complete) doc while I was busy remaking it. 😐

On the bright side, the update brought QR code generation to Affinity!

[birdbindin]

Very specific instructions for doing unsupported French Link (including measurements!) which was helpful for when I was doing the Caltrain fic

[mapsontheweb]

William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy & King of England (1066-1087)

Map published in “L’Histoire” n°424 (June 2016); included in the “World Historical Atlas” by Christian Grataloup, Les Arènes/L’Histoire, 2019

by cartesdhistoire

In 1066, the victory at Hastings linked England to the continent for several centuries, despite the difficult conquest of the North and Cornwall. In about ten years, William extended Norman power from the Scottish marches to Maine. He stitched the territory with castles, took control of the administration and avoided the creation of vast vassal fiefdoms, apart from the counties facing Wales and Scotland. The duke-king, upon his death in 1087, was in a position to compete with the king of France.

1035: On the death of his father, William becomes Duke of Normandy at the age of 8. 1047: Battle of Val-ès-Dunes. William, allied with the French king Henry I, defeats a coalition of rebel Norman barons. 1051: Edward the Confessor, King of England, asks William to succeed him. 1052: Breakdown of the alliance between William and Henry I. Around 1053: Marriage of William and Mathilde of Flanders. 1063: Harold is taken prisoner by Gui de Ponthieu. William had him released and demanded that he undertake to recognize him as king of England upon Edward's death. 1066, October 14: Battle of Hastings. 1066, December 25: William crowned king of England. 1069-1070: Rebellion in northern England and its suppression. 1083: Death of Queen Mathilde. She is buried in the Abbaye aux Dames de Caen, which she founded. 1085-1086: Census for the completion of the Domesday Book. 1087: Death of William. He is buried in the Men's Abbey of Caen, which he founded. His eldest son, Robert Courteheuse, succeeded him as Duke of Normandy; his third son William II Roux becomes king of England. 1204: Philippe Auguste, king of France, defeats John Lackland and conquers Normandy. It is the end of the cross-Channel empire created by William.

[ghastspidergwen]

my biggest embroidery project yet, the 15 entities of the magnus archive

(notes and close ups under the cut)

this took me 5 months to finish, and it's inspired by some of those entity colour wheels I've seen people draw.

clockwise from the top: the Hunt, the Desolation, the Spiral, the Extinction, the Eye, the Lonely, the Vast, the End, the Dark, the Slaughter, the Corruption, the Web, the Stranger, the Buried, and the Flesh

I feel like I definitely could've done something better for the vast, what I did is supposed to be deep, empty water, but I don't think I conveyed that the best

the dark is inspired by my own fear of the dark, and specifically the shadows I would see as a kid

my favourite to do was probably the spiral, even though it's not my favourite entity, it was fun to be able to go crazy and experiment with new stitches, I did a woven section for the first in that slice and I think it turned out pretty cool

the buried definitely took the longest, french knots on french knots, but I think it turned out amazing

if you want to watch a bit of the process, please consider checking it out on YouTube (linked below) or my Instagram (@/spider_arts)

now the pictures, as promised!

my 'sketch layer's, the lonely and the slaughter are the only ones that changed, but I like them better on the final product. I got the heat erasable quilter's pens on amazon, and I highly recommend them for embroidery and patch making, pretty easy to sketch with, and you just need to iron it or blast it with a hair dryer when you're done

the planning page for this piece, ft. math

thanks for checking this out! I do have embroidery and crochet commissions open rn, no guarantee they'll be open for much longer, I've gotta get started on holiday stuff

lmk if you wanna see more of my embroidery pieces