#you can make pretty books without it

[celestial-sphere-press]

Book Decoration: AKA All The Ways I Don't Use a Cricut

(this post is for people who don't want to buy an expensive cutting tool, or for those that do have an expensive cutting tool that would like to mix things up a little)

1. Print That Shit

If you're already printing your own textblocks, an easy step for titles is to print them. Above is a title printed onto an "obi" of decorative paper. I measured out where I wanted things on the finished book and laid it out in Affinity, then printed it on a full sheet & trimmed it down to wrap around the book. A more simple method is to print & glue on the label into a slight indent in the cover (to protect it). A third option is to do the spine in bookcloth, while you print on paper for the cover and then glue that paper onto the boards (this usually looks even better when it is a three-piece bradel bind).

2. Foil Quill / Heat Pens

The heat pen is one of my go-to tools, but it can be a bit touchy about materials. The most popular version is the We R Memory Keepers' Foil Quill (which is one of the most ergonomic), but other pens exist that can get you to a higher heat temp, finer lines, or more consistent foil. For example, I have a pen created by a local Japanese bookbinding studio that fares way better on leathers than the WRMK quill & with a finer tip, but it's hell to control. Best results in general are on paper or smooth bookcloth (starched linen, arrestox, colibri - even duo will work but its less solid). The fuzzier a bookcloth is, the less your foil quill wants to deal with it. This means the heat n bond method of making bookcloth does not play nice with a heat pen usually, but there are two solutions: 1) use this tutorial on paste + acrylic medium coated bookcloth instead that will get you a perfect surface for the heat pen, or 2) use the pen on paper & then glue onto the cloth. I did a video tutorial for both foil quill use and this type of homemade bookcloth for @renegadeguild Binderary in 2023.

You get the most consistent results by tracing through a printed template that is taped in place, as I do in the video above.

3. Paint That Shit

Acrylic paints will do you fine! The above is free-handed with a circle template, because I wanted that vibe. If you need straight lines that won't seep, lay them down with tape first & then paint over it first with a clear Acrylic medium, then your color. Same goes for stencils. Two more examples of painted bookcloth:

4. IT'S GOT LAYERS

By using layers of thinner boards, you can create interesting depths & contrasts on your cover. You can also make cutouts that peep through to the decorative paper behind. The most important part to this technique is the order in which each edge is wrapped. To get a good wrapped inside edge, you will split the turn in into tabs to get them to conform to a curve. You can also layer multiple colors of bookcloth without multiple layers of board, as seen below left, so long as you mind your cut edges for fraying.

5. Inlaid... anything

Mirrors! Marbled paper! I saw someone do a pretty metal bookmark once! The key is creating a little home for it to live in, which is pretty similar to the above layering method. On one layer you cut the shape, & glue that layer onto the bottom solid board before covering. You can do the top layer as an entire 1 mm board (like I did for the mirrors) or a sheet of cardstock, like I would use for inlaid paper.

6. Decorative Paper

Decorative paper is always helpful & adds to the paper hoard... & its effects can be layers with other techniques, as below. Marbles, chiyogami, momi, or prints & maps of all kinds can be great additions. Some papers may need a protective coating (such as wax or a sealer).

7. Stamps (with optional linocut)

While I've not used many more regular rubber stamps, I do know some who have, successfully! And I've used one once or twice with embossing powder (see photo 3 up, the gold anchor on the little pamphlet bind). What also works is to carve your own linocut or stamp, & then use block printing ink to ink it onto your fabric (as i did above). A bit time intensive, but it was nice how easily reproducible it was, and I liked the effect I got for this particular bind.

These methods are not exhaustive, just ones I've used, and there are of course many others. I haven't gone too into detail on any of these for the sake of length (& post photo limits) but feel free to ask about more specifics. Usually I'm using them in combination with other options.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Call that a Cave Story.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[itspileofgoodthings]

I didn’t think that reading north and south again this past summer would make me a hater of it but it did.

[name-doggo]

One thing I really wish the FF Community would Stop doing is Removing All Nuance from the Parents in Those Stories in order to Make Them Abusive Supervillains who Never Loved their Kid.

Like... In the Four Years I've been here, and for how Small the Community really is, you'd be surprised how many Times I've seen it-

[lurking-latinist]

I think I might need the mathematical resources of category theory to express the blorbo thoughts I'm having right now

[puhpandas]

honestly is ggy + the mimic being 'from the books' really that bad when henry Emily was literally the exact same way in clickteam fnaf

[cosmoknightchaos]

Howdy

I spot another OC ask, which means I’m obligated to ask you.

This is what I am here for, this is my Job.

6 or 10 for KMJ.

Also if possible 2 for Timmy

Noot I have a tag on my blog specifically for these things. You can go through that anytime. Or just ask me questions. Please I am desperate to talk about my characters

6. What is something they are absolutely hopeless at doing? Why?

King is hopeless at escapeing the Horizon. Haha fucking gottem

In seriousness, I. Uh. I don't know. King does very little besides scheme, fight with Sky, and fix his window.

Which I guess does answer the question? King is hopelessly obsessed with trying to escape the Horizon, to the point where he kind of forgets how to exist otherwise. Bro is not good at being a person with hobbies.

10. Where is your OC’s favorite place? Like if they were having a bad day, where would they run off to?

King Moonjumper hates most of the Horizon. For obvious reasons. He is so tired of being in there, and just hates seeing it with a passion. Because of this, he spends most of his time in his palace, which, if he tries hard enough, he can pretend isn't in the Horizon. It is slightly better than the rest of the Horizon is.

This may or may not be brought up in the book (I haven't decided yet lmao), but King has a small room attached to the throne room that's his personal room. What little personal items King has are in there, along with anything he's decided has emotional value from the Horizon- and, within RTTH canon, all of the gifts from Jinx. There's also places for his mask, katana, cape, jacket, etc., whether it be counterspace or a hanger or whatever. His signature red strings and stars line the ceiling, but it's a lot messier than the rest of the palace's ceiling decor is. I like to imagine that a lot of the magic-made decorations in his room are accidental.

Since it's his personal room, it's his comfort space. It's the one spot where King allows himself to be emotional, and there have been many a mental breakdown in that room. Believe me.

2. What do they think is their best feature? This can be both physical or personality wise.

Gonna be honest I have not made Timmy Hau an OC yet. He is one of two the only character I don't consider to be an OC. I should fix that.

Physicality-wise, I don't think Timmy has very strong opinions on how he looks. He's not the most comfortable with his looks, but he's a teenager and you don't really know how to look at that age. However I do have to mention that I fucking love his hair and it is so much fun to draw. Goofy-ass long icecream scoop hair <3

As for personality/things Timmy actually likes about himself, let's start pre-Horizon. No spoilers, don't worry :)

Timmy definitely likes that he has a small presence. Not meaning his height (though he doesn't mind his short stature that much), but the fact that Timmy is very sneaky. People just tend to not notice him, so he can get away with a lot. He's really good at getting places he shouldn't be.

And speaking of places he shouldn't be, let's talk about the Horizon! Timmy's view on himself changes a lot during his stay in the Horizon, and although he still appreciates his high level of stealth, there's... not really much to sneak around to. Or people to notice him. So, changing it up completely, Timmy starts to really like his natural skill at dramatic entrances. He uses his naturally small presence to sneak up on someone, then announces himself and immediately hams it up for the bit. And he's good at it. Especially when he adds a touch of his telekinesis for special effect.

Like. Look at this. He's so good at entrances. Timmy has the One liner/reveal (he's standing behind the protagonist) formula down to a T.

He balances over-the-top, dramatic lines and acting with just being a silly guy so well. You can tell he's playing up his appearances for funsies.

(Heads up: The following screenshots are from the currently unreleased Act 3 of WTSS! Context has been edited out, so there's no real spoilers, but I wanted to mention it just in case.)

These screenshots are not only within the same conversation, but appear two lines away from each other. Timmy is so good at being silly and serious at the same time and it is, not just his favourite thing about himself, but my favourite thing about writing him.

[phantajam]

my hot take about descendants is that NONE of the core four were ready for a relationship until maybe like, the third movie (rant in tags)

[kittlyns]

I had yet another long, strenuous day yesterday and didn't finish work until super late and then I couldn't fall asleep until well past 2am cuz I was in so much pain from standing literally all day

[sunny4thewin]

There might be spoilers?

I think its weird because in the first season of The Summer I Turned Pretty, They took more creative liberties, but in the three episodes that dropped a lil' while ago, they took less, and I guess I'm not the biggest fan of it? But also Amazon can go F*** itself because I'm invested, and my heart is broken and happy and sad and angry idk.

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads // twitter thread    

Two Can Play That Game

Australian contemporary YA romance about a girl who dreams of being an indie game creator

when a boy grabs the last ticket to a game design workshop at the same time as her, they decide on a gaming competition to compete for it

family, creativity, and the future

demisexual-coded MC

[borom1r]

category 10 autism event talking to @cary-elwes abt Boromir’s costuming

[two-calicos-in-a-trenchcoat]

Got my souvenirs

Freeze dried skittles and handmade watercolors made by the owners of the art shop i got them at

They grind their own pigments and everything

Their business card is a 6inch ruler

[everysongineverykey]

"he told me how much he hoped you'd be happy too. get tired of being just a pure cold detective. be human instead." i hope you DIE i hope we ALL DIE. IN WHAT WORLD IS POIROT A COLD UNFEELING UNCARING LONER. ROMANTIC LOVE IS NOT A REQUIREMENT FOR BEING CONSIDERED HUMAN. explodes

[porcupine-girl]

Things we already know about the UHC shooter, mostly from his social media:

- He has a bachelor’s and Master’s in computer science from an Ivy League school.

- He has read several books on chronic back pain.

- His profile banner includes a photo of an x-ray for back surgery. (Spinal fusion I believe.)

- Based on messages from his family, he dropped off the map a few months ago and they’ve been worried about him.

- His political beliefs are a bit all over the map; without doing a deep-dive my take is a pretty average centrist tech bro who’s read too much evopsych.

I’m a bit worried that, as the left is so fond of doing, people will turn on him immediately for that last part. Let’s not do that! Can we agree not to do that? Because here’s the important thing:

He’s a victim of the system, just like we all are. The system pushed him past his limits, and he lashed out at it. The details of his political leanings don’t actually matter - what matters is that you don’t have to be a radical leftist to lash out at a health insurance company. That’s shows how bad things are broken, that a guy who seems fairly privileged in most respects, with no strong political motive, could be beaten down and broken to the point of doing this. He has two Ivy League computer science degrees and yet had nothing left to lose.

This is a class war that doesn’t differentiate between the working class, middle class, even upper middle class. We’re all dog food for the 1% to chew up and spit out. Even if he turned out to be hardcore right wing, in this one single issue we’re united with him.

Everyone’s been talking about how this guy has seen insane levels of support across the political spectrum - which means nobody should be shocked that he could have come from any spot on that spectrum. I’m hoping the fact that he doesn’t seem super far left or right politically will make it easier to keep that unity, but the left just looooves our purity tests. Let’s maybe not this time.

[sol-flo]

joker 2 was fine. i think reactions are split in two sides: either you think there should have been more singing (correct opinion) or you dreaded every minute of it

my friend described it as an end of evangelion movie and i think he's spot on