AIB (Adventures in Bookbinding) #2
Apr. 7th, 2024 04:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madeleoneC&P'd from LJ
Hi, I'm back again with more AIB. Thanks for all the lovely comments to my first post.
I must say I have done many crafts and hobbies over the years: sewing, knitting, Crocheting, needlepoint, cross-stitch, soap-making, candle-making, writing stories, etc., etc; but the bookbinding has really grabbed me. It probably helps that I am retired and have the time. And I also have a dedicated space to work in so I don't have to get everything out and put it all away every time I want work on something. (which honestly right now is nearly every day, for a bit anyway).
As I mentioned in one of my replies to the previous post, the very first time I held a completed book in my hands that I'd made myself, I felt such a huge sense of accomplishment. (I think I actually even teared up a bit). LOL I think maybe I'm loving it so much because reading and books have always been a part of me, important-you know?. And I credit my mom for that, she read me a story every night, and every week or so when we went to the store she'd buy me a Little Golden Book. I must have had hundreds of them--now I wish I'd kept them. (I stupidly sold them off in a yard sale when we were clearing out my parent's house).
Anyway, I got sidetracked there, back to today's post.The very first real fan-bind I did was one of my own fanfics: "The Benefits of Eavesdropping on Hermione Granger" It was was written for the 2017 sshg_giftfest on LJ and was a gift for azalea_nymph. I chose it because it was one of my shorter chaptered fics and I was new to typesetting. (To be honest I despise typesetting. I fine it tedious and very picky-ooony (that's probably not a real word, but YKWIM). But I love the physical process of making the book.
I've done 4 of my own fics so far and will eventually get to the rest, but I the ones I have done so far are very plain; and I want all the pretty embellishments and extras. (I did add illustrations to the last one of mine I did using AI (which is also a PITA)) All of the other binds I've completed (Right now I have 16 books completed (only 4 of my own fics though), and eight others in various stages of being made) the typesets have been downloaded from a FB group I joined called Amateur Fanfic Binding (or AFB). They are very big on file sharing and have lots of guides and tutorials as well. Apparently fic-binding is really hot right, because when I joined this group about a year ago there were around 3K members it has now exploded to 13.6K.
On this one I used cardstock for the covers and end pages. My daughter J designed the title for the cover and spine for me with her cricut (for those that don't know that's a craft machine used to cut designs from HTV- Heat Transfer Vinyl that is then ironed onto the book's cover and spine. Like for people who design t-shirts and such). J said she chose this shape because she thought it looked like the shape of a chocolate frog card. I think she did a great job. I've since bought myself a cricut for Christmas, but there is definitely a learning curve and I am far from the top of it-LOL! but I'm muddling through.
Title page. See very plain-Jane.
I'll be back in a couple of days with some more pics and stuff. The books do get better as I go along so stay tuned.
Hi, I'm back again with more AIB. Thanks for all the lovely comments to my first post.
I must say I have done many crafts and hobbies over the years: sewing, knitting, Crocheting, needlepoint, cross-stitch, soap-making, candle-making, writing stories, etc., etc; but the bookbinding has really grabbed me. It probably helps that I am retired and have the time. And I also have a dedicated space to work in so I don't have to get everything out and put it all away every time I want work on something. (which honestly right now is nearly every day, for a bit anyway).
As I mentioned in one of my replies to the previous post, the very first time I held a completed book in my hands that I'd made myself, I felt such a huge sense of accomplishment. (I think I actually even teared up a bit). LOL I think maybe I'm loving it so much because reading and books have always been a part of me, important-you know?. And I credit my mom for that, she read me a story every night, and every week or so when we went to the store she'd buy me a Little Golden Book. I must have had hundreds of them--now I wish I'd kept them. (I stupidly sold them off in a yard sale when we were clearing out my parent's house).
Anyway, I got sidetracked there, back to today's post.The very first real fan-bind I did was one of my own fanfics: "The Benefits of Eavesdropping on Hermione Granger" It was was written for the 2017 sshg_giftfest on LJ and was a gift for azalea_nymph. I chose it because it was one of my shorter chaptered fics and I was new to typesetting. (To be honest I despise typesetting. I fine it tedious and very picky-ooony (that's probably not a real word, but YKWIM). But I love the physical process of making the book.
I've done 4 of my own fics so far and will eventually get to the rest, but I the ones I have done so far are very plain; and I want all the pretty embellishments and extras. (I did add illustrations to the last one of mine I did using AI (which is also a PITA)) All of the other binds I've completed (Right now I have 16 books completed (only 4 of my own fics though), and eight others in various stages of being made) the typesets have been downloaded from a FB group I joined called Amateur Fanfic Binding (or AFB). They are very big on file sharing and have lots of guides and tutorials as well. Apparently fic-binding is really hot right, because when I joined this group about a year ago there were around 3K members it has now exploded to 13.6K.
On this one I used cardstock for the covers and end pages. My daughter J designed the title for the cover and spine for me with her cricut (for those that don't know that's a craft machine used to cut designs from HTV- Heat Transfer Vinyl that is then ironed onto the book's cover and spine. Like for people who design t-shirts and such). J said she chose this shape because she thought it looked like the shape of a chocolate frog card. I think she did a great job. I've since bought myself a cricut for Christmas, but there is definitely a learning curve and I am far from the top of it-LOL! but I'm muddling through.
Title page. See very plain-Jane.
I'll be back in a couple of days with some more pics and stuff. The books do get better as I go along so stay tuned.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-09 11:53 am (UTC)Bravo! This is gorgeous. I like the cover, it's pretty. It's nice you work with your daughter. The endpapers are lovely.
Someone says bookbinding is like “1,000 hobbies in a trench coat” and I completely agree. Which of your fics have you bound? I'd want to bind "Things ..." if you haven't bound it yet, I will be happy to typeset it and give it to you. I'm not the most artistic of typesetters, but I would love to share what I did with you.
I know you are not a Discord girl, but I can't rec enough the Renegade Publishing Guild. https://renegadepublishing.carrd.co/
no subject
Date: 2024-04-09 06:28 pm (UTC)I have bound Things, (I even added some AI art to things) it was the last one of my own fics I bound before I found the typesets I could just download and print.. So far the others of my own fics that I've done aside from Benefits are: Charitable Endeavours, Days of Wine and WIzards, and Things That Go Bump in the Night. And I have: Saved by Fate and Pure Dumb Luck, nearly done, I just have to find a few more illustrations.
If you'd like (I know you have a fondness for things) I can send you a copy of the typeset (or any of them really) if I can find it. (I'be been known to accidentaly delete things I mean to keep--{sighs}) Let me know.