Beginning Bookbinding

[nuh_s]

Yay new crafting community!

I just started getting into bookbinding / fanbinding. I got really into it conceptually a couple years ago and bought all the supplies but didn't really do anything with them until now. I've been using Renegade Bindery's formatting tutorials and Sea Lemon's binding tutorials. It is tremendously fun. I've done the first couple (Fairgoers by renwhit and a collection of King Falls AM fics) with quilting cotton + heatnbond + tissue paper for book cloth, but I recently got a bunch of leather for free, so I may start experimenting with leather covers too using Ingenius Designs' tutorials.

On my docket is
- "mulberry down!!" by Nicole Kornher Stace, already printed and sewn with book cloth prepped, needs edge sanding
- "Ceylon, Assam, and Darjeeling" by Sciosa, currently working on formatting
- Something that will allow me to do a wacky patchwork style cover using scrap fabric sticking to the heatnbond to avoid having to sew it
- Working on figuring out iron-on page gilding. Probably needs edge sanding first as the unsanded paperback I tried it on didn't adhere evenly though the tiny iron helped.
- Acquire acid-free paper for prints going forward

Comments

Yay!

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> I just started getting into bookbinding / fanbinding. <<

It's a cool hobby. I've got a tiny one that a friend made for me -- about 2" tall, the size you could hang as an ornament. I've also seen bookbinders at historical recreation events.

>> I recently got a bunch of leather for free, <<

Leather opens a lot of options. You can do a wraparound cover that people like for sketchbooks. You can emboss or carve it. Some leather already has heavy texture; some takes dye well; and so on. I love looking at leather-covered books at craft faires.

I love the cover on your pictures! Would enjoy seeing more of your later projects too.

Re: Yay!

[nuh_s]

The tiny book sounds cute! Did it have actual text?

I'll definitely have to experiment with the leather! Lots of possibilities.

And thank you re: cover!

Re: Yay!

[ysabetwordsmith]

No text, it's a blank book. Many people get into bookbinding to make blank books for journaling, collage, scrapbooking, sketching, etc.

In fact there are different types of tricks you can do with spines to support those. If a book will be held open flat often, like a sketchbook, then a fabric spine (rather than just glue or whatever) will help that work. You know how, if you glue a lot of stuff onto pages, it makes the book fan out? A book bound for collage can have short strips of paper inserted between the pages to prop them apart a little bit, thus leaving room for embellishments. And there are other tricks for working with different kinds of paper, like the thick heavy paper for watercolor, where you might want a leatherwork needle to sew it. Just a few fun ideas you might run across in making books.

[yourlibrarian]

Cool to see! I like how the cover looks like a series of overlapping waterfalls.

How long did the process take you?

[nuh_s]

It took about three days, I think. Maybe four. There are kind of designated breaks in the process for glue drying, but it goes pretty quick.

[yourlibrarian]

That makes sense, about needing to wait through certain steps. It's probably one of many reasons I never did much painting!

[florianschild]

I love the idea of fanbinding and this one is super beautiful! Do you print and cut the pages yourself?

I would love to see more of your work as you take on new projects!

[nuh_s]

Thank you! I do print myself. I have someone who can use a printer at their work, so thankfully I don't have to worry about toner. But I will be getting some acid free paper soon. It's just 8.5x11, so I don't need to cut the pages, just fold them.

I'll be sure to share my other books!

[uncaged_butterflies]

Oh this looks so good! Amazing!

(No I don't need a new crafting hobby, I don't. Please brain.)

[nuh_s]

You always need a new crafting hobby

[uncaged_butterflies]

You're a dangerous person. But in a respectable way.

[dhampyresa]

So cool! Did you follow a specific guide to get started?

[nuh_s]

I'm using Renegade Bindery's tutorial for the text formatting, Sea Lemon's tutorials on text blocks and case binding, and Ingenius Designs' tutorial for gold edges.

[dhampyresa]

Thank you, Toy Soldier!

[nuh_s]

My pleasure, old bean!

[the_broken_tower]

Oooh, that's cool. I love the waterfall/aurora effect.

How'd you get into fanbinding? Is it what it sounds like?
There are a couple bits of semi-lost web media that I've kind of wanted to print out and bind in some way, and the idea of making it fancy is verrrrry tempting. *-*

- Finn Amara (he/him)

[nuh_s]

Fanbinding is bookbinding as a fanwork, usually bookbinding fanfiction. I had seen it around a decent amount, especially from Renegade Bindery and a Magnus Archives fan creator I like, bluejayblueskies. It looked so cool. I got all the supplies a couple years ago but only had the time and the returning interest recently.

Binding semi lost media would be awesome! One of the ones on my docket is The Barista Series by dietcokechic (Stargate SG-1), which is one of my favorites, never on Ao3, and its original website just went down this past month or two. So I'm definitely looking forward to having it preserved in print.

[yeidisworld]

This is so cool! :3 I'd love to see more of your book binding!
Also, I hadn't heard of fanbinding before and it looks like a fun concept! I'm eager to check it out.
I've only ever done binding for a junk journal I made for mom, but I used a cardboard base. Still, it was fun!

[nuh_s]

Thank you! I'll share more books as I make 'em!

The hardcover method I use uses acid-free board, but I think cardboard would work just fine for the techniques and could still be made fancy! I think if I had to pick one thing that makes a stylistic difference, it's getting HeatNBond and tissue paper to go with fabric for the book cloth covers. Because then you can use whatever fabric and it looks really nice. My first bind I used an old shirt. You should definitely try out bookbinding!

[berryfairyghost]

hi! it's yeidisworld from a personal blog. I hope it's cool that I'm subscribing from to keep an eye for your craft projects! :)