13th Moon Craft

••• { Nikolaj: they/it/he } ••• ••• { Creator of weird and whimsical books, various oddments and endments, and occasional tarot reader } ••• ••• { Check out my Etsy shop: 13thMoonCrafts } •••

[13thmooncraft]

Welcome to my corner of tumblr! I’m Nikolaj (they, it, he) and I’m a queer and disabled artist, writer, and musician! I create weird and whimsical books, various oddments and endments, and read tarot! Currently, I’m also working on a screenplay with a close friend, writing various fanfictions, and playing the violin and cello for my hypercritical dog.

If you’re so inclined, please check out my Etsy shop and have a look! If you’re interested in custom orders, I’m not taking them at the moment, however I may open up custom book slots in the future, so check my blog for #13thmooncraftcustoms for more info!

Thank you for visiting!

PS:

Asks are currently turned off due to the ridiculous number of spam asks I’ve been receiving. If you want to message me, feel free to submit a post or DM me!

[13thmooncraft]

✨Silly Twilight mugs✨

Find them on my Etsy!

[13thmooncraft]

Did someone say Spooky Season?

Made in combination with random scraps, an old book, charms, lace, ribbon, fabric scraps, stickers, a few antique postcards/papers, and digital papers from Pink Monarch Prints and Vectoria Designs

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At long last, a shop update!

Have some spooky little buttons hot off the press!

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What’s on the workbench?

A little altar box!

(Dark washed wooden box with dark brass fastenings.)

It will be housing a tiny rune set, a tiny tarot deck, and some other fun witchy goodies!

This will be featured in my next shop update in a couple weeks. In the meantime, check out what was added for my shop update this week!

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Newest listings!

I’m feeling the fae vibes this winter, so check out these new items!

Shop update in a couple weeks to follow with even more!

Chrysanthemum Tea Lights

(Five beige faux chrysanthemum flowers, each with an electric tea light candle in the middle)

Red Peony Tea Lights

(Three red faux peony flowers, each with an electric tea light candle in the middle)

Blue Peony Tea Lights

(Two blue faux peony flowers with an electric tea light candle in the middle. One candle is yellow and one is blue)

Purple Rose Tea Light

(Dark purple faux rose with an electric tea light candle in the middle)

Each one has an easy access battery door and on/off switch!

(Beige faux flower with green felt patch and attached tea light candle base.)

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Assembling signatures

What is a signature?

A signature is a group of pages that you plan to bind together. It is entirely dependent upon how you plan to bind your pages as to how many and what types of papers you should be using. The more signatures you have, the bigger your text block (your bound group of signatures) will be and the larger your book will be overall. A slim book can have anywhere from 20 or so papers used (40 pages) or a thicker book could use 40+ papers (80+ pages). I prefer not binding single sheets, so I do fold my pages, hence doubling the number of pages.

For a chunkier, bulkier look, you’ll generally want to add more pages to each signature. For a neater, flatter volume, go for less pages per signature but add more signatures if you want more pages.

I typically aim for 13-15 pages per signature.

Anyway, assembling

You’ve got your junk, now it’s time to put it all together. The first order of business is making a mess. I regrettably did not get a picture of my before, but don’t be afraid to make a complete mess of your workspace. Mess is good. Mess means mixing and matching fun things. Embrace the mess.

I chose to do a three signature style book here with each signature containing 14 pages each, giving me a total of 42 pages (84 front and back). Just choose what feels right and appeals to your eye when assembling junk journals. More paper variety and color variety adds interest to the book overall. Also consider what you want the journal used for - if it’s going to be an art journal, having pages made of tissue paper won’t hold up, so you can use watercolor paper, magazine pages, sketchbook paper, parchment, etc. or if you want to make a more simple journal only for writing, you can use any kind of paper you like to write on. This journal has a mix of gift wrap, magazine pages, scrapbook paper, hand dyed copy paper, and even bits of an old calendar. Use what makes you happy!

And voilà. Assembled signatures waiting to be bound. I plan to bind these with pamphlet stitch, so once I had the pages in the order I wanted them and arranged just so, I used my small awl to pierce three holes through the center fold of each signature. I won’t be binding them today, so I added clothespins to keep the signatures together so that when I am ready to bind them, they’re ready to go and the holes are close to being lined up.

[13thmooncraft]

Elements of a junk journal:

The base

The base of your journal can be anything! You can start with all plain paper, all ephemera, or a mix of the two! The important thing is to have a cohesive theme that has some flow to it. Each bit is unique, but they all have to work together to create a whole piece of art once they’re all bound together into a book.

I personally like to dig through my stash for a couple hours and just see the vibe I get. This journal is going to be for sale at FanCon in July and I’m getting a vintage garden-y vibe. Some of it will be scrapbook paper, hand dyed paper, book pages, sheet music, gift wrap, and even a bit of old calendar!

I personally like to bind my base into signatures and then into the journal itself before decorating, but I know some people do some decorating before binding anything. Whatever makes sense to you is what you should do!

Stick around to see how it all comes together in the next few weeks!

[13thmooncraft]

Secret Journal!!!

I had a lot of fun binding this one! It was my first time doing Coptic stitch and my first time putting a text block into a premade case.

To start, I carefully cut the binding and endpapers to remove the original text block. It was glued in place, which made it tricky, but I made it work. Once that was out, I cleaned the spine up, patched a minor hole, and removed as much of the original endpapers as I could.

Since I already had the signatures folded, pierced, and prepped, all I had to do was wax my thread and get to work. I ran out about halfway through, but tied on more and finished it off.

After that was all said and done, I did the stupid thing. I measured my endpapers and realized they were too short, so I cut and glued them in on either interior cover. Yep. That wasn’t my smartest move, but hey I learned something.

I added in one ribbon for stability along the interior spine, one for the bookmark, and then a small extra strip of paper from the secondary paper my friend chose for this book, and then glued the text block in place with it.

Some mistakes were made, but it turned out really well in the end and the person I made it for loved it!

To read my dumb captions, visit my Wordpress!

[13thmooncraft]

Current WIP: Pysanka card in gold and red

Stay tuned for the listing!

[13thmooncraft]

I made a thing~

Check out the Etsy listing here!

[13thmooncraft]

First time painting since college 10 years ago - I actually really dig this 👀

It’ll be on display for 2 months and if it doesn’t sell then, it will be for sale on my Etsy both as prints and the original!

Once Again

[13thmooncraft]

Hey y’all! New year new shop! You can of course still find me on my Etsy, but now I also have a Redbubble to sell my digital art designs and photography! If you like stuff like this

Check it out!

[13thmooncraft]

Finally had a chance to list this rainbow raku fired vase! I had such a fun time making it, and now that I have an Etsy shop, I can finally list it for someone to enjoy!

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Vintage Garden Journal!

Check my shop tomorrow afternoon for this super cute vintage junk journal! It has plenty of writing/sketching space as well as tons of pockets and goodies tucked away for you to enjoy!

Here’s a quick flip through 👀👀👀

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And the listing is live! If you’re interested, go check it out! 💚🍃🐝📗

[13thmooncraft]

Vintage Garden Journal!

Check my shop tomorrow afternoon for this super cute vintage junk journal! It has plenty of writing/sketching space as well as tons of pockets and goodies tucked away for you to enjoy!

Here’s a quick flip through 👀👀👀

[13thmooncraft]

When your art gets featured in a gallery 👀