HI!!! I absolutely LOVE your “The Anatomy of a Fall” book bind!!! It’s stunning !!! I would love to have a copy omg!! Do you have any advice ? I have never bound a book! Also, absolutely love the font and look you chose, is there any chance you could share the typeset plz :3? If you don’t feel comfortable doing that I totally understand! Thanks :D
Thank you so much!! I'm so excited that it inspired you to make your own copy!! Here's what I would do if you want to start your bookbinding journey...
First, you should definitely join the Renegade fanbinding/bookbinding discord (invite link on this page) - https://www.renegadeguild.org/about – you'll be able to find the answers to basically any question you have! There are also tons of tutorials and guides and references and experts... anything you need is probably on there.
I unfortunately don't have access to that specific typeset anymore (a casualty of computer swapping) but I can tell you that I used the Centaur font! The discord has recommendations for learning how to typeset and what programs to use (you'll be able to find a recording of a typesetting class that I taught) as well as how to print and sew the final book. I personally use the Affinity Publisher program to typeset and I'm very happy with it! I also have my own printer at home, so I can print on ~fancy~ paper, but when I first started out I just sent the typeset to Staples to print for me, and it was perfectly acceptable!
As for the cover and endpapers, I think I bought everything from https://www.mulberrypaperandmore.com/ – I can't promise they'll have the exact papers I used, but they have a lot of beautiful options!
You'll also need some tools and other basic materials, which you can either buy specially or DIY – at minimum you'll need bookboard, glue, an awl, a needle, thread, scissors, a ruler, and an x-acto knife or box cutter. I got most of these from the Blick website! If you plan on really getting into it, you'll develop your own method and you'll be able to curate your tool and material collection to match your bookbinding style.
Hopefully this is a helpful start! Definitely let me know if you have more questions or if you want me to get more specific about anything!
Great news! Thanks to @bearclubbooks this is now the most beautiful copy of Dogsbody!!!!!!!!
I embroidered the little green star and traced the dog illustration off the 1975 first edition cover and then mailed&emailed materials over and got back this delightfully weighty little tome. It's so pleasant to hold—it feels sturdy and magical. And it's such a rare joy for me to split a craft project with a friend who lives across the country. Over the moon about this!!! >:) ⭐
this was the first time i re-covered a book like this - if you want to get into bookbinding but the thought of typesetting & printing is too daunting, do this!!! it's all the fun easy parts with none of the hard boring parts
One common question I see popping up for people getting into making books/typesets is 'where do I find graphics/images to decorate my books with?' And of course, that's with the caveat of 'and they're free'.
Thus, this is a continuation of my old post on where to find graphics/images to use for typesetting/book design. Because it's been half a year since then, and while I am very much the same amateur typesetter I was then, I am now a slightly older amateur typesetter---who knows more websites!
(I'm including websites I've listed before so that all the links are in one post)
All these sites have free offerings to varying degrees. Personally, I haven't had to pay anything so far for that I've used. If you see something you like that's locked behind a paywall, try to reverse google search it to see if there's a free version out there! I've seen a lot of these sites upload the same images. Also, be careful of AI!
Graphic/Image Resources:
Archive.org - Internet Archive. Not as easy to download or use images from, but there are a lot of cool resources there if you have the time.
Canva - Easy to use for beginning design work. I recommend taking advantage of their month long free trial (I found it easy to cancel as well when it was over), but do not recommend subscribing.
Creative Fabrica - They send out a lot of free bundle promos in their email subscriptions. I mostly use them for fonts but they do have a lot of free resources for crafting.
Exotic Animal Photo Reference Repository - This is an animal photography database by @why-animals-do-the-thing! They have a lovely growing repository that's both education and free! Just be sure to ask permission and credit and link to them if you to use their work!
Freepik - More free stuff! I haven't used it a lot yet, but I've seen this site recced by others.
Heritage Library - Lot of neat pngs/vectors. Especially great if you're looking for vintage/nature images.
Pixabay - Royalty free and under the Content License
Rawpixel - Probably the site I use the most. I sort to exclude all the AI images and just use the free/public domain stuff.
Noun Project - Lots of icons available. Tend to be more minimalistic and simple. I know a lot of bookbinders use this site, though I haven't explored it much.
Smithsonian - The Smithsonian Open Access is free database from the Smithsonian with millions of images available.
Streamlinehq - Another site with a lot of free icons. Most of their really cool assets cost money, but you can sign up for free with an email address to download 10 free assets if you see something you really like.
Wikiart - Great place to look at public domain artwork.
Wikimedia Commons - (Wikimedia Commons, Wikisource, Wiki Books, etc.) Tons of stuff to sift through.
Last source: FONTS! You can go a long way with dingbat fonts for decorations! Frames, ornaments, etc. can be done with fonts. Check out dafont and other free font sites; fonts can sometimes be a lot easier to use in texts than images.
yet another public domain bind! I finished this one for my mom's christmas present. My plan is to make one or two more to sell on etsy or at another craft fair - we'll see if I can make it happen before the Great Reshuffling of Priorities in May!
The typeset is identical to the Anne of Green Gables typeset - the text is set in 10/14 Caslon and the title pages are Spectral Small Caps. Slight changes include shrinking the text size on the table of contents and adding a little flower illustration to make sure no recto was left blank!
I also used my die cutter to make a little blue paper flower for the front! It's not the most durable cover decoration but I think it turned out very pretty :)
The case is covered in navy bookcloth from Blick, and the endpapers are chiyogami from ChibiJayShop. The text is printed on Mohawk Superfine, as always!
This is the unabridged text, also! The copy of this book I grew up reading was the abridged version (the publisher removed "anti-german sentiment" from it), so it was kind of fun to read this version while I was typesetting and find the unfamiliar lines!
The worst part of typesetting was that the text I got off Project Gutenberg had no italics marked in any way... so I had to read through the copy I had here and manually find and italicize everything in the typeset... but having looked with such a close eye on everything, the typeset is pretty ding dang solid haha very few mistakes!!! so that's the bright side
In the Renegade Bindery Discord Server, we are once again running Binderary during the month of February. Attendance is free, and a link to the 18+ Discord Server can be found on our website.
Whether you’re new to the world of bookbinding or an aged veteran, join us for a month of binding fun! This event is all about community & learning, be it trying something new or refining existing skills.
All our workshops are run by members of our fanbinding community, and some of them are even on Tumblr!
Here’s the list of who’s running the week 1 workshops:
Specialized Typesetting in LaTeX: Celandine
My Immortal and the History of Fan Studies: Parsley
Typesetting in Google Docs: @sayornispress
Introduction to Typography and Typesetting: @bearclubbooks
Renegade Round-Up 2024!: @fanboundbooks, @robins-egg-bindery & @celestial-sphere-press
You Shouldn't Have to Pay for that: Making Your Typesets Pretty For Free: @daemonluna
Bookbinding Craft Along 1: Noodle
Hello! May I ask what paper you use in your books? And where can one get them? Thank you so much!
Of course!
For the inside of my books (the textblock) I use Mohawk Superfine (I think the color is softwhite). I bought a big 60-pound box of it from the Mohawk website when it was on sale.
For the outsides of my books, and the endpapers, I use a lot of different types of papers and cloths!
Bookcloth I usually get from Blick, although I have done a big by-the-yard order from the Book Craft Supply Company as well. Blick sends you enough to cover one book, so if you need more than that it can be more cost-effective to order by the yard. There are tons of places to find bookcloth in varying degrees of snobbishness/expense! Lots of people like Talas or Hollanders, but the shipping costs from those places can be more expensive than the item which I can never justify to myself hahaha
https://bookcraftsupply.com/
https://www.dickblick.com/
Paper I get from lots of different places, but the two sites I use most often are Mulberry Paper and ChibiJayShop (for chiyogami paper). Sometimes you can find cool things on Etsy too, although shipping can be prohibitively expensive, depending on the shop! I have a nice little paper collection built up now, which I got mostly by browsing these websites and picking things I liked or that were on sale. I store all papers and bookcloth flat in a cardboard portfolio so I don't have to worry about battling a rolled piece.
https://www.mulberrypaperandmore.com/
https://chibijayshop.com/
Hopefully that helps! Let me know if you have a specific paper you want to find and I'll see if I can find you a link.
this is one of my dad's favorite books so i put this together for his birthday! i've been on a real public domain kick lately haha
the cover is italian marbled paper (i think i bought it on etsy) and talas bonded leather in "arista navy". i was a little worried about using leather (or leather-like material) for the first time but it was fine! you don't even need fancy tools with the bonded leather.
text is set in 12/15 centaur! title text is called "argos george", and i got the title page image from a free old art website (had to convert it to true black and white) - it's the 'flammarion engraving' which is a mysterious illustration by an unknown artist... but perfectly suited to the vibe and plot of this story!
i also did a fun little experiment with the endpapers... my closest color match to the covers was a fragile mulberry paper, which i had (pretty unsuccessfully) used before on a different bind. i didn't want a repeat of that mistake, so i glued a piece of textblock paper half on to the mulberry, so i would end up with a little sandwich of endpaper: half fully reinforced to glue to the case, and half flying beautifully loose and free with an extra flyleaf, so the mulberry paper could show its true beauty haha
anyway it worked perfectly so this bad boy is beautiful AND strong!
i was also a little worried since i did the endpaper gluing with Yes! paste and the rest of the bind with PVA; something about the chemical makeup of those glues makes them completely cancel each other out and turn into glue cottage cheese if they touch. but i was able to keep them separate enough to avoid any incidents, so it was a great success!
my first public domain bind! i made this one to sell at a craft fair and it actually sold 😨 in the first 20 minutes no less
no complaints with the binding! if i had to redo anything i would have sewn a real headband on it, but then i would have had to charge even more and it was already Quite expensive
i have a bad habit of waiting until the text block is completely cased in and beautiful to decorate the outside of the book with permanent ink 😬 the gold pen Did explode but luckily not near the book
i'm really proud of this typeset also! i think it's so classy - it's set in 10/14 caslon with spectral small caps on the title page. it was a long enough book that sewing up the textblock was almost too boring to finish but i took a week-long break and managed in the end.
the cover is green bookcloth and the endpapers are chiyogami paper, and the hydrangeas are my beautiful summertime photo studio! haha you've seen them before and you'll see them again
In the Renegade Bindery Discord Server, we are once again running Binderary during the month of February. Attendance is free, and a link to the 18+ Discord Server can be found on our carrd.
Whether you’re new to the world of bookbinding or an aged veteran, join us for a month of binding fun! This event is all about community & learning, be it trying something new or refining existing skills.
All our workshops are run by members of our fanbinding community, and some of them are even on Tumblr!
Here's the list of who's running the week 1 workshops:
Renegade Wrap-up 2023!: @robins-egg-bindery, @fanboundbooks, @celestial-sphere-press
Split Board Bindings!: @misanthropiczombie
Decorative techniques: from paint pen to gold leaf.: @blackoakbindery
Affinity publisher tutorial (Beginner Workshop): @kate2kat
Typesetting & Book Design for Beginners: @bearclubbooks
Typesetting Digital Formats: @sayornispress
Typesetting in Word 365 for PC: @no-name-publishing
hey! your books are beautiful! could you share a bit of your process on binding? how do you decide which fic to bind? how do you plan your cover and typeset design etc. thank you
heck yeah i can!! i'm putting this under a readmore because it's so long haha
**this may go without saying but this is just how i personally choose works to bind - i'm sure everyone's process is different.
I only bind fics that like. REALLY stand out to me. I have read an uncountable number of works in my life but my to-bind list only has 5 things on it. It's a combination of: 1) It has to be a really good quality work - characterization I agree with, an interesting plot or insightful observations of character, and I love most of all when I haven't read anything like it before. 2) If it hits all those criteria AND I have a strong idea for a book design while I'm reading it or thinking about it later then it's a good candidate for binding!
For me, the choosing of a fic and the design of the finished book (90% of the time) go completely hand-in-hand - I'll be reading a fic and imagining it as a book at the same time. What design motifs occur through the story that could translate to a physical object? What's the vibe of the work? Is it a dark brooding emotional story or is it a fun happy rock climbing AU? Even before you start typesetting or designing the cover, these questions will inform the final design.
To give you a more specific example, I'll step through the design of one of my books so the whole process is outlined!
Even though No Fixed Ropes was only the second book I ever bound, the design is still one of my favorites! It's a rock climbing AU set in Yosemite in the 1970s... and already you can see that summary could inform a host of design decisions!
The vibe of the story is pretty fun - a little sad (times and people change over the years) but mostly happy (sometimes that's a good thing). The vibe of the story is the thing that informs my typesetting the most!! I set this work in Crimson Text, which to me is a font that has the same vibe as the story. It's a really nice serif font so you can take it seriously (because the POV character is very serious) but it's also a little round and soft and cute (because this story is about finding new friends and coming to terms with change in a soft and understanding way.)
This way of choosing a font will almost certainly be different for everyone! Some people might only use their favorite single font for every work they typeset; some people might say Crimson Text is inappropriate for use in a printed book since it was designed for the web - everyone has a different way of approaching typesetting, and this is mine! But every way is valid, especially if you're the only one reading your books.
For No Fixed Ropes, I wanted the book to have some 70s flair! I spent a lot of time on the website fontsinuse.com looking at book covers printed in the 70s. That's how I landed on Monoton as a secondary font, which I use for chapter headings and the title page. I found an old picture online of rocks in Yosemite, and that became my title page!
I also choose the cover paper based on the story! For No Fixed Ropes, I chose a paper that reminded me of the rocks in national parks. The paper is also made from recycled ropes, which was too perfect to pass up! The spine is covered in leather paper - this wasn't based on the story necessarily, but I needed a spine reinforcement and the black paper brought out the black lines in the cover paper and had a nice feel to it.
Another aspect to ficbinding is deciding what information you want to include in your bind. Since the works exist originally on the internet, there's a lot of info you can choose to include or not - there's the AO3 metadata (publication date, URL, ratings, warnings, etc); there's any information the author might have shared on social media (epilogues written as threadfics, a playlist they made for the character, etc); there's any number of things that are very easy to include on the internet that may not translate so well to a physical book.
Personally I don't find it necessary to include most of this stuff - I'm printing the work for myself and maybe the author and I don't like to clutter it with info I don't need. That being said, the one exception I will always make is for a playlist - I love to include the playlist link in a fun and thematic way!! For No Fixed Ropes, I put the Spotify link on a vintage Yosemite postcard, imagining an ending where the characters stay in touch with each other even though they're not together anymore.
From there it's just a matter of proofreading your text and putting it all together!
Hopefully that answers your questions! If you want more info or you have more questions, definitely ask me more!! I love to talk about this stuff haha
another steddyhands classic for the bookshelf.... really outing myself as an izzy enjoyer here hahaha
very very happy with how this boy turned out!! the airplane/pilot/airport motif really came through for me. i think these chapter titles are the funniest joke ever
the cover is "metallic midnight" bookcloth - another one i accidentally ordered So Much of bc i had no reference for how big a yard of bookcloth was... but actually i'm not too fussed because it's totally awesome! the metallic coating makes it feel much more protective than regular bookcloth and when i made mistakes the glue and paint could be scraped right off.
the endpapers are a marbled paper with the "bird wing" marble pattern (hehe get it.... its another plane joke...) and the cover design is gold acrylic i painted on with a hand cut stencil.
and the best part of the whole book!!!! i finally taught myself how make sewn-on endbands!!! and it was actually so easy!! i feel so bad i didn't do this for all my other books now haha but i guess that's just how learning works or whatever 🙄
text is set in 12pt centaur with 16pt line spacing and 1-inch margins (1.25 on the bottom). i drew the title page art in procreate with my risograph brushes!
this is another fic i knew i had to bind as soon as i read it (even though it wasn't even finished yet!) unfortunately the desire to hold this in book form didn't translate to a design idea and i spent weeks trying to think of the perfect way to present the text. i didn't realize how much i rely on old-fashioned typesetting norms, which don't exactly work for a super modern office au.
but luckily! the amazing @shrugsinchinese let me use their drawing of izzy's polaroid on the title page - it really brought everything together and helped me find the vision for the design haha so extra extra thanks to them
from a technical standpoint this book turned out Perfectly - i ordered premade bookcloth bc my diy version turned out so badly last time, and i got So Much hahaha i'll be binding teal books forever. the endpapers are a peacock design marble paper and ofc the textblock is mohawk superfine. when i make thicker books i use lineco super on the spine and i'm always surprised how strong that makes the book!
the lettering on the cover is silver acrylic paint - i hand cut a vinyl stencil and painted through it. making and painting the stencil may have been my favorite part of this process haha it was like mini screenprinting.
the text is set in my personal classic 10pt adobe caslon with 14pt letter spacing and 1 inch margins. nmesp is a fairly long work compared to my usual bindings, but i still gave it the space as if it was shorter since the larger margins look so much better. it only ended up about an inch thick or so! a perfectly proportioned book imo.
i also had such a good time typesetting all the different communication... slack messages (lato) text messages (helvetica) and emails (calibri). something about typesetting an office au while i'm working at my own office job makes me feel so seen hahaha
and of course there's a playlist to go along with the fic!!! my favorite thing to incorporate into a book design. this time i went with izzy's business card.
anyway thank you @thesoulundone for writing such a cute and funny and sweet and insightful story and thank you for letting me turn it into this project !! i had so much fun with it
you're the trouble that i always find by sundiscus
not much to say about this one actually... i had a vision and i executed it exactly the way i imagined. can you believe it...
cover paper is chiyogami, spine is black bookcloth, endpapers are a heavy indian cotton paper.
i drew the title page and heading art in procreate! i wanted it to look like the way CLAMP draws smoke...
i actually bought centaur (the font) outright and legally for this typeset. i was going to trim the bottom of the textblock off but it looked really nice without trimming so! i just left it. give your typesets lots of room!
speaking of, i think if i did this again i would bump up the line spacing by like 1pt, but otherwise i'm very happy with it.
that our stars should divide and path of primroses by nasri
a cute set of books for a cute little series! i experimented this time with cutting windows in the bookboard before covering with bookcloth - it was a little challenging to get the shapes right but i think they turned out okay.
i made the bookcloth myself with fabric and heat n bond - it didn't turn out as smooth as i would have liked but once the cases were covered i waxed and ironed both books with my beeswax/gamsol mix and that helped settle everything. you can still see a few places where the heat n bond adhesive melted through the fabric onto the front - frustrating! i may be buying my bookcloth outright from now on haha
the endpapers are handpainted - it's a mix of acrylic paint and sakura paint pens on cardstock. they took ages but i'm pretty happy with them - just the right balance of vintagey looking but also cute and playful.
the typeset is 10pt caslon / 14pt line spacing. titles and headings are adobe garamond small caps. margins are 1" top and sides, 1.25" bottom.
Hi there! I’m learning to typeset a fic however I’m very lost on what to do with my margins and sizing. Is it alright if I ask what margins and font size you use on your books? Yours seem to have really good proportion. Thanks in advance :)
no problem!! typography is like my favorite thing to talk and think about so thank You for asking this haha sorry in advance for how long this is going to be
it depends on the font and book, but my font size is generally always between 10 and 12. if you have fancy enough typesetting software you can experiment with half-sizes! 10.5 can be a really nice size for some fonts. and of course some fonts are just weirdly tiny so you have to size them up for them to be readable (looking at you, centaur...)
margins will 100% depend on the fic - if i'm setting a super long fic the margins will be smaller so i can fit more text on the pages. but if the fic isn't crazy long you can get away with larger margins. margins also depend completely on your page dimensions - so far i have only typeset half-letter sized books - each page is 8.5" tall and 5.5" wide. if i'm setting a shorter fic i use 1 inch margins on the sides to give the text a lot of room. if it's a longer fic, i'll use .75 inch margins.
it's also "good typesetting" to set your bottom margin larger than your side and top margins... but rules are meant to be broken. real legit typographers go Hard over margin proportions and making them match the golden ratio or whatever but imo that's way too much to think about. just vibe it out.
the secret third sibling of text size and margins (when you're thinking about page proportions) is line spacing! if you have the ability to change your line spacing by point sizes, i Highly recommend it - usually the default options are too close together or too far apart. you want each line to be readable and comfortable (but not look like a YA book with massive line spacing)
you basically want your text to feel like it can breathe on the page - your margins, text size and line spacing all work together to create the negative space to let in the air. i would Definitely advise pushing a little too far in all directions so you can get a sense for when things go overboard - make everything really big and then dial it back until it's sitting happy on the page.
and for some specific examples - the typeset on this blog that i'm most proud of is for gardencitymovement's wenzhou series. it's set in 10pt adobe caslon with 14pt line spacing and 1 inch margins. each fic is pretty short, so i had the freedom to really space things out.
but novembersmith's anatomy of a fall is really long! i wanted the book to be a reasonable size, so i had to squeeze the text onto the pages a little more - that one is set in 12pt centaur (the tiniest font in the world probably) with 15pt line spacing and .75 inch margins on the sides and 1 inch on the top and bottom.
my sister (@rocketbabey) and i worked on this together as a christmas gift for our cousin! i did the typesetting & binding and she did the art.
this is the longest fic i've bound so far!! i was a little intimidated when my sister talked to me about the idea, but as it turns out, it's easier to work on when the book you're binding has some heft. the textblock ended up being over an inch thick!
i'm really satisfied with the components of this one - the cover is a mulberry paper with a teak leaf top layer (real leaves!). the paper in its original form is very fragile and flaky (real leaves...) so i did a ton of experimenting and ended up painting the whole sheet with the 'paper' mod podge as a sealant - it made the paper shiny and flexible instead of dry and crackly - a great success. it wrapped around the bookboard with basically no problems. that said, i used So much pva on this bind...
the spine is a homemade bookcloth - broadcloth from joanns, heat n bond adhesive and a thin japanese sketch paper for the backing paper. the endpapers are lokta paper. this was also the first time i tried adding a bookmark and it turned out sooo cute - i'm so happy with it.
the text is set in 12pt centaur, and it's the first book i printed on my own printer! i was finally able to print on mohawk superfine and the difference that makes..... you can't even imagine how satisfying this book is to hold.
i will admit down here that i'm not really into mcr and i accidentally learned more about them doing this project than i ever would have otherwise, but i Am happy with how this book turned out from an artistic standpoint! and godspeed to all mcr fans i hope you're having a great time out there
also novembersmith if you see this and want a copy dm me
your flower rain at the end of the road, this harbored deluge for you and i, and a dream of sunlight lining your shadow by @gardencitymovements
an epic project for an amazing series!
my original idea was to put the whole series into one volume, but the more i thought about it, the more i wanted different colors and covers for each story. each book is a little thin but i got to make them each have their own vibe so i'm happy :)
the covers are a chinese brocade bookcloth that i was extremely lucky to find!! the spines are covered in cardstock - a last minute but necessary change to the design to tone down the extreme power of the fabric. the endpapers are different colors of mulberry paper. very thin!! i like the effect but i may not be using it again haha it gave me a lot of trouble.
the title pages are all paintings by zhang ruoai. this is the most intense title page design i've done so far and it turned out pretty dang well imo i'm really proud of them.
i'm really really happy with the typesetting of these - i spent a lot of time experimenting with a larger margin size and it ended up working so well. the text has a lot of room to breathe and it sits really nicely on the page. the dimensions of the pages are actually 8.25x5.5 - a tiny bit shorter than half letter. i Did spend a lot of time cutting 1/4" strips off the bottom of each signature but it was Worth It
i'll end by saying thank you to gardencitymovements for writing such a beautiful series of stories that even over a year later i still think about them - all i can hope is that this project brings you half as much joy as you brought us!
