Brief intro post! I'm boinin, main blog @boinin. I've been dipping my toes into bookbinding these last few months, and decided to make a side blog to document my projects after lurking in the tags for the last six months. I'd put myself in the learning/improving category.
"bóin dé" literally means god's little cow in Irish, but it's the term for a ladybird 🐞 Since my main handle is derived from that, I went with the correct wording for my binding endeavours.
I'm fine with people making physical copies of my fanworks for non-commercial use, such as a personal bound copy or as a gift. Got a question? I accept asks over on my main.
Typeset more or less done! I won't get an opportunity to look at it again until the weekend - hoping that's long enough that I'll pick up on formatting quirks before committing. Note to self: get that inside title page to resemble the outside.
I didn't go too nuts with motifs in the end; the title and header fonts are loud enough. But my scene breaks are tiny little cocktails! They might be too fine to print clearly so I'll do a test run before committing.
even if this love disappears from the world tonight by @slagpoet
A bind of a long-time favourite fic of mine - thanks so much slagpoet to agreeing to the bind! It's a beautiful, poignant read that I can't recommend enough. I was so delighted to send you a copy!
This is my first ever A6 binding, and I went Nagireo-core with the design and colour choices. The HTV layering was challenging and so the end result for both copies is a lil wonky, but I love how they mirror one another.
Wisteria are a motif in this fic, so these flowers feature on the cover as well as the typeset. Another motif is the sky and space, which I leaned into with the back cover and end papers.
An easter egg for Blue Lock nerds: the purple HTV vinyl used here is actually a chameleon variety that looks green from certain angles! Which is PERFECT because 1) purple babygirl Reo has a chameleon copycat ability in canon and 2) Nagi's often depicted with a green aura.
The typeset is one of my favourites to date - purple and grey throughout, but for each chapter the wisteria flowers fade as Nagi confronts his demons. Never disappearing, but not as dominant as they started out 🤍💜
Technical details:
A6 casebinding with linen bookcloth (purple/beige).
140 pages (6 signatures) on A4 white printer paper. The Nagi volume has purple stitching; the Reo one off-white.
Pre-printed cardstock endpapers (space themed).
Endbands are scraps of the alternating book cloth wrapped around cord and glued on.
Three different colours of heat transfer vinyl applied in layers. This was challenging, as applying heat to the overlaying elements warped some of the underlying ones. Adhesive vinyl maaaay have been a safer bet... but I had a vision and didn't want to compromise. 🥲
i just received the binding of my nagireo fic “even if this love disappears from the world tonight” and it’s so beautiful i’m going to cry. thank you @boin-de-bindery for this beautiful gift, i’m going to treasure it forever
It's late for a year in review perhaps, but I'm really pleased with how the hobby's going! I picked up bookbinding in June: here's what seven months of progress, trial, error, and fun looks like.
I made 20 books on my own steam in 2024, in addition to a couple small booklets created during a workshop. Not pictured here are five I made as gifts, or the three fic copies that have gone to their authors.
My hope for this year is to refine my eye for design, continue making author copies for stories I adore, and to make a copy of my own longfic since that's finally about to end ❤️
I've got one project finished so far this year (on route to its author!) and a couple other fun things in the typesetting stage.
This zine was compiled by the wonderful mods over at @kunigirizine and distributed to fans with proof of donation to the PCRF. It raised $502, a figure our small fandom can be proud of 🧡❤️ Ón abhainn go dtí an fharraige, saoirse don Phalaistín 🇵🇸
The zine focuses on the Blue Lock ship Kunigiri (Chigiri Hyouma x Kunigami Rensuke). It features stories and art from 22 contributors, including myself. The amount of love that went into this sings from its pages—it's a beautiful-looking publication and I'm so grateful I got to contribute.
Naturally, I made a physical copy to gnaw on admire ✨ Technical specs below:
A5 casebinding with linen bookcloth
Handmade dust jacket, featuring art by the inimitable bell (@\forb1ddenrain on twitter)
128 pages (8 signatures) printed on A4 recycled cartridge card (140gsm), thick enough to prevent bleedthrough. Signatures were guillotined before sewing.
Endpapers were marbled by me and sewn on. The colours contrast but I think it works in person 🌈
French link binding with alternating thread. The idea here was to avoid having white thread visible in the darker coloured signatures. 'Twas a pain swapping thread every 1-2 signatures, but look how pretty the sewn textblock was! ...only to get glued over and hidden. I'm happy with the in-bind result though:
Handsewn double core headbands in Kunigiri's signature colours.
Metallic rose/blush coloured HTV for the bookcloth cover.
My printer is basically out of magenta now, but I'm so happy with this bind 💕
The zine artists also provided a haul of printable and digital merch! 🥺 these bookmarks and stickers are both by Froggi (@froggirum on twitter). Best believe I stuck them EVERYWHERE.
Non-Uniform Random Variate Generation by Luc Devroye
One of the nice things about making books is the level of customisation you can apply, not to mention giving physical form to something that, for whatever reason, can't be published traditionally.
This doesn't just extend to fanfiction. Last week, my fiancé requested me to make a bound copy of an academic textbook they use frequently. This textbook is long out of print, thanks to fuckery from the publisher. Mr. Devroye explains in detail, but in essence, for greedy reasons, this textbook only had one limited print run despite being a text my fiancé references frequently nearly forty years post-publication.
The whole text has been shared on the author's website in the form of a PDF scan of the pages. The author has given carte blanche permission to reproduce the textbook in any form.
At a whopping 866 pages (including errata and the author's amusing web preface), it was an intimidating prospect to bind. I'm slightly concerned this chonky boy will fall apart after a few years of use. The spine is about 6cm thick. But, hopefully, I've done enough to reinforce the textblock, endpapers and spine such that it will last a long time.
Anyway, technical details:
Three piece bradel binding using yellow bookcloth. I wanted this copy to look like the original, minus the pesky publisher's details. The plan was to do a regular case binding, but the bookcloth wasn't wide enough to accommodate all three cover pieces. Three piece bradel doesn't seem as sturdy as a regular case, so fingers crossed it holds up.🤞
Marbled endpapers I made at a local workshop. My teacher intervened with turpentine to rescue this particular design, because I do not have a knack for marbling. I used DAS's sewn endpaper method for extra strength.
The signatures are 6-7 sheets long, for a total of 18 signatures including the endpapers. I trimmed each signature using a guillotine before sewing them together with French link. Jupe cord for support, which I frayed and glued down onto the endpapers along with mull before casing in.
Double core endbands around some jewellery cord, with dual bookmark ribbons. They're offset to the left, since the last three to four signatures of the book contain the references, index and errata.
This book also got a homemade dust jacket, similar in construction to my last bind. Since my fiancé became my spouse on Monday, I took the opportunity to cheese it out with the dust jacket 💞 I figure it's a nice marriage gift / future heirloom, provided the thing lasts long enough to get passed on.
Darling, I'm Starving & Wrap Your Teeth Around The World by Ethereally, @putsch
My dust jacket bind! Thanks again to both authors for giving me permission to make a fanbinding ❤️
This is a Blue Lock AU where Kunigami and Chigiri go hunting vampires across Meiji-era Japan. The fics are among my favourites, and they were a pleasure to bind.
The authors commissioned this wonderful cover art for their fic, which I knew from the outset I wanted to include. Hence, adventures in DIY dust jacket craft. I printed the front and rear + flaps as separate A4 sheets, cut them to size, then connected them with a spine made from endpaper off-cuts. Really happy with the finish ✨
I kept the book cover itself simple. It's red velour bookcloth with gold HTV for the lettering and AO3 logo. I used strips of the same HTV on the dust jackets to seal the external joints.
One of my favourite things about this bind is the inclusion of this illlustration by fleshcircuits, who kindly gave me permission to include his art! It's spooky and gorgeous, just like the writing.
I actually made three copies of this—one for me, and a copy each for the two authors. I made Putsch's a little after the other two, so I don't have a picture of all three together 🥲 but I like that each copy is similar with slight differences in terms of endpapers and small details.
Technical details:
A5 flat spine casebinding with red faux velour bookcloth (gotta say, love this stuff; I've bought more in red and in black).
I did different sizes of signatures for each bind, but they all clock in at 104 pages. The signatures were trimmed by guillotine.
fleshcircuits' illustration printed on white paper. This has a hinge that I sewed in with the regular signature sheets, along with the corresponding page on the other side of the signature. It didn't align precisely, but I still love how it looks.
Endpapers are from this pack of printed cardstock. Pretty decent quality and a nice weight for endpapers, but note they're completely matte: the "glitter" is printed.
Handsewn headbands.
Homemade dust jacket made from matte photo paper, scrap endpaper and PVA glue—tutorial to follow. I like the detail of having AO3 comments as "reviews" like a traditionally published book.
Fonts used were OldStyle, Fancy Text and Garamond. The title and chapter frames are doctored from a Vecteezy image and a Meiji-ish sample label.
i avoid printers at all costs but deep down i think i should've been a printer. life so easy. i sit there all squarelike and when someone has a minor task for me i goFUCK YOU
Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love by @isthisselfcare
This was my gateway to fanfiction back in 2022 (after seeing it recommended countless times on the romance books subreddit). I read it again just prior to typesetting it last month, and man—what a fic. It's a charming showcase of the merits of transformative works. No other depiction of Draco can top this one for me, and it ticks all the fluffy, slow burn milestones it promises in the tags. Not to mention, it's hilarious. A perfect romance read, like the redditors promised.
Anyway, after reading all 200K words on my phone—for a second time—I wanted a physical copy for the next reread. Although there's a few existing typesets available, I decided to make my own. My goal was a reminiscent rom-com vibe that spoke for itself.
There's no illustrations, only some recurring visual motifs: the heart shaped glasses; the rings; moon phase dividers, which are a nod to Hermione's research trips around the country. The significance of flowers and geodesic wards in the story influenced the title design and back cover.
My favourite part is the spine; there aren't many fanfictions I'd recognise by acronym, but this is one.
Likely my one and only bind for HP, and it makes me smile whenever I pass the bookshelf. Thank you isthisselfcare for sharing your work, as well as your policy on personal fanbinds. Let's keep fandom free everyone 🩷
Technical details and bookbinding ramblings under the cut:
A5 casebinding with an attempt at trimming the edges. This bad boy has 528 pages, printed in seven signatures. A breeze to stitch together, sure, but trimming didn't go so well.
Bookcloth is homemade from pink cotton and a flax-like fabric... I couldn't quite iron out the creases in either case, but I was too impatient to be done with the bind to retry washing and ironing again. I figure it makes it rustic 🤷♀️
Pre-printed cardstock endpapers, a gold bookmark ribbon, and handsewn double core headbands. I love how these look, although I succumbed to my usual habit of having too many wraps 🥲 They're squashy but not the worst for a first attempt.
The cover features layers of printable vinyl stickers, clear protective bookwrap and an overlay of rose gold metallic HTV. It was near impossible to ratio the HTV to the print-and-cut vinyl accurately. The back summary graphic ended up waaaay too big, but after three misprints and using up nearly all my HTV, I wasn't in the mood to fix it.
Sabon is the body text font, one I wasn't familiar with. It works really well for romance fiction. I used Beautiful Dream as a feature font, using a mix of the two for the title design and back cover summary.
(this is the part where you find out who you are) - @kae-karo
A fanbinding of this hilarious & heartwarming Blue Lock Mall AU: thanks again to kae-karo for agreeing to let me make this! After I'd finished, I took my copy to an Auntie Anne's to mark the occasion 🥨 only recently learned that she sells pretzels across the Atlantic!
The bind includes an illustration of Hot Topic Employee Rin by nanabee ✨
This was my first time making two copies of a fic, and I ended up refining the typeset and design elements midway. The bindings are siblings rather than twins as a result, but I'm very pleased with them both. Went for a Hot Topic/2000s grunge vibe.
The cover title is a collage of lettering from the stores that the characters work at in the fic + a few others that would be familiar to American mall goers. I used printable vinyl sticker paper for the author copy, covered it with transparent film then layered metallic red HTV on top.
The personal copy has regular sticker paper for the title while the HTV is unbacked. It's hard to read on the stripy bookcloth, hence the adjustment.
clock the typo on the personal copy idk how that happened :(
This is the most thought I've put into a typeset so far. The chapters have unique character POV headings based on their employer's branding or their personal vibes (e.g. since Kaiser makes me think "expensive & European", he has a Chanel-inspired POV font). The fonts have their own credit section at the end.
Technical details:
A5 binding with rounded spine.
13 signatures of 8 sheets, for an overall page count of 416.
Glitter card stock endpaper for the author copy, regular cardstock for the personal copy.
Handsewn headbands with a ribbon bookmark.
Homemade bookcloth (heat 'n' bond method) made from a fat quarter for emo/Beetlejuice flair.
Edge painted with red metallic gouache. This stained the interior in places but, y'know, 𝖆𝖊𝖘𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖙𝖎𝖈.
One final difference between the two copies is that the author copy benefitted from the arrival of my 20-sheet guillotine. While not perfect, the edges look much more even on the author copy. This will be my main method of edge trimming going forward.
It worked! Not bad for a five minute MS Paint design ✨
I'm really pleased with how it turned out, given it's homemade. Some teething issues, but that's part of the charm. Will share a quick tutorial eventually.
This blog is meant to serve as my finished project tracker, but there's something about creating and holding a physical record that gives me dopamine 🐞
This is my first attempt at a three piece bradel. It was trickier to execute than a more conventional casebinding... but ohhh, it's pretty. I wanna make more.
Typeset is by KidCorvid, as shared through the Renegade Bindery Discord.
Paper is more "cream" orange paper, 160gsm this time. I have 400+ sheets of the stuff to use up somehow...
Cover bookcloth is red bonded leather from a local supplier (shout out to Liberties Papers); spine bookcloth is red faux velour stuff from Amazon.
Ladybird deco is layered HTV in the order red-white-black. I ordered glitter vinyl recently and had to try it out. I don't have Cricut Access, so the image was put together in layers in GIMP, each layer exported as a separate PNG, then scaled together in the Cricut Design Space canvas. The black is slightly bubbled but it's prone to that regardless of surface.
You can't see clearly in these images but the 'white' HTV is actually holographic silver. (can you tell I'm actually a magpie)
