Hello! My name is Desmothene, or Des. I'm a fanbinder, and a member of Renegade Bookbinding Guild! (@renegadeguild) What this means is that I have sworn myself to Renegade's Code of Conduct in how I conduct my binding practices.
I mostly bind works of fanfiction for myself and their authors (and sometimes as gifts for friends). If you're interested in learning how to bookbind for fannish purposes yourself, please check out Renegade for free help, resources, and community!
If you are an author who previously declined a copy and have changed your mind or your situation has changed, feel free to reach out at any time! Any offers to send an author copy remain open indefinitely. All author copies are a gift and do NOT require any form of payment, including shipping, from the author. (pls let me make u a book? 🥺)
I do not accept fanbinding commissions (or commissions of any type at this time).
I have two imprints: Celestial Sphere Press, and Canis Sanguine Press. The '#celestial sphere press' and '#canis sanguine press' tags will get you my work for those imprints. Videos and how-to discussions are tagged with '#in progress review'.
"Yes. Many people died in this house," Al-Haitham confirms. "Some of them are even buried on the land." And then, almost like an afterthought, he answers, "It is my house."
This is a reprise of the first glimmerglanger fic (and first star wars fic) I ever bound several years ago, as a gift for @mourningmountainsbindery. It was much earlier in my bookbinding journey, and you can tell! This time I had found some awesomely dramatic photo manips by @nobie which they allowed me to use for a dust jacket! I really enjoyed the effect from their addition.
I printed this on 28 lb linen finish paper which made it a very pleasing chonk. It also got silk endbands, crepaldi endpapers, a three color speckled edge, and colibri bookcloth with the title foiled in mando'a. Typeset is still my original version, but it got some better margins by virtue of printing it on legal quarto instead of letter quarto!
This is a Guardian zombie apocalypse AU! I'm using @helle-bored's typeset, which had a very neat stenciled/stamped aesthetic. The binding was loosely inspired by the Antarctic-published books that were bound in boards from wooden crates, but I went my own direction with the concept (in part because I wanted to practice sewing on cord with my sewing frame).
I had originally intended to give the wood a natural grayish weathered look (while I have lots of scrap wood in the basement, I didn't have anything suitable that had been sitting outside for years) but the iron acetate & tea combo that I treated the wood with had a much stronger effect than expected. I'm a fan of how it turned out though!
For the sewing, I referenced Exposed Spine Sewings by Keith Smith, this is a method that uses extra wraps around the cord to climb between signatures instead of a kettle stitch at the head and tail. The cords are laced through the boards and glued down; the furniture tacks are mostly for the aesthetic and only somewhat functional (I pre-drilled the holes they're hammered into because I was worried about the possibility of splitting the wood, so they're not in there as tight as they otherwise could be).
just wanted to say thank you for being so kind and always willing to share your knowledge and resources 🤗 makes things much less intimidating as a baby amateur binder! ❤️
oh wow, thank YOU so much for the appreciation!!
in my opinion, it's only fair to share, especially because I was only able to learn how to bind myself because of many other bookbinders freely sharing their knowledge and resources (<3 DAS and @renegadeguild).
i wish i was more up to the task of doing more videos and such some days, but alas. they are really not my thing. at least there are many people for whom it is their thing! and i am always happy to answer asks and dms or to talk to people in the Renegade discord.
This book has reached its recipient, so I can share pictures now! This is Deadset by @pbaintthetb, an amazing Nie Huaisang fic in which Nie Huaisang is murdered and becomes a tgcf-style ghost.
I did a kintsugi-look binding for a different calamity au (ironically, one in which Jin Guangyao was the ghost) but spoilers, this was the fic that I first thought of using it for. And while my first attempt was just a surface design on the cover, I built this into the structure of the book itself. The cover structure is inspired by Ben Elbel's "pixel binding" which is a book cover made of many tiny squares; using irregular pieces here makes it not quite as flexible, but I'm still very happy with the effect.
The individual sections of the cover were glued to a thin, flexible paper, then covered with a decorative paper that I worked down into the spaces between (definitely use paste rather than pva for this). The gold is deco foil, often called toner-reactive foil but it adheres to dry pva as well, so I simply filled the channels with pva and then applied the foil using the head of a pin to apply pressure (you don't need heat when applying it to pva).
For the rounded spine, I used leather pieces so that I could still have the thickness but they would be flexible enough that I wouldn't have to sacrifice the irregular shapes.
The way Ben Elbel builds his pixel binding books is the textblock is wrapped in a suede cover, basically like a paperback but suede, and then the pixel binding cover is glued to the suede at the spine. I'm not sure that duplicating this construction was necessary here, but it worked out well enough. The suede-covered textblock is an interesting look and feel all by itself actually.
For @wanderingjedihistorian an edition of her beautiful Codywan Cupid & Psyche au Of Dury, Devotion, and Love. I wanted to echo the colors of @mysandwichranaway’s lovely art and bring in butterflies for Psyche.
inspired by c4e4 "Stone-Faced"
images were created using lino printing; text was stamped using letterpress type; book was created with drum leaf binding
edition of 3
IT IS DONE! this was my final project for my "the printed book" class, during which we combined various printing techniques with various book binding techniques. both techniques used in this project--linocut and drum leaf binding--were things I had not done before! and it turned out very well!!! I am quite proud.
I wanted to do something inspired by Critical Role for this project and I ended up with Occtis's death because that scene(s) was easy to break down into a visual sequence/narrative. I ended up with seven different linocuts: the torso, the rib cage, the heart, the Stone of Nightsong (VERY HARD TO DRAW, BRENNAN), the big wing, the small wing, and the suture line (which I forgot about, and then hastily made on the back of the heart stamp). I also made three copies! (we were required to make two but I made an extra)
fun fact: the book is approximately 5in x 3.5in, which is the best measurement I could find for the size of a human heart
the whole book:
sketches and some behind the scenes/in progress pics:
my brainstorming and planning pages. I ended up not doing the Tachonis symbol on the cover, mostly because I forgot to make a stamp for it. for all of the linocut pieces, I sketched them traditionally first and then finished the drawing digitally (which I then printed out to transfer onto the lino) (not pictured: the sketch I ended up using for the stone of nightsong)
the rib cage and stone of nightsong final designs. the stone's canon description is very cool but also EXTREMELY hard to draw and this took a Lot of finagling, but I finally ended up with something I'm happy with.
test prints of the smaller linocut pieces! because the pages of the book are only 5in x 7in, these were all pretty small and a bit of an annoyance to carve, but they turned out well!
left: progress shot of printing. right: all my pages, extremely out of order. the upside to making three books is that I had an extra book I am referring to as my "fuck up" book, which I made using all the worst prints LOL
I've been reading a lot of star wars fics with a focus on Mandalorians that include a lot of Mando'a. So I thought I'd make myself a little dictionary to help me translate :)
I started typesetting the dictionary at the start of September and due to procrastination finished it at the end of October, and then managed to complete the actual book in 2 days lol
The cover is blue goat leather decorated with a foil quill and white holographic foil. Endpapers are by papiersprina that I bought at a bookbinding fair in the Netherlands last October. Headbands are hand-sewn with cotton embroidery thread.
This book was my first attempt at a full leather book, which was made easier by the fact that it is an octavo, and therefore tiny :)
The map inside the book was from this star wars fandom page, and then edited to be black lines. The stars on the title page are also edited from that image. The words in the dictionary are taken from here.
I had a lot of fun with the cover design on this one, the planet in the middle is a trace of an image I found of the planet Sullust as well as it's moons, because the fic is set on Sullust. The bookcloth I used is dubletta nutmeg, and the design is printed on using my inkjet printer.
The endpapers are cloth jointed and are marbled papers done by Ann Muir, that I bought from shepherds in London. The endbands are faux double core sewn with silk embroidery floss I found in my local reuse craft store for only 50p each!
...I also somehow managed to fold the first signature wrong on this so the first 20ish pages are out of order 😭
You actually cannot skip to being good at a creative endeavour that you haven't put much practice into. You cannot trick your way out of the 'knows that your work is not what you want it to be but don't know how to improve it' stage by planning or reading or talking about it really really hard. At some point you just have to craft through it until your brain finds it's own unique way back to the 'everything I make slaps' stage and be prepared to start the cycle all over again. You just have to make that project you're excited about slightly less good than you want it to be. (Says this standing in a pool of blood and covered in blood and also coughing up a little blood)
hi! I wanted to ask about the Japanese silk thread you use – I'm going to Japan soon and wanted to pick some up in person, do you know of any stores in Tokyo that would sell some and if so, any brands you recommend? thanks so much!
Hi!! There are a bunch of stores where you can get this type of silk thread. It will usually be in the hand-sewing section, and sold on little cards.
If you're heading to Nippori Fabric district (great also for second hand kimono/haori/hakama shopping), you should also find some sewing shops that carry it there.
If not, most sewing supply chains will carry it. The two big ones are Okadaya (there is one outside Shinjuku station, but there are a lot in general) or a Yuzawaya.
If you find a more independent sewing crafts store, you might luck out and find some on sale (happened to me once way out in Takayama. 80m of silk for 80 yen. deal of the century. I hadn't even started sewing endbands yet, had no idea what I stumbled on but got them anyways).
As for brands, there's a whole bunch but sizing is pretty standardized so I'm usually not bothered about which one (I use KNK, Daruma, Fujix/Tire, etc interchangeably). You want to make sure the card says "100% 絹" on it. Check how many meters you get for the price and what size it is (9号 or 16号). 9 is thinner and my personal preference, but 16 will let you finish an endband faster.
(meters are noted down in the darkness on the bottom)
Once you come back and have fallen in love, you can buy a whole 171 color set on the wholesale site Nippon Chuko. They have a minimum 20,000 yen for international orders, but the per-card pricing is the best you'll find anywhere except in the sale box of that random store in Takayama.
just learned americans have different standard paper sizes than everyone else. what do you MEAN you don’t have A4 as the standard. what do you mean your standard paper size isn’t even the same size as an A4. apparently it’s like. ’letter’ and ’legal’ and whatever else. help!!!
it's particularly annoying as a bookbinder who moves between the US & overseas. the amount of paper i bought one time i was in the U.S. for a long project that started in the U.S. but I had continued working on after moving overseas... 4 reams of ledger paper in my checked bag
hiiiiii! zay has his copy now so I can post pics!! :D
I don't normally bind my own work, but after zay did an incredible podfic of one of my jayvik fics, I decided to give a go! (and so I could make him a copy too hehe). this is a bind of the podfic of my little seaside post-canon, when it comes my turn to lose you. gorgeous artwork on the CDs is by @moonartjb and @wr0wn. (full pieces, which have and deserve their own posts, are here and here!)
as always, more crafty chatter under the cut! <3
This was such a fun challenge! I knew going in that I wanted a format that would showcase the podfic in a physical way, but I went back and forth on how best to do that. While I was puzzling out possible dimensions, I came across the digibook and went !!!:
From there, it was just a matter of sizing the textblock and case around the CD, then making paper pockets for each board to house them. For the textblock, I measured the dimensions of a CD and a standard jewel case as a starting point, then found a size I thought would work best. I printed on my usual short-grain letter paper and trimmed twice--once after sewing the signatures, then again after gluing the spine. The finished size of the book is the same height as a jewel case, and a little shorter length-wise:
(comparison photo with another bound podfic by zay hehe)
For the CD pockets, I used cream printer paper and folded them using this tutorial (...don't ask me how many times I had to refold them to get the dimensions exactly right ajsdlfkjs).
All in all, I'm quite happy with this size! I think it strikes a nice balance between book and CD case, and it feels nice and sturdy in the hand, especially with both CDs in there (Disc 1 is chapters 1-4, and Disc 2 is chapters 5-7!)
Another one of my favorite bits of this bind is the window inset! Original photo is by Daniel Gorostieta, which I edited in Affinity Publisher and printed on photo paper. I then layered a sheet of acetate between the boards to give it that reflective window quality, and also to protect the photo paper, which can be vulnerable to scratching and fading if left exposed.
But by far the COOLEST part of this bind was getting to hand it to zay in person!! I've only ever mailed author copies before, so it was amazing getting to meet up and hand him something we'd both worked on together 🥹
And finally, one last credit--the beautiful metal spiral bookmark (which I just had to include in the pics) was a gift to me, literally forged by dear @zillac. It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever received, and I can't believe it's mine!! I will treasure it forever <3
Between the artwork, the podfic, meeting zay, and zil's gift (which arrived around the time I was finishing this bind)--gosh! All my books are a mosaic of people and stories I care about, but this one felt extra special 💌
And that's all for today! Once more for the road: you can listen to zay's podfic on ao3, here <3
Interim is an amazing post BotW fanfic where the cycle starts immediately over but Link and Zelda don't realised it and it is racist to accuse the hot Gerudo man they are both nursing a crush on of being the next evil king. I love this story it is so so good. This is one of the few loz fics I adore that is not purely zelink. The writing! The story!! They are all so doomed by the narrative and they are all so so hot.
The aim was to get this finished in Binderary 2026 but I ended up too busy to finish anything but a pamphlet in the end.
The typeset is spectacular and was created by @besidekick for the 2024 Renegade Exchange. I really adored design choices of the interior illustrations from c. 1640 by Bartholomeus Breenbergh, they fit the post-apocalypse theme so well. And the blue drop caps!
I love the cover I came up with in homage to the gorgeous typeset and the illustrations scattered throughout the typeset. The cover illustration is an etching entitled Classical Ruins created in 1673 by the Bohemian artist Wenceslaus Hollar in 1673. The cover was designed in Canva, printed on matte photo paper, then covered in soft touch laminate before being adhered to the book board. If I was to redo it I would forgo the blurb on the back, as I added it last minute, and I feel like it could have looked better without upon reflection.
This book went so so wrong at the end (issues with the front endpapers I’m pretending are not real until I can face trying to fix my mistake), but I’m so happy to have this story on my physical shelf.
"don't assign human morality to non human things" is so true except when it comes to printers. they know what they are, they understand dilemmas and ethics and morality. they choose to be how they are, they choose to be evil, at their very core they are rotten
