That moment, hopefully more than one but especially the first one, when you're reading a fanfic and a character says something they never ever said in canon, but you hear it crystal clear in their voice in your head, when it hits so spot on in word use and syntax and characterization that you feel like you heard them say it, like it could have come straight from their mouth in canon even though it didn't, and you know this one's gonna be good
I love and appreciate every single person in the notes that mentioned their favorite author who does this for them, and I hope they see you saying so and have a really nice night because of it
cant do the mutual first memory rb game because i genuinely cant remember anything. i dont know you were all my mutuals at birth. we were joined by the stars and by blogging
This is a book of two-fold whims. Firstly, I saw someone make a secret hollow book with a 'text block' that was just printed lines on the edges and I wanted it to be actual sheets of paper. (This is not shade, if it needs saying.)
Secondly- and somewhat relatedly now that I think on it- I wanted to make a book with more... construction? Visible meat? Book is-ness? Initially, I was going to make a fordite-themed book about cars or some shit but I realized what I liked about fordite is its haphazard providence from what is effectively trash. And now you're halfway to cosmogony- so best to lean into it.
I made the case boards by gluing together a bunch of junk paper (an idea Iiberally stolen and wildly simplified from @monikahmakes ). I marbled the end papers with craft paper shipped with some 'real' paper. The text block edge is left untrimmed; the salvaged leather is left (mostly) frayed. The book cloths are both scraps. You get it? You Get It?
Today we’re punching the sewing holes! I also went back and updated part one to include more pictures and a list of tools.
Here are the tools for this part:
1. A punching cradle. I bought mine for about $20, but you can make your own
2. An awl. You may be able to use nails or even thumb tacks (assuming your thread is fine enough to go through those holes), but this is a fairly cheap tool to buy.
3. A ruler
Different methods of spine sewing will require different distributions of holes. You are going to want to choose what kind of stitching you are going to do before punching holes into your signatures!
For this book, I am going to be sewing over ribbons, so I need one hole about an inch from each end, and three pairs of holes distributed evenly along the remainder. These pairs need to be wide enough apart for my ribbon (1/2” cotton ribbons).
Unfortunately, my commercial punching cradle’s holes are all 1cm apart — too small for my ribbon. This would not have been a problem if I made my own and used punching cards, but we will make do with what we have.
I did some math and figured out that, since my signatures are actually somewhat longer than the punching cradle, I could punch the signature once in these 4 holes and then FLIP IT OVER to make the other four punches (which would give me my 1/2” gaps).
Step 1: lay the signature into the cradle. Make sure that the edges of the paper are flush against the wood, and that all of the pages are firmly lined up.
Step 2: lay the punching guide on top of the paper, pressing the paper firmly down into the trench.
Step 3: punch the holes! I’ve marked the ones I am going to use so I don’t mess this step up.
Here are the first holes punched, and the second set of holes punched after I flipped the signature around and did it again.
If you do this step right, all of the holes should line neatly up when you lay the signatures on top of each other.
NOTE: I probably should have left a little extra space between the edges and those outer holes, especially considering that I’m going to be trimming the text blocks later. But I forgot to change my setup, so oh well xD
Today we’ll be sewing the text block together! I’ll be following this tutorial by Renaissance Bookbinding, and you should definitely give it a watch for a more thorough explanation. I’ll still attempt to document it in pictures, however, for those who might not enjoy video format.
Tools and supplies for this step:
1. Our perforated signatures
2. Some pre-waxed linen thread
3. A large needle (mine is apparently a “sail needle”, but it came with my awl and punching cradle so idk the exact size)
4. A couple of binder clips
5. Some 1/2” cotton tape
6. Scissors
Step 1: thread the needle and measure out some thread. I have ten signatures, so I will pull out 10 signature lengths plus 1 for good measure.
NOTE: if you want to sew your endpapers on, you will need an additional two lengths of thread! I’ve only used tipped-on papers in the past, so I forgot to leave extra thread this step xD
Step 2: grab your LAST signature (the end of the book) and start the sewing by pushing in from the rightmost hole. Leave 3-4 inches of thread at the beginning (or a full signature length plus 3-4 inches if you are going to be sewing end papers on later). The sewing itself is simple: just go back and forth through the holes, keeping things neat (but not *tight* — you don’t want to tear the paper).
Step 3: pause and push the cotton tapes through the loops you formed in the last step. This time, whenever you come to a ribbon, you are going to be pushing your needle up behind the thread that went across that ribbon in the last pass, before pushing it into the opposite hole.
Step 4: When you come to the end, you are going to slide your needle between the last two signatures that you joined, pulling up under that loop of thread (unless it is the first two signatures — in that instance, tie a simple knot with the loose end of the thread before continuing)
Step 5: Repeat until all the signatures are attached. Here you can see how I’m using the binder clips to keep the new signature steady and even with the rest of the text block as I sew.
(FWIW, I don’t recommend the smiley clips. They’re what I had, but they tend to catch on the edges of paper :/)
Important! Don’t pierce the ribbons with the thread or use gaps that are too small. You want to be able to tug these ribbons back and forth, both to even them out and also to aid in rounding the spine later, should you choose to do so.
Here we are, halfway done! You can see how I’m getting a nice crisscross pattern up each ribbon as I go. (Isn’t it *pretty*? ^_^)
And that’s it! The text block is all sewn together now and ready for glueing. The spine will compress some when I put it in the press, but this is definitely the largest book I’ve bound so far! I may end up having to round the spine before I put on the cover (which is one reason I chose to sew it together using tapes).
Of course, there are many different ways to accomplish this step — lots of different stitches and styles to choose from, all with their own advantages and disadvantages. So maybe take a look around before you commit to one. This is just the one that I know how to do.
It genuinely upsets me that there are people who call this animation and voice acting bad, there’s so much heart and soul on display in just this clip alone
i am of the sincere belief that if ur on ur computer a lot you should visually customize it to high hell and back not just for funsies but also because it has literally made me less depressed before. its kind of like how rearranging your bedroom is good for your brain, yknow. i do stuff like this every few months
LIVE WALLPAPER: wallpaper engine. only thing on here that costs any money (its like 5 bucks on steam). im sure theres free alternatives but this one has a lot of presets and stuff so its less hassle and its what i use. might be a bad idea for lower end pcs tho
CUSTOM TASKBAR: retrobar on github (lots of different options)
CUSTOM CURSOR: theres a lot of places to find these, but rw-designer open cursor library is a good place to start
DISCORD: betterdiscord, im using the clearvision v7 theme with a custom background
EXTENSIONS (these are for firefox, might or might not exist on other browsers):
tabliss for the new tab theme
stylus for tumblr -> specifically the 'tumblr - custom dashboard pallette' theme for colors + bg, and this for the pre-twitterifcation layout
enhancer for youtube for custom youtube colors
the browser theme is just one i found on the firefox theme 'store'
kind of weird how parts of your soul are left in various locations without any warning… like yes i’m always at the top of that hill, sitting at the bus stop, in the cool light of the Japanese restaurant, standing at the pier etc etc
