Hi! I'm Riker (they/them), a former game dev/copywriter/editor/costumer with moderate-to-severe ME/CFS (among myriad other conditions) in their early 40's and located on the US eastern seaboard. I have 2 cats (Kilgharrah and R2D2), 22 houseplants, 11 tattoos, and spend most of my time either stuck on bed rest or writing fanfic.
Where To Find Me:
Main/Star Trek blog (which I follow from): @bamfspock
The Expanse side blog: @downbadfordraper
NMCU Daredevil side blog: @a-really-good-lawyer
Discord: bamfspock
AO3: bamfspock
IG: sneaking.suspicion.books
About The Blog:
This blog is mostly reblogs for now, though I'll add the occasional thing about my own attempts at binding, and will hopefully, eventually, add binds I've done myself. I'll also be posting about the fic I write, which could be anything from sharing excerpts or promos to notes about the process to expressing my (frequent) frustrations, and maybe the occassional fic rec. Cat pics may also make an appearance.
Tags Guide (for my own reference really):
how to: tutorials, instructions, etc
resources: websites, databases, links, etc
typesetting: (what it says on the tin)
typography: (what it says on the tin)
supplies: lists, suggestions, sources, etc
tools: digital or material (software, websites, punches, folders, etc)
techniques: casing in, tipping in, backing, foiling, etc
elements: gilding, art, etc
process: posts showing the process used for a bind
shelf candy: stuff that just looks real cool
the cover up: cover designs that inspire me
the setup: cool shelf arrangements or displays
extras: boxes, bookmarks, map inserts, etc
riker.binds: related to my own binding attempts
riker.writes: fanfic writing shenanigans
riker.talks: random posts I make that don't fit elsewhere
*pfp is an edit of a photo of one of the eyes on my half-sleeve (tattoo)
I’m a sociology major writing a thesis on hyperreality created by fanfics. For my thesis, I am conducting a field research study focused on fanfic writers and their relationship with both fandom and Story.
The interview involves a 60-minute chat. There will be no recordings, the camera is optional. We can do an audio-only chat. During the interview, I’d like to talk about fandom’s place in the fanfic writer’s life, fandom’s community effect, and mainly why you are writing fanfiction (and not an ‘original’ work for example). And finally, the writer’s perception of the characters.
I’m conducting interviews with writers who meet at least one of these criteria:
- writing fanfic for 5+ years, or
- 30 or more posted stories, or
- a cumulative 100k words or above.
I completely understand that anonymity is important in fandom, so I won’t ask for your real name or any identifying details. But what I do need during the interview is some general background information to help build a typology, like:
Family background: work, income level, education level
Personal: age, occupation, income level, education level, and country of residence
If you would be willing to help me with this project and be one of the interviewees, help me connect with other fanfic-writers or have any questions, please dm me or simply reblog :]
Hey everyone! I had a lovely conversation with @dum-dum-duum about fandom and writing. If it is something you'd be interested in doing and have an hour to spare, it was a great experience (plus you get to help further education!). Reach out to them on their tumblr for more info if you'd be up for it!
When you decide to bind a book using black on black, it's not going to be easy to photograph. Just in case you were wondering.
@toomuchplor and I decided to do a little exchange of this fantastic fic, and this was the one I sent to her.
It's a long, long, long fic (274k) (and yet, I still didn't want it to end) and I couldn't decide if I wanted to bind it all in one volume and attempt to round it, or just leave it flat, even though it would be very thick, but then it occurred to me (or a friend suggested) that I could split it into two volumes!
So that's what I did. You know what was really cool? I divided it at the halfway point, after chapter 10, which worked out well. The page count was very similar, and the second volume had 11 chapters, so it was all very even.
But what I discovered was that the last line of chapter 10 is the same as the very last chapter of the book! I don't know if it was a coincidence or on purpose, but I thought it was neat. (I suppose that could be considered a spoiler which is why I'm not specifying what the actual sentense is, so please put this out of your mind if you haven't read this yet and you find yourself at the end of chapter 10.)
So anyway. Okay. I now had two volumes and had to decide how I wanted to differentiate them. I was going to do one white and one black, and while that would have looked cool, I fear it would have insinuated some kind of meaning (light vs dark) that isn't necessarily like, the first half vs the second half. And one of the ideas that had been knocking around my head was "searchlights". So that's where I went with the covers. I wanted all black, and I found a great sparkly black HTV (sorta starry nightish, you know) and went from there. I'm quite happy with how it came out!
Except I meant for the two searchlights to be facing away from each other when you put both volumes next to each other, but if that's the only mistake I made, I can live with that.
I'm especially proud of the silhouettes on the spine, they both started as photographs that I pulled into Adobe Capture and was able to turn into SVGs so they could be cut by my silhouette. And I'm extra proud of my Silhouette for keeping Harry's glasses intact. (I tried just finding clip art of silhouettes (too many uses of that word here) but for whatever reason, most silhouettes are of businessmen?!? Anyway. It all worked out.
The title pages for each volume are slightly different too. The first has one figure, the second has two. Just a little thing.
The bookmark charms are a little 1 and 2 I made with shrinky dink material.
More details:
This is the HTV I used
The body font is Arno Pro (my beloved)
The cover font is Montserrat
The chapter and drop caps are in various forms of Lulo
The small caps at chapter starts is Rig Shaded
Images came from Pixabay
This is a pretty classic Star Trek AOS series about the final semesters of the Academy after the Narada incident and the maiden voyages of the Enterprise. Starts out light and then gets pretty dark.
I had a lot of fun with the typeset on this one. It was originally a series of four stories so I found a vaguely planetary dingbat font (52 Spheroids) and gave each section its own unique icon to go behind the title divider & chapter numbers. Century for the body font at 10.2 size - as bad as the orphan words are at this random size they were worse when the font was smaller or larger. Viner Hand for the titles picked solely on the “looks cool and already loaded on my computer” basis.
This fic has always been red in my brain (probably because it starts at the Academy), so that was the spine settled and I had the perfect scrapbook paper in stash. Casing this in was a struggle - I had to trim it several times to get a square cut so my margins are smaller than I planned, and then I somehow twisted the whole thing into a vaguely spiral shape when I rounded the spine. Best not to look too closely at the coverboards in relation to the textblock!
My former college roommate has been obsessed with Star Trek since she was a kid, 100% shipped Kirk & Spock, but had somehow missed the world of fanfiction. Since we routinely give each other whatever strange new craft we’re learning, she needed a fanbinding gift for Christmas. I wanted a fic that was short enough that it didn’t feel like I was giving her an assignment but still long enough to have a real plot, plus not too fluffy and not too angsty. "Vulcans are Fangirls Too" was the goldilocks fic.
I am now in love with Octavos (8 pages per side of printer paper). They’re so small and cute and perfect for stories around the 10,000 word range. I had fun finally using the “command gold” bookcloth in my stash and I think I’m finally getting the hang of HTV - it turned out nearly perfect this time.
Formatted in LibreOffice Writer with Liberation Serif as the body text font, Eras ITC for the title page and page numbers, and Federation Classic for the spine title. There are several letters in this story so I used the Ink Free font for Kirk's handwriting and Segoe Print for Spock.
Finished late at night right before going to visit and exchange presents the next day.
what kind/style of endbands do you usually do? they look so good 👀
hi!! sorry for taking a while to answer, I wanted to make sure I could give you my best answer.
I usually do what's called a "double core" endband. I use double core endbands over the "bead on front" method because bead on front style is not great for uneven distributions of color, irregular patterns, or using more than three colors. Functionally it works by having your extra threads wrapped up inside the thread that is showing, forming the smaller secondary core. Ultimately you are doing figure 8s around the main core & then your secondary core of thread. This keeps things pretty neat & tidy. The tutorial I first used was this one by DAS Bookbinding, though I don't think his endband tutorials are his best ones. Another binder I've spoken with endbands about a lot is maleeka, who recently did an endband tutorial herself.
maybe I should do one... but it takes a lot for me to get enough motivation to make videos. I'll take this opportunity to write up some tips I've shared when people ask instead:
1. Endband core material is the MOST IMPORTANT component. You need a core that is stiff but flexible - it should NOT be floppy because it wiggles everywhere under the tension of the thread, but still needs to flex with the opening & closing of the book. You want something that doesn't compress, to reduce tension shifts in thread creating a lumpy endband. Have a smooth core is less critical but helps to avoid snagging threads & allows you some leeway on sliding threads around for adjustments. My personal choice is smooth leather jewelers cord (link is just an example, I get mine from a local craft store).
2. Thread size. All your threads need to be the same size; it will be visible if you are using two different sizes, and mess with your front core. Additionally, I know lots of people will use larger twists of multiple strands of embroidery thread, which can work, but is more likely to compress & alter its size in unexpected ways. A single strand is preferable. If you want something thicker you can find some thread weights that are heavier twists intended to be used in a single strand, not pulled apart. I prefer smaller sizes because it works better for the gradient designs I like.
3. Silk thread is your friend (if you can spend the money on it). It reduces fuzz (no fuzz like you get with cotton/DMC embroidery thread), it's usually easier to manage, has a more compact twist, and a higher shine. I use Japanese silk hand sewing thread in size #9 (9号). There's multiple brands (Tire, Daruma, KNK/kanagawa, etc). Here's a wholesale listing (minimum 20,000¥ for international). A non-Japanese brand is Guterman silk (German brand). Both the Japanese & German threads come in a heavier weight (Japanese is #16, Guterman is buttonhole).
4. Thread tension is the most important part of the actual technique. You need to ensure the threads currently wrapped in the secondary core keep tension when you are working the thread around them.
5. Working on a curve. This is only really relevant if you're doing an endband on a rounded book, but the circumference of the curve means there's more real estate on the outside vs inside of the curve. Sometimes this can cause bunching on the secondary core. My own solution to this is that sometimes I wrap the primary core but drop a wrap here or there around the secondary core (only between two wraps of the same color I'm dropping). I uh... don't know of anyone currently recommending this besides myself so I can't point to any pro endorsement for this method, it's just what works for me. Forgive my terrible writing:
6. Pattern management. I... don't really plan much how my patterns sit on the spine, which is not very helpful. HOWEVER you can do some pattern management on the fly, if you really want your pattern to end at a certain place. Thread can be packed more or less densely on the core, resulting in some pattern compression; you could also strategically drop wraps in less noticeable locations. An unintended example: I was replicating the pattern on this endband (left) when I realize I wasn't packing the thread as densely as I had the first time around (right), which resulted in the overall pattern taking up more space. You can do this on purpose, if you need to.
this was way more than you asked but it gave me a chance to put all this in one spot. Best of luck in vanquishing the dreaded EndWyrms.
I do encourage you to experiment a bit! the above advice is not all there is to know about endbands, and you can create some great results if you get a bit creative while keeping some of the above principles in mind and how it affects your results.
when sewing with regular cotton or polyester embroidery thread, I recommend 1) using a single strand (see above) and 2) use a combo of fire and watered down PVA application to control fuzziness. all endbands I made in 2023 were non-silk! fuzz management is the name of the game. here's one:
an example of sewing a really thick knitting lace (also partially metallic) onto a fabric scrap around cord for a faux endband. there is no bead or core of any kind on the front of this! because the size of the "thread" would not match anything else, i kept it to a single color:
I'm still very satisfied with how both of these turned out, even if I've moved on to using other materials now. thread tension remained a major factor for both of the above in making sure it turned out right, but for the faux band it was more a function of making sure I pulled each loop through with the same amount of force and tension.
so @princetofbone mentioned on my post for "factory settings" about wanting to know more about the binding style that i used for it. so i thought i might make a post about it.
i was as terrible as i always am for taking in progress shots, but i can link you to the resources i used in order to make my book. i would also like to point out that "factory settings" is my 120th bind, and i have been doing bookbinding as a hobby for just over 3 years now. unfortunately this means some of the methods that i used for that bind aren't particularly beginner friendly, just in terms of the tools and methods i have used, but i would love to point you in the right direction when it comes to resources. i dont say this to sound pretentious which i fear i might come across, just so that youre fully informed. getting into this hobby is fun and rewarding, but it can definitely be intimidating.
with that caveat, heres a list of links and resources that i have used for bookbinding in general, with additional links to methods i used specifically in regards to this bind.
ASH's how to make a book document. it gives you a great introduction into typesetting fics (where you format the text of fics to look like a traditionally published books) and then turning them into a case-bound book (the style i used for "factory settings"). it is comprehensive, and explains how to use microsoft word to do your bidding. it was invaluable to me when i was just starting out! currently i use affinity publisher to typeset/format my fics for printing, but i only bought and learned how to use that after i had been binding books for a year and a half. i made some beautiful typesets with word, and some of my close friends use it still and design stuff that i never would be able to in my wildest dreams (basically anything by @no-name-publishing)
DAS Bookbinding's Square Back Bradel Binding. a great style to do your first bind in! this method requires, when making the case, to attach the cover board and the spine board to a connecting piece of paper, which makes it so much easier to match the size of the case to the size of the text block (your printed out and sewn fic). using this method is what allowed me to get much more accurately fitting cases, and made me much more confident with the construction of the books i was making. a well-made book is something that is so wonderful to hold in your hands!
DAS Bookbinding's Rounded and Backed Cased Book. This is the specific method that i used to create my bind for "factory settings"! even before i could back my books, i found that watching DAS's videos in particular helped me see how books were traditionally made, and i was able to see different tips and tricks about how to make nicer books.
Book Edge Trimming Without... i trim the edges of my text block using my finishing press and a chisel i have sharpened using a whetstone and leather strop with buffing compound on it. i follow the method for trimming shown in this video!
Made Endpapers. i follow this method for my endpapers, as i used handmade lokta endpapers, and they can be quite thin, but they look beautiful! i used "tipped on" endpapers (where you have your endpaper and then put a thin strip of glue on the edge and attach it to your text block) i used for a very long time before this, but these feel like they are much more stable, as they are sewn with your text block.
Edge Sprinkling. this is the method that i used for decorating the edges of my text block. but the principle is basically clamping your text block tight and then sprinkling the edges. i do not believe you need to trim the edges in order to do sprinkles on the edges, and that's what makes it accessible! i personally just use really cheap acrylic paint that i water down and then flick it onto the edges with my thumb and a paint brush.
Double-Core Endbands. i sew my own endbands, which i followed this tutorial for. that being said, it's kind of confusing, and this video is a bit easier to follow, but it is a slightly different type of endband.
Case decoration. i used my silhouette cameo 4 to cut out my design for "factory settings" in htv (heat transfer vinyl). i also used my cameo 4 to cut out the oval of marbled paper on the front, as i honestly didn't want to try my hand at cutting an oval lol. i also glued some 300 gsm card with an oval cut out of the centre of it onto the cover before covering it with bookcloth, to get a kind of recess on the cover. i then glued the oval of marbled paper onto the top of the recessed area once it was covered with bookcloth, so that it was protected. the images i used were sourced from a mix of rawpixel, canva and pixabay. a more accessible way to get into cover decoration is by painting on a design for your cover as described in @a-gay-old-time's tutorial just here. or even doing paper labels, which look classy imo.
physical materials. sourcing these will depend on your country. i am located in australia, and have compiled a list with some other aussie bookbinders of places to buy from. here is a great post describing beginning materials for getting started binding.
@renegadepublishing. this tumblr is great! its what got me started bookbinding, and being in the discord has been inspiring, motivating, and honestly just one of the best online experiences i have ever had. it is full of resources, and most people in there are amateur bookbinders, with a couple of professionals thrown in. the discord is 18+, and anyone can join!
i'm sorry this post got so long, but i hope that this has a lot of information for you if you would like to get started bookbinding. its one of the best hobbies ive ever had, and i genuinely believe i will have it for the rest of my life.
Browse works by Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad and other famous authors here.
Classic Bookshelf: This site has put classic novels online, from Charles Dickens to Charlotte Bronte.
The Online Books Page: The University of Pennsylvania hosts this book search and database.
Project Gutenberg: This famous site has over 27,000 free books online.
Page by Page Books: Find books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and H.G. Wells, as well as speeches from George W. Bush on this site.
Classic Book Library: Genres here include historical fiction, history, science fiction, mystery, romance and children’s literature, but they’re all classics.
Classic Reader: Here you can read Shakespeare, young adult fiction and more.
Read Print: From George Orwell to Alexandre Dumas to George Eliot to Charles Darwin, this online library is stocked with the best classics.
Planet eBook: Download free classic literature titles here, from Dostoevsky to D.H. Lawrence to Joseph Conrad.
The Spectator Project: Montclair State University’s project features full-text, online versions of The Spectator and The Tatler.
Bibliomania: This site has more than 2,000 classic texts, plus study guides and reference books.
Online Library of Literature: Find full and unabridged texts of classic literature, including the Bronte sisters, Mark Twain and more.
Bartleby: Bartleby has much more than just the classics, but its collection of anthologies and other important novels made it famous.
Fiction.us: Fiction.us has a huge selection of novels, including works by Lewis Carroll, Willa Cather, Sherwood Anderson, Flaubert, George Eliot, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others.
Free Classic Literature: Find British authors like Shakespeare and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, plus other authors like Jules Verne, Mark Twain, and more.
Textbooks
If you don’t absolutely need to pay for your textbooks, save yourself a few hundred dollars by reviewing these sites.
Textbook Revolution: Find biology, business, engineering, mathematics and world history textbooks here.
Wikibooks: From cookbooks to the computing department, find instructional and educational materials here.
KnowThis Free Online Textbooks: Get directed to stats textbooks and more.
Online Medical Textbooks: Find books about plastic surgery, anatomy and more here.
Online Science and Math Textbooks: Access biochemistry, chemistry, aeronautics, medical manuals and other textbooks here.
MIT Open Courseware Supplemental Resources: Find free videos, textbooks and more on the subjects of mechanical engineering, mathematics, chemistry and more.
Flat World Knowledge: This innovative site has created an open college textbooks platform that will launch in January 2009.
Free Business Textbooks: Find free books to go along with accounting, economics and other business classes.
Light and Matter: Here you can access open source physics textbooks.
eMedicine: This project from WebMD is continuously updated and has articles and references on surgery, pediatrics and more.
The Faded Page, which has books that are in public domain in Canada. Lots of Canadian lit, but also lots of mysteries and other works! I recommend the Sayers Collection in particular.
So I've had some people ask about the supplies and equipment I use to make my books! This is not a comprehensive list, nor is it an official tutorial on how to make a book (for that, I recommend starting with Renegade Publishing's resource documents, DAS Bookbinding, or SeaLemon's YouTube tutorials -- all free, no patreon required!), but if you're floundering because you don't know what you need to get, hopefully this will help a little bit ❤️ If I discover more good resources or change up my style, I'll add to this post.
Of note: I'm based in the US, so this list is unfortunately pretty US-centric. Apologies!
SUPPLIES
Disclaimer #1: I have a background in book conservation, so I'm picky to a fault about the supplies I use. To make a long-lasting book, you want to look for "acid-free" or "archival" materials -- BUT, a lot of consumer craft stores have realized those are good buzzwords to slap on products even if they aren't really archival. Your best bet is to buy from stores that supply materials to libraries and archives; those tend to be higher quality and stick to actual archival standards. Talas, Hollander's, University Products, and Colophon Book Arts Supply are good places to start.
That said! If price matters more than longevity, hitting up Michaels or Joann Fabrics is totally fine. This is a hobby. The bookbinding police are not gonna come smash down your door because you didn't use archival-quality craft paper. My big recommendation, though: at least get your glue and paste from Talas. High-quality adhesive makes a huge difference in how well, and how long, a book holds together. Bad adhesives can turn brittle with time, stain your paper/cloth, and make all your hard work fall apart.
So, all that said, here's what I use:
BOARD - Davey Binder's Board, 0.098"
GLUE - Jade 403 PVA
PASTE - Zen Shofu wheat paste (you shouldn't have to buy more than half a pound -- a little goes a long way)
CLOTH - Either Arrestox or Dover bookcloth, which comes in a wide variety of colors and holds up extremely well to whatever you want to do to it
THREAD - 25/3 linen thread, which I run over a small block of beeswax to make it easier to handle and give it better "locking" properties as I sew. For bigger books of ten signatures or more, I sew onto 3/8" linen tapes for extra support.
DECORATIVE PAPER - Hollander's is a treasure trove of decorative papers for endsheets and covers; Talas has some really nice ones, too, but they tend to be pricier (since unfortunately everything at Talas has gotten a lot pricier lately)
PRINTING PAPER - Hammermill Colors paper, 20lb, in cream; 24lb is also a good weight that feels a little more substantial than regular printer paper. (I'll probably switch to 24lb once my 20lb paper runs out.) To get the right grain direction, I buy a ream of 11x17 paper and cut it in half to make standard letter-sized sheets (8.5x11). Here's a quick primer on grain direction and why it's important when making a book!
ENDBANDS - I've never had the patience to sew my own endbands (though I hope to gain that patience someday!), so I just use premade ones like these.
EQUIPMENT
Disclaimer #2: a lot of the stuff on this list is professional-grade (or close to it) with prices to match. You definitely don't have to buy everything right off the bat. It took me fifteen years to accumulate it all, and you can DIY a lot of bookbinding equipment -- a good googling will lead you to all sorts of innovative ways hobby bookbinders set up their shops. The Renegade Publishing resource documents also have a lot of A+ recommendations.
PRINTER - For text, I use a Brother B&W laser printer with auto-duplex (auto-duplex is key when printing a book); for images, both B&W and color, I use a Canon color inkjet printer set to at least 300 DPI. I fully admit having two printers is an absurd setup, but what laser printers can do well, inkjets absolutely suck at, and vice-versa -- and like I said, I'm hella picky. You can get by fine with a single laser printer! Just make sure it's got auto-duplex to save yourself a lot of pain.
GUILLOTINE - I have this model, which goes in and out of stock with some regularity. The trick with this guy is to (a) sandwich your text block between some scrap board so the clamp doesn't leave a dent, and (b) REALLY CRANK DOWN on the clamp as tight as you possibly can to keep the paper from shifting as you cut. This fixes 99% of the skewing problems mentioned in the reviews.
PRESS - I have a little cast-iron press I bought off a coworker for fifty bucks; similarly, you might have luck searching eBay, looking at Affordable Bookbinding Equipment (Jim does incredible work!), searching craft stores for a flower press, or even just using two pieces of wood and a few C-clamps. SeaLemon on YouTube also has a good video on how to DIY a book press.
PRESS BOARDS - For setting the hinges in the press, I use a pair of brass-edged boards like these. It's a good investment if you want to get really nice, crisp hinges, but it's also 100% possible to DIY brass-edged boards if you want. At my very first job, we even set our hinges by taping sewing needles to the book before putting it in the press!
FINISHING PRESS - I have this one, which I use to back my books in combination with these backing irons
BACKING HAMMER - To my chagrin, I've discovered that having an actual backing hammer makes backing a book way, way easier. Some folks have had good luck with a cobbler's hammer or just a regular old hammer from a hardware store, but I splurged on a student hammer from Hollander's, and it works fantastically. (I wouldn't recommend buying the "professional" hammers, though, because seriously, $90 for a hammer?! No.)
BONE FOLDER - I'm actually not a fan of bone folders made from real bone; I like Teflon folders a lot better for scoring and flattening. (Real bone folders tend to burnish the material, an effect I'm rarely going for.)
CUTTING MACHINE - A Silhouette Curio. This is 100% optional, but it's how I do the bulk of my cover designs, including cut-outs, embossing, foiling (with a foil quill attachment), and spine titling. The software and overall quality are way better than Cricut, and its 5mm clearance means you can fit more than just vinyl in there. Sadly, Silhouette has discontinued the Curio, but it's still possible to buy from third-party sellers -- and if you don't care about the 5mm clearance, I've heard good things about the Silhouette Cameo line.
A side note on vinyl, from the obnoxiously picky book conservator: if you're aiming for longevity with your books, using HTV in your book designs may not be the best idea. Not only can the adhesives be questionable, but the plasticizers in vinyl break down in really weird, gross ways once several decades have passed. That's why I tend to stick with cut-outs and foiling instead of HTV. But, again: if you just want to make something pretty, don't worry about it!
SOFTWARE
TYPESETTING - I use Affinity Publisher -- it's similar to Adobe InDesign, but with a flat cost instead of a bullshit subscription model. I am by no means an expert in this, since I've only been designing books for a couple years; pretty much everything I learned, I learned from Aliya Regatti's tutorial, plus or minus a lot of googling and noodling around. I've discovered that it does get cranky if your book is over 250 pages or so, meaning you may have to split longer fics into multiple files. That said, I've been really happy with it, and it goes on sale every now and then if the $70 price tag is too much.
As always, Renegade Publishing has a whole lot of tutorials for other software options, including Microsoft Word, InDesign, LaTeX, and Scribus if you already have access to one of those instead.
IMPOSITION - "Imposition" is when you lay out a book so all the pages are in order once you fold + gather the signatures. Since Affinity Publisher doesn't do this automatically on export, I use Bookbinder 3.0, which is an old but nice little Java program that breaks a single PDF into a series of properly imposed signatures. I usually set it to 6 sheets per signature.
MISCELLANEOUS
IMAGES
The Noun Project is a gigantic repository of basic SVGs and PNGs that are not only great for cutting machines, but for adding flourishes to your title page, chapter headings, and scene dividers. Every single book I've made has used at least one image from here; I pay for the yearly Noun Pro subscription, but it's not necessary to use the site.
Unsplash is perfect for photo elements
Pixabay not only has a great archive of photos, but illustrations and vector images as well
Surprisingly, Wikipedia also has a lot of good Creative Commons photos attached to their articles!
FONTS
1001Fonts is a good starting point for finding free fonts, as is FontSpace and DaFont
If you're willing to pay for fonts (and sometimes it's worth it for a well-designed font that's perfect for your project), Creative Fabrica and Pixel Surplus have some good stuff, including discounted bundles of multiple fonts
Tarnished Gold by @primtheamazing / prim_the_amazing
Becoming emperor of the cultivation world will start with a first step as small and basic as becoming Head Disciple of Huan Hua Palace. For that, he must steal the position away from the current Head Disciple. Luo Binghe will sabotage, upstage, and completely and utterly best him.
The road to destroying everything and everyone who has ever wronged him, to becoming the highest ruler so that no one will ever have the right to control him ever again - it will start as simply as ruining Gongyi Xiao’s life.
Compared to everything else he’s already done, this should be easy.
-
Luo Binghe brings all his skills of cunning and brutality to bear on Gongyi Xiao, Head Disciple of Huan Hua Palace Sect. It… doesn’t go too well for him.
title/chapter numbers/drop caps: Almendra
body text/page numbers/headers: Ibarra Real Nova
118,837 words | 342 pages
First of all I really want to say thank you to the author for such a wonderful fic, it was both my first big fic I read in the fandom, AND it is the reason that I have been absolutely CONSUMED for the last 9 months or so reading SVSSS fic. I enjoyed this fic so much when I first read it that I reread it not even a month later, and bc of that I really wanted to do it justice ❣️ it is suchhh a good Luo Binghe character study!
For the design I really wanted to try out some things, so I used my foil quill pen to foil the chapter heads. For the edge decoration, I tried out painting the edges using this Glenn Malkin youtube video which while very satisfying with the finished product, it is also quite disheartening if you don't sand enough. I went up to 1500 grit to get the edges looking good. I would really like to thank @copticcowgirl a whole bunch for all the hand-holding and cheerleading she did, along with all the tips she so readily gave. I really appreciated it. I made my cameo do the hard work for me by cutting out the lotus design on the back cover and the little goldfish on the front using some gold paper and marbled paper, respectively. The front is representative of the important scenes in the fic that take place near the goldfish pond, and the back is for the golden medallion one of the key players in the fic wears.
I had fun designing it! And then after designing it, I procrastinated 5 months on making it and despite the fact that literally every step was a struggle I am very proud of this book ahh! This copy was gifted to the author, and I am very keen to make my own copy. Probably in a couple months time haha. Thank you so much for the fic, prim!!!!
Book Decoration: AKA All The Ways I Don't Use a Cricut
(this post is for people who don't want to buy an expensive cutting tool, or for those that do have an expensive cutting tool that would like to mix things up a little)
1. Print That Shit
If you're already printing your own textblocks, an easy step for titles is to print them. Above is a title printed onto an "obi" of decorative paper. I measured out where I wanted things on the finished book and laid it out in Affinity, then printed it on a full sheet & trimmed it down to wrap around the book. A more simple method is to print & glue on the label into a slight indent in the cover (to protect it). A third option is to do the spine in bookcloth, while you print on paper for the cover and then glue that paper onto the boards (this usually looks even better when it is a three-piece bradel bind).
2. Foil Quill / Heat Pens
The heat pen is one of my go-to tools, but it can be a bit touchy about materials. The most popular version is the We R Memory Keepers' Foil Quill (which is one of the most ergonomic), but other pens exist that can get you to a higher heat temp, finer lines, or more consistent foil. For example, I have a pen created by a local Japanese bookbinding studio that fares way better on leathers than the WRMK quill & with a finer tip, but it's hell to control. Best results in general are on paper or smooth bookcloth (starched linen, arrestox, colibri - even duo will work but its less solid). The fuzzier a bookcloth is, the less your foil quill wants to deal with it. This means the heat n bond method of making bookcloth does not play nice with a heat pen usually, but there are two solutions: 1) use this tutorial on paste + acrylic medium coated bookcloth instead that will get you a perfect surface for the heat pen, or 2) use the pen on paper & then glue onto the cloth. I did a video tutorial for both foil quill use and this type of homemade bookcloth for @renegadeguild Binderary in 2023.
You get the most consistent results by tracing through a printed template that is taped in place, as I do in the video above.
3. Paint That Shit
Acrylic paints will do you fine! The above is free-handed with a circle template, because I wanted that vibe. If you need straight lines that won't seep, lay them down with tape first & then paint over it first with a clear Acrylic medium, then your color. Same goes for stencils. Two more examples of painted bookcloth:
4. IT'S GOT LAYERS
By using layers of thinner boards, you can create interesting depths & contrasts on your cover. You can also make cutouts that peep through to the decorative paper behind. The most important part to this technique is the order in which each edge is wrapped. To get a good wrapped inside edge, you will split the turn in into tabs to get them to conform to a curve. You can also layer multiple colors of bookcloth without multiple layers of board, as seen below left, so long as you mind your cut edges for fraying.
5. Inlaid... anything
Mirrors! Marbled paper! I saw someone do a pretty metal bookmark once! The key is creating a little home for it to live in, which is pretty similar to the above layering method. On one layer you cut the shape, & glue that layer onto the bottom solid board before covering. You can do the top layer as an entire 1 mm board (like I did for the mirrors) or a sheet of cardstock, like I would use for inlaid paper.
6. Decorative Paper
Decorative paper is always helpful & adds to the paper hoard... & its effects can be layers with other techniques, as below. Marbles, chiyogami, momi, or prints & maps of all kinds can be great additions. Some papers may need a protective coating (such as wax or a sealer).
7. Stamps (with optional linocut)
While I've not used many more regular rubber stamps, I do know some who have, successfully! And I've used one once or twice with embossing powder (see photo 3 up, the gold anchor on the little pamphlet bind). What also works is to carve your own linocut or stamp, & then use block printing ink to ink it onto your fabric (as i did above). A bit time intensive, but it was nice how easily reproducible it was, and I liked the effect I got for this particular bind.
These methods are not exhaustive, just ones I've used, and there are of course many others. I haven't gone too into detail on any of these for the sake of length (& post photo limits) but feel free to ask about more specifics. Usually I'm using them in combination with other options.
I recently made a code-heavy choose your own adventure fic, and I wanted to compile all of the really helpful resources I've found along the way. Basics, Text altering and Fancy Formatting (adding dividers, columns, photos, videos, tabs etc.) is below!
(Note: I've had to split this in two, so see Part II for all the website mimic HTML)
Basics:
This Ao3 Posting Doc converts Google doc into HTML, adding bold, underline, italics, strikethrough, paragraph breaks, and centered text. Major game changer for heavy HTML works
The Fic Writer's Guide to Formatting by AnisaAnisa: This is a masterpost in itself, covering links, images, boxes, borders, fonts etc. So I'm putting it here since it's amazingly helpful
HTML References by W3 schools- I've linked the HTML colors here, but this is a platform designed to help people learn/reference HTML
Ao3's own guide to HTML on their site Lovely Q&A for Ao3 specific HTML questions
A Guide to Ao3 HTML by Anima Nightmate (faithhope) This walks through what HTML code means SO WELL!
Text resources: (altering the color, font, emoji, style etc.)
Font's chapter: The Fic Writer's Guide to Formatting: okay I know I already linked it above, but listen it's very good so I'm linking again
Fonts colors and work skins oh my by Charles_Rockafeller takes fonts to a different level.
Multicolored text skin by ElectricAlice GRADIENT TEXT
All the Emoji by CodenameCarrot while Ao3 has signifigantly improved on hosting emojis, this code helps with using some more unconventional emojis. Amazing resource.
Upsidedown text and Zalgo text generators - these specific text generators allow for you to see their direct HTML codes
Fun CSS Text Effects by DoctorDizzyspinner
Workskin for showing and hiding spoilers by ElectricAlice makes text appear when hovered/clicked. Amazing for Trigger Warnings
Make text appear when you click [Work skin] by Khashana clickable end notes buttons for your work, similar to the spoiler button text
Hide spoilers like Discord by Professor_Rye
Desktop/mobile friendly short tooltips workskin by Simbaline
How to make Linked Footnotes on Ao3 by La_Temperanza
User-selectable Names in a Fanfic work by fiend Ever want people to select between different names in a fanfic? I could also see this used as ability to switch gender in a fanfic.
AO3 Comic Text Effects using CSS by DemigodofAgni Ever want a giant comicbook POW in your fic?
How to override the Archive's Chapter Headers by C Ryan Smith
Collection: CSS Guides by Goddess_of_the_arena (many helpful text walkthrough resources)
Fancy Formatting {Note: this got long so I split it up into more manageable sections}
Coding Masterpieces (Multiple things within the same fic)
Personal Experiment with HTML and CSS by MohnblumenKind This has a variety of help, Chapter 6 & 7 were great for choose your own adventure, Chapter 4 talks about columns and skins, and Chapter 10 even has a newspaper made entirely from site code.
Repository by gaudersan google searches, ao3 stats, instagram and text messages galore
CSS in Testing/Bleed Gold by InfinitysWraith Masterclass in cool formatting, including overidding default headers, Doors opening animation, Grid interactive photos, Hovering to change a photo, Retroactive text etc.
CSS in Testing:Second in Series by InfinitysWraith: Interactive keypads, Mock news site and interactive locking mechanism.
Coding Encyclopedia by Anonymous: chess, opening html envelopes, functioning clocks, HTML Art– this book is genuinely the most advanced stuff I’ve seen with HTML code on Ao3– and I’ve looked at every guide on this list.
Decorations (Boxes, Dividers, letters/background)
How to mimic letters, fliers and stationary without using images by La_Temperanza Really helped with box formatting
Decorations for Fic (HTML/CSS): Fanart, Dividers, Embedded Songs and More by Jnsn this has SO MANY cool coding features, including a chessboard that moves when you hover over it
Build a divider tool demo by skinforthesoul
How to make custom Page Dividers by La_Temperanza
Found Document work skin by hangingfire
Embedding other formats: (Images, gifs, youtube videos, audio, alt text)
Embed that Audio by Azdaema
Newbies guide to Podficcing by Azdaema
Embedding youtube videos on ao3 to scale with the screen by pigalle add youtube videos mid fic
Conlangs and Accessibility by Addleton this fic instructs how to have accessible translations in fic
How to make Images Fit on Mobile Browsers by La_Temperanza great image adding code
How to Wrap text around images by La_Temperanza image text wrapping
How to put pictures and gifs on Ao3 from Google Drive by gally_hin
Choose Your Own Adventure Code
How to make a Choose Your Own Adventure Fic by La_Temperanza allows for clickable links and hidden text.
Interactive fiction Workskin Tutorial by RedstoneBug BEST CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE RESOURCE
How to make your fic look like the game by MelsShenanigans, ThoughtsCascade (I was a Teenage Exocolonist is the game but it’s a Choose your own adventure re-skin)
Newspaper/Article/Blog mimic
How to make a News Website Article Skin on Ao3 by ElectricAlice
Newspaper/Magazine Article Template by deathbymistletoe
Newspaper Article by lordvoldemortsskin --basic but adaptive for mobile
Newspaper Article Adaptation by KorruptBrekker modification for different columns
TMZ WorkSkin by Anonymous
Basic blogpost skin by Anonymous
Blog Post Work Skin by Anonymous
Journaling App by egnimalea
Email Mimic
How to insert Gmail emails in your fic by DemigodofAgni
How to mimic Email Windows by La_Temperanza
Gmail Email Skin by Sunsetcurbed
The idiot’s incoherent guide for learning css & html for ao3 in dystopia by anonymous (Gmail skin)
Search Engine Mimic
Google Search Suggestions Work Skin and Tutorial by Bookkeep
Baidu Search History Work Skin by Bookkeep
Repository by gaudersan
Misc. General formats with HTML (mission reports, spreadsheets, other documents)
Screenplay skin by astronought
Screenplay workskin by legonerd
Mock Spotify Playlist WorkSkin by Anonymous
How to make a rounded playlist by La_Temperanza Ever want to show a character's music playlist within your fic
Workskin for in Universe Investigative/Mission Report with Redaction by wafflelate case files/CSI reports
Learn to Microsoft Excel by ssc_lmth insert a spreadsheet in your fic
Ao3 Work skin: a simple scoreboard by revanchist shows how to code a scoreboard
Colossal Cave Adventure by gifbot Working Keyboard anyone?
Tabbing experiment by gifbot (clickable tabs)
Bonus: Ever wanted to see how crazy HTML can be on AO3? Try playing But can it run Doom? or Tropémon by gifbot
Happy Creating!
Last updated: Dec 28 2024 (Have a resource that you want to share? My inbox is open!)
I made a photo album for one of my coworkers going on maternity leave. I really love the colours of this one, and the endpapers are STUNNING! (Do i have a paper hoarding problem? Maybe so) I also dyed the thread used for the stab binding pattern, so theres a slight variegated pattern to the thread. Unsure if i am ever going to attempt making a photo album again, i have dreams of using that screw punch on what ended up being only like 20 pages lol.
I found DAS's screw-post photo album vid invaluable, along with this blog post about the tortoise shell stab binding pattern.
Here's to hoping 2025 is more successful with me actually completing binds. God damn
Because it got lost in the reblogs, and also because my photos in daylight today are better: paperback take two! I like it. And the vinyl seems to be managing usage well as I read this lil book cover to cover to test it out. It is even over one of the cover creases and it’s sticking just fine!
The delightful, evocative, and thoughtful Under Giant Mountains by @wolfpants is up next in my tour of wolf’s fic I bound. This landscape of this fic is soaring: mountains and dragons and wilderness. But at the same time, its subject matter is as small and carefully contained as Harry's postwar pain. This is a Harry who is struggling, and struggling to even admit he's struggling. At the risk of spoiling anything, the way wolf writes Harry's breakdown and surrender is so, so soft and sweet and real. I love a Harry who confronts any danger head-on except the danger of what's going on inside him.
(Fun fact: this fic was posted while I was in the midst of writing Polar Night/Midnight Sun and I was like OH GOOD WOLF HAS DONE THE DRACO IN NORWAY THING AND DONE IT BETTER THAN I COULD, I CAN STOP WRITING NOW but of course, I didn't stop; I let wolf's words inspire me onwards, and this is another reason why I love fandom: the overlapping of writerly worlds, the echoes and resonances we experience as creators and fans.)
For this bind, I chose a relatively simple aesthetic, but couldn't resist inserting little tiny dragons as scene breaks.
More process and materials talk under the cut.
Materials: This was my first go at making bookcloth! I had purchased a little remainder scrap of forest green cotton at the fabric store and only noticed after ironing it out and laminating it to the tissue that there were stripes of sun damage on the creases of the cloth, sigh. I had to start over. I used mulberry tissue but some of the fibres are palpable through the cloth, which I am not wild about. Still -- homemade bookcloth! Fun!
Text block is printed on 24 lb cream letter cut down to a quarto bind, and is actually the first bind I did where my grain direction was correct. (I know, I know...) Sewn on two linen tapes with waxed linen thread.
Endbands (which I neglected to photograph, apparently) are machine made.
End papers are just scrapbook paper, nothing special.
The decoration is gold HTV. Hoo boy. More on that shortly.
Process: My first quarto bind! First bookcloth making! First bind with the grain direction correct! So many firsts!
That being said, there was nothing particularly special about this bind's process. My biggest struggle (which is visible) was the gold HTV. I think I've since cracked the code more on how to apply larger bits of HTV without making marks in it (short version: higher heat, less pressure, more patience) but I was still struggling here, as you can see. That being said, I do love the sort of hobbity vibe of the rune-ish font and the dragon/mountain.
I made myself a copy of this as a test first, and the HTV is even more messed up on that. :| Also, I realized when reading it afterwards, I fucked up the page order in one signature. This is fixed (god, I hope it's fixed) in wolf's copy.
Signature length is a tricky thing with case binding/sewn binding in general. I wound up needing a bunch of blank pages at the back of the typeset so I did something I have since done in other binds: added a "selected praise for" section where I copy/pasted AO3 comments into the text block like literary reviews. I love this so much: the juxtaposition of the formal literary trope with the squee and all-caps and hype of fandom commenters. I am not the first to do this, of course, but you'll see it appear again in future binds from me for sure. (And of course I put my own comment first. OF COURSE I did. Binder's privilege!)
I had some free time, and I thought, what could be more fun, than putting together a post of some of my thoughts on my favorite fonts? Certainly not going outside or any activity involving moving from my chair, so font talk, here we come! (Links to where to get the fonts for free included in this post).
So of course first up we have the majestic Comic Sans..........I kid! <insert baaing goat gif> While it is surely a most iconic font, I will unfortunately not be covering Sir Comic of the Sans in all his glory. See below the break for the full actual post on my favorite fonts to work with.
Note, my interest in fonts is entirely enthusiastically non-professional. Thus, if there's a technical aspect I called 'the tippy bits' instead of tapers or what have you, uh, my amateur ass doth apologizes.
Body Fonts
Body fonts are the all the main parts of a text. The good ol' torso that carries the headers and stands above the footers.
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My favorite body fonts are the IM FELL series. Especially IM Fell English.
Look at that pretty serif. It's got a great classic appearance to it that reminds me of old paperbacks. There's a grittiness and unevenness to it that gives a more 'natural' look, and is reminiscent of text from a typewriter. The imperfections of this font (like the uneven tippy bits of that lower case y) are my favorite part of this font, and it adds a lot of character to a text while still being legible. I know some folks may not be as fond of the italicized version of IM FELL, but personally I've never had trouble reading it, and enjoy how fancy it looks. IM FELL English is a font that could work as a letter from a gentleman's daughter to the arrogant, handsome heir visiting town, or as the carefully kept diary of a mad scientist detailing the experiment that would eventually rise up and try to kill him. Fun things like that.
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Next font is Crimson Text (there's a Crimson Pro as well, but I like the Text version better for it's fancier capitals).
Just take a look at that w. Sharp enough to cut through digital paper. And the capital W is even better. The angles, the triple Vs...whew, that letter's a work of art! It looks like it should be walking down the runway at a european fashion show and stared down by an unsmiling stone cold magazine editor.
Crimson Text is a very clean, crisp font. It's got those little sharp tippy bits at the end of letters that look like they could prick you if you tried to pick them up. Crimson Text lends itself well to more modern, artistic text. I tend to personally use Crimson Text sparingly, because while it is a very aesthetically pleasing text, it can be a bit harsh for my tastes, and difficult to work with when pairing with other fonts/design elements. Crimson Text is a font that I feel like is for a special occasion, and that occasion is hard to pinpoint, but when it arrives, it makes the most striking appearance.
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Following that, we have EB Garamond, which is probably the second most used font in my personal typesets.
Garamond is a classic. You see it a lot, in one version or another, in published works. For me, it feels very familiar and comforting to read text in EB Garamond. It's like an old, worn blanket that's still perfectly soft and plush. It's the kind of thing that'd get past down generations in the back of a closet, brought out whenever there was a need. Simple, straightforward, and timeless. The only caveat with EB Garamond is the 'e' in it's italicized form is a bit of an exhibitionist that likes to inappropriately protrude it's bottom bits out into it's neighbor. It's a quick fix to teach that 'e' some modesty if you're on Affinity. Just turn off the final forms for the font by going into Text Style Editior -> Variants -> uncheck Final Forms. And now you're prudently dressed for a night of font formatting.
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The last I'm going to talk about in this post is Baskervville. This is, as per the about page on google fonts, a revival of Jacob’s revival of Baskerville’s typeface. I'm not familiar with the original Baskerville, but hey, an extra letter thrown in has to be extra lucky, right?
The thing that really sticks out for me with Baskervville is the 'o's. It's a very...circular, and pronounced font. Round. Rotund. Orbital. There's a flow and balance to this font that stands out, and makes it unique against other fonts on this list. Conversely, the lines of this font as much thinner and sharper than, say, the lines in the Libre Baskerville version. I like that contrast, though it is a bit of a strange one. Like having long stick thin arms and legs and a really round torso. Like one of those mascots for M&Ms (controversial footwear unspecified).
Anyway, Baskervville kind of hovers between classic and modern. It's a font you see a lot of (in one version or another) in published works. It's 'family' has been around a long time, and this latest version is like the youngest son of an old, rich, prestigious family. It's got a lot of potential, and can be applied in new, exciting ways, or it can easily fall into a traditional role and live off of it's trust fund. Recently, I used Baskervville for a Pride and Prejudice modern day high school au, and it really felt like the font blended together the two worlds and two time periods well. It's kind of like a hipster that manages to pull off the fedora (a fine hat, I might say. Hats need a bigger comeback, in my opinion).
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That brings up to the end of this post. You'll have noticed that all these fonts were serif fonts. I just like serif fonts best for body fonts. They're the most commonly used in published books, and so they're the ones I've grown most comfortable with. However, a good sans serif can work well in the right setting. For my own work, though, sans serif are usually kept to titles or headers. If there's interest, I'd like to do similar posts on Drop Caps fonts, Title fonts, etc.
Next up in my tour of binds I made for wolf: Kinkuary ‘23 by @wolfpants
When I first reached out to wolf to ask permission to bind their fic, I asked if there was anything in their fic that they wished they had bound. They mentioned their Kinkuary fics but immediately said "oh but that's impractical because it's a whole collection" or something to that effect, which of course I took as a challenge. (Authors, be warned. I will almost certainly bind the thing you say I should not try to bind.)
Anyone who is wisely subscribed to wolf's works on AO3 probably had the same delightful experience as I did throughout February 2023: namely, waking daily to a little notification that there was a small kinky gem awaiting consumption at one's leisure. Wolf writes sex incredibly well: the viscerality and immediacy of it, but also the thoughts and turn-ons and how it lights up each character's brain differently. They have a gift for making me love tropes and kinks I might not ever think to read or write otherwise.
All that being said, I felt slightly weird about being like HERE IS A BOOK OF YOUR KINK THAT SAYS KINK ON THE SPINE so (as wolf has noted) I went all Victorian and made a dust jacket to cover up the bind if wolf ever wants to make it look a lot more innocent than it is.
So many firsts in this one for me: first dust jacket, first index, first collection of fics, first table of contents... It was a blast from start to finish and I learned SO MUCH.
Materials and process chat under the cut.
Materials:
Ye olde wooqu bookcloth off Amazon, HTV vinyl, 24 lb cream letter (wrong grain, forgive me) folios, machine-made endbands, black cardstock end papers.
The dust jacket is probably the only newish thing for me: I did a print using Staples' online service (which probably contributed to my choices because I also use this service for actual work things...) It was a poster print on matte paper.
Process:
This was a pretty straightforward bind but the typeset was full of learning curves. I use InDesign for typesetting and figured out how to set up a TOC and index. Wolf is a GREAT tagger so once I realized I'd either have a seven-page run of front matter listing the tags for each fic, or an index condensing them down, it was a no-brainer. And because wolf is so brilliant with tags, this led to my favorite index entries ever under Draco's listing (see photo.) I also figured out how to use styles to make every story have a header of its title, etc.
The great artwork of Eros is from rawpixel.
The other new thing for me was, of course, the dust jacket. I was disappointed to realize I'd messed up the measurements somehow once I printed, but it was close enough, so I went with it. I tried to rub some beeswax into the cover to help preserve it a bit but not sure it did much. If I were doing it again now, I'd use some Mod Podge matte aerosol fixative.
The dust jacket artwork is from the Smithsonian online collection of vintage seed catalogues. (S/O to my librarian spouse for the tip!) I created the spine matching the style as closely as I could, and then I went to town with silliness for the flaps. (This is probably a downside to having a fic writer also be a binder. I have trouble not writing something when the opportunity presents itself in the course of binding...)
The cover design is, of course, just a whole bunch of cursive X's. I'd hoped to have the title and author be a knockout from that pattern but it proved too hard to weed/read, so I ironed black HTV over the red pattern instead.
This is the only one of the set of four binds that I haven't (yet) bound for myself as a personal copy, but I think I will probably do so at some point! I was running out of black bookcloth at the time, so I prioritized wolf's copy for obvious reasons.
