(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.
