Finished binding @that-banhus's fantastic King of Infinite Space today! You ever get into a pairing fresh out of binging a series and read a fic that just solidifies the characters in your head? Like, they go from "funny lil guy I enjoyed watching on TV" to someone who could be real, someone you could know. That was this fic for me--banhus's Hob is such a delight to read, so vibrant and funny and optimistic. And of course Dream's voice in this is just *chef's kiss* pitch perfect.
Some process chatter, under the cut! <3
SIZE
So this was my first go at a quarto size on legal paper (8.5" x 14"), and I LOVE it. This size is perfect for that 10k-15k range, and with the community imposer designed by the lovely folks at @renegadepublishing (thank you, @simply-sithel and Cocoa!), it was such a breeze to figure out the formatting. (Printing, on the other hand, was a bit of a mess since my printer doesn't do duplex for legal sizes, but I figured it out in the end. And hey, I got a bunch of waste sheets out of it! XD)
BINDING
I did a variation of the paperback format I've seen floating around in the Renegade discord (@ashmouthbooks kindly explained it a few months ago, thank you so much!). French link stitching glued with PVA as per usual, although no tapes or mull.
The cover is made of scrapbook paper and is glued directly to the flyleaf (flyleafs? flyleaves?), although as you can see below I added an extra layer of kraft paper to give it more of a "board" feel:
The pictures in this post are of my second/author copy, with an added a half-centimeter hinge so the spine can open more easily. My first copy did not have a hinge so it's a little stiff when you open it, but it gets the job done baha. Now I know for future binds in this size: hinges are the way to go!
DESIGN (or, as I call it, VibesTM)
The first line of this fic has lived rent-free in my brain for months now: They sat at the New Inn until the afternoon melted into evening, the sunlight thickened to a rich orange, and the late crowd began to trickle into the inn in chattering groups. I remember reading it late at night and immediately sitting up and going "oh hell yeah." This fic gives me that "walking to class in the fall semester and feeling the whole world passing you by and you have books to read and papers to write but you see your friend from across the quad and they wave at you and you wave back and everything is okay, maybe, because the leaves are turning and you're going to make it, dammit, you are going to make it" vibes. So the cover paper is from one of Michael's paper packs, called "Autumn Blaze."
HOWEVER, Banhus also mentioned that the paper looks like a sandy beach, and I'm smacking myself over the head for not doing that intentionally because yes! There's a lovely lovely scene at the end where Dream and Hob are lounging on the shore of the Dreaming and are finally, finally figuring it out, and it's wonderful and so atmospheric and I am 100% going to pretend that my paper choice here was tailored for that scene specifically XD
Titling is permanent adhesive vinyl cut by my Cricut, Charlotte, with hand-drawn "bolding" around each letter done with my uniball Signo white gel pen. And since I've been trying to get better at documenting my fonts, the titling for this one was Perpetua Titling MT, and the body was my go-to Garamond my beloved.
As a bonus, here is my first go at binding this fic, but in quarto letter size instead of legal! Smol :3
And that's all for today! Thank you so much, Banhus, for letting me bind your work! It was a pleasure, and I can't wait for you to receive your copy <3
Sliding in one last book before the madness of Binderary! This is And Not Ask Leave of Any, a fantastic Tam Lin retelling by @that-banhus <3 Gorgeous art by @fishfingersandscarves (thank you for your permission!!)
This was one of those fics where you think "oh I'm just gonna read the first few hundred words before I start this next task at work" and then the next thing you know you are NOT working, because instead you've read the whole fic in one sitting and are now spiraling down a rabbit hole of different recordings and variants of the ballad and oh god you have WORK TO DO--
I think my favorite part of this bind was the cow, ngl. I was so pleased when I found it in my assets folder, like love at first sight but with cow graphic ehe 🐄 I also tried my hand at a drop cap, which I will absolutely be using again in the future. This bind was also the first time I did a cover design fully digitally, which was a lot of fun! This paperback format is really versatile and I'm excited to keep experimenting :D
(Banhus recommended me this version of the ballad btw, which you all should listen to immediately after reading the fic, bc it is a BOP)
I was aware of my resume weaknesses in undergrad but you’re right it never really was fully realized by now. Conferences are a whole other thing too. I can’t physically or fiscally afford to go to conferences either. It’s such a pain.
