Ok, so @chaotic-kass popped this question onto the most recent fic bind.
I'm going into my reply for this question as if you are genuinely asking and are not sure about etiquette around fic binding. As this is the first time I've gotten this question on tumbler, and haven't actually stated my stances on some of the topics you touched on, this'll be a little long. Sorryyyyy.....
Question one & two: How much does it cost to make a bind? How long did it take?
Not to be super coy about it, but cost of a bind is very hard to estimate for a variety of reasons. That is mostly because your not buying just enough paper for this one book, or the specific yardage of fabric or vinyl for the cover, or just enough glue and wax and thread to put it together. Like any handmade craft, the start up cost is always going to be steeper then what it costs you to make something months later.
Also: I have a Circuit that cuts my vinyl, a guillotine to trim text blocks, a pretty ok printer, I use CanvaPro to make some graphics, I have a drawing tablet for all my other art needs - all of which would have a portion of their cost and upkeep factored in to my overall cost of a bind.
What I can't factor in at all is the cost of my time. That price is..... to hard for me to compute. I spent about a month making all that's said in the lowlight, from when I started the typeset to putting it physically on my shelf. At least 50 hours minimum on my 'personal' time just doing the typeset. A lot of that was because I was new, BUT I made this typeset extremely personalized. I did research. I sketched out my ideas. I scraped the thing twice and started over. The actual printing/sewing/binding/cutting/ironing/putting together part was the smaller portion that I did over 4 to 5 days, in-between work and life stuff.
Do not be afraid to make your own bind. You can make a book for less then doordashing 2 meals from a restaurant on a friday - you just have to not be afraid of making something bad. Anything you try to make for the first time is going to be bad: fic binding, like any other skill, is one you acquired over time.
To answer your last question: Am I willing to sell a copy?
Binding is extremely personal to me, and it's something I do out of dedication to the fic and its author. I only make 1 to 2 copies of a bind, one for my personal library at minimum, and one for the author - maybe 2 if they ask to give one away. I have made binds for my friends, with permissions from the author as well, as birthday gifts. I do not do commissions.
I'm always open to make binds for the writers of the works I'm interested in making. I have done trades with the writers of the fic I'm looking to bind - that's actually my preferred method of exchanging goods with writers. That way I 'get' something - in that there is more content of the fic I love/the universe I'm invested in - and the author gets their work personally made for their shelves.
Perhaps the only time I'll deal with money is when I'm shipping a book over seas/out of the US - as that's getting to be a little pricy. Maybe one day I'll get to a point, when I'm dying leather and making multi-book collections, that I'll need help buying materials - but that is far in the future, and not something I would talk about with people other then the author I would be making it for.
TLDR: There are a lot of ethical, moral, and legal logistics surrounding fanbinds. I think that people who are selling fanfiction on Etsy are disgusting. Please quote me on that. Profiting off of fanfiction is wrong, especially if the work your selling WAS NOT WRITTEN BY YOU THE SELLER.
Here's a wonderfully written article by Elizabeth Minkel from Wired about about this exact thing. They talk about the whole 'buying fanfiction' much more eloquently then I could.
I'm not a writer - I'm just a bookbinder.
I am deeply flattered that you would ask for a commission. That my work inspires you so much that you would want it in your house is a legit huge complement.
I've only been doing this ficbinding thing for a year and change now, so my opinion and ideas are not be-all-end-all - but I'm pretty sure my opinion matches a good majority of the other binders out there.
More then happy to answer questions about this if anyone has them. I hope I answered your questions specifically @chaotic-kass - and, for real, thank you for the opportunity to talk about this stuff.