#jackshiccup ask

[jackshiccup]

Omg, you bound a fanfic? Can we see the finished project? It must be beautiful!

hello hehe yes i did :) i was only going to show friends but i guess this is a good excuse to post pictures of it 🫶🏽

it’s my first ever hardcover bind so i was prepared to make a lot of silly little mistakes and this one definitely does, but i love how it turned out still, i think she’s so cute .. i’m also just happy to finish a personal project that took up so much time to make 🥹

anyways, enjoy the pics and most importantly: stream otnwas on ao3 and youtube teehee🤞🏽❄️!

[jackshiccup]

Hey I just gotta say your bind of OTNWAS is GORGEOUS! Do you mind explaining how you formatted the pages? <3

hello, thank u sm <3!! and yes ofc i can :)

i used Adobe InDesign to do all my typesetting! the document i have has a total of 948 pages (475 spreads) which all include: title page, contents page, chapters, and a few customized + blank pages.

starting with document size first — mine is in A5 (so that i can print A4 spreads) you can play around with the margins, i recommend having at least 3mm added on to it if you’re going to trim it (the bleedline basically). my margins are 15mm left, 20mm right, 15mm top, 20mm bottom.

i had 2 chapter templates - one for short titles (i.e. jack flies) and one for long titles (i.e. jack and jamie uncover the hidden dangers of hide and seek). if you look at the pictures i posted, i added a snowflake as part of that template as an indicator of whose pov the chapter starts in. i designed one for hiccup and jamie too so i change it accordingly! i also use it as dinkuses whenever there’s a pov change within the chapter.

my body text size was 10pt with a 12.5 leading (justified + hyphenated) but honestly that also depends on the font you choose and your personal preference in terms of how spaced out you want your body text to be. i suggest doing test prints so you can adjust !! standard book fonts are: caslon, garamond, minion and palatino.

here’s a silly diagram i made for my friends of my exact settings 📖

in terms of actually formatting the fic— i copy-pasted chapter by chapter from ao3 because for some reason InDesign doesn’t recognize italics automatically so i had to do that manually LOL.

what else .. uhhhh i’m pretty sure i’m forgetting something… i’ll just add on when i remember but crossing my fingers this helps!! i know InDesign isn’t what’s the most accessible to people (i have it bc of my job), but there are lots of tutorials out there on how to do it on microsoft word or even google docs!

hope your binding goes well ⭐️

[jackshiccup]

Hi! The book you did for otnwas is SO BEAUTIFUL!! I was wondering if you have any tutorials on how do to your own book binding? I would love to turn my fave fanfics into real life books :DD

aww thank u so much !! i actually collated a few resources for my friends about bookbinding so u r in luck ⭐:)

but before all that, i want to mention the most important thing and it is to always get the permission of the author of the fic you're wanting to bind first and to never print any art related or not to that fic without the artist's permission !!!!! let's keep it respectful in these streets yeah? BUT printing your own art though.. that's a slay 🤞🏽

ok hehe to the fun stuff yippeeeee

bookbinding tools & materials (beginner friendly) - super helpful + in depth, i recommend starting with this one to really get a good idea of the entire process (she specializes in journals though so it doesn't include printing process or anything like that!)

14 helpful hints before getting started - very very useful hacks that will probably save you a lot of mistakes in the long run, also i love this man (one thing i have to mention though is that paper grain is not entirely important unless you're looking for a more advanced bind)

how to bind fanfic tiktok series - this is a good one that has a step by step guide which includes the typesetting + printing process

tutorial focused videos

DIY book press - very useful + efficient, but if you can't be bothered to make this (like me oops) you can just use really heavy books or weights

DIY binding cradle - essential tool to punch holes in your signatures, honestly saved me money and also my life, once again i love this man where would i be without this tutorial

french link stitch - easy to follow, has some good sewing tips too!

weaver’s knot - important hack, you don't want your thread to be too long when sewing it's a nightmare

hardcover case binding - good tutorial on hardcover but this one is flatback - it's still fine to follow though if you switch the spine to card stock to give it more flexibility especially if it's a thick book

whew, sorry for the long ask i hope this is helpful enough ;; another important thing is to be patient and have fun !! try to enjoy the process especially bc it takes SO long but trust it's very worth it <3 there's also a lot of materials and tools so pick whichever is the most accessible to you ok byeeee

[jackshiccup]

hey! i'm completely obsessed with your bound copy of otnwas and I'm currently planning to bind a copy of a different hijack fic for my dearest friend! (it is her favorite and she is the hiccup to my jack, lol). I've been picking my way slowly through the wonderful bookbinding sources you piled together in some of your posts and I was wondering if you could elaborate on how you created the beautiful cover? (the gorgeous title, the spine, design, corner covers). Thank you so much for sharing btw, you've blown me away with how beautiful it is!

aw hi, thanks so much !! :) truly there is no greater joy and love than gifting a friend a hand bound book of their favorite fic huh.. that's so sweet of u !!!! (i relate, am binding another one rn for some dear friends of mine 🥹) and yes i can totally explain, or try my best to!

for the cover design, i edit/make all my stuff in adobe illustrator but i drew the corner filigree (the fancy swirly things) on procreate first before transferring it to illustrator to do the rest of the cover design, playing around with resizing etc. (title + spine). i made sure that the canvas size (in mm) is the same as the cover so that the proportions were accurate. if you don't have illustrator i think canva might also work well? i've seen a lot of people use it!

for the foiling, i basically followed the simple but most time-consuming way which is to use a foil quill pen. i bought the standard tip (0.5) but i honestly should've bought the fine tip (0.38) bc there was so much detail i lost you just can't tell from the pics aksjdhaskj. i printed out the cover and spine true-to-size and just traced over it with the foil pen. i taped down the silver foil underneath and the printed cover on top so that nothing moves. don't lift up your foil or your paper until you've finished everything - things get really wonky because they tend to misalign if you do that (TAKE IT FROM MEEEE) you just have to trust that the foil transferred. the pen gets hot enough to transfer through the paper layer, though you do just have to press a little harder than you might usually have to or else it might not come through (the hand cramps i got from it... though it was worth it to me)

for the last step, once you've attached the cover to the text block and all that jazz - the silver book corners you can buy from amazon! make sure that it's in the same thickness as your cover board. mine was 0.3mm, so that's what i bought! you just attach it to the corner and press.

i wish i was one of those people who have those silly fancy machines that do all the foiling work for you but alas i don't have the money for that rn.. maybe in the future kjashdkjh if you don't mind me asking, i'd love to know which hijack fic ur friends loves ;u; anyway i hope your binding goes well, i'm glad i could help !! <3

[jackshiccup]

TELL ME ABT MOMENT TO CELEBRATE PLS

WAUGH !!!! it’s an old wip of one of my favorite scenes from otnwas in ch 37 that make me feel fawking insane it’s when hiccup says, ‘everyday with you is a moment to celebrate, jackson overland’ hence the title … DON’T LOOK TOO HARD THO IT’S SAUR ROUGH 😭

[jackshiccup]

Just like to say that I read Of The Northmost Winds and Skies finally after dipping my toes back into the Hijack circle earlier this year, threw my hands up and went 'why not!'

AND WOW. UH. sick to my stomach and sobbing at 1am because of the finale. WOAhghagah. Yeah. Thank you for hyping it up, it's truly been an amazing experience to read such a gorgeous peace of writing.

-yourdragonsareglowing

I'M SAYINGGGG . IT TRULY CHANGES THE VERY MAKINGS OF YOUR SOUL .... LIKE SUDDENLY LIFE IS SO FULL OF MAGIC AND WHIMSY .. LET'S ALL LIVE !!!! god . will forever scream about this fic i'm so glad u finally got the chance to read it bc i'd take any chance to get to read it again for the first time it is so special ;_; <3 now you'll experience the worst otnwas withdrawal of ur life the next few weeks that will have u in the very depths of the hijack tumblr tag .. but it's okay every year there is new art for this fic and that too is magic i think ....

[jackshiccup]

Hijack yurification beam???? Omg?? Is that what I think it is?????

🤞🏽😇!

[jackshiccup]

dont make me read otnwas again OTL it literally takes me like half a week to finish reading it each time i CANT DO THIS FOR THE 3RD TIME...

OOH U WANT TO REREAD OTNWAS FOR THE 3RD TIME SO BAD..