#stash crafting

[heliotropepajamas-books]

Fanbinding: Left by lifeonmars

Project 50, Binds 68 & 69, and Binderary Books #9-10 Left by lifeonmars ( @marsdaydream ) Completed: February 21, 2026 Size:  Legal Quarto.  45,153 words, 231 pages

This is a fantastic magical realism story that was one of the first fics I knew I wanted to bind when I turned my attention to past Sherlock reads.  Because John Watson’s left-handedness is a major plot-point I wanted to incorporate a hand into the cover design and ended up finding the perfect icon set from the noun project.  That ended up establishing a round theme with the Type Keys font for the title and chapter numbers.  This was one of the only times where I knew what the cover would look like before I started formatting the text, allowing for a bit more coordination than usual.

Because I was using a bookcloth sampler pack from Book Craft Supply Co. for the covers the two books are not identical.  Neither are the endpapers - in this case a cozy plaid was as close as I could get to the traditional Watsonian cuddly jumper.

Formatted in LibreOffice Writer as usual, with Century Schoolbook as the body font and IM Fell Double Pica (of course) for other subheadings.

[heliotropepajamas-books]

Fanbinding: I've Got Nothing to do Today But Smile by gyzym

Project 52, Bind 71, Binderary Book #12/end I’ve Got Nothing to Do Today But Smile by gyzym Completed: February 27, 2026 Size: Octavo.  19,867 words, 179 pages.

A classic Inception AU where Arthur is a stressed out corporate lawyer and Eames owns the coffee shop across the street from his office.

This bind was a bit of a disaster once I started printing and assembling.  The first issue I noticed was in the trimming - I don’t know what I did but there wasn’t a right angle on the textblock once I was finished.  I don’t have access to a guillotine at home and I didn’t have the time to go back out and try again (and probably didn’t have the margins to work with either) so I decided to see what I could accomplish with a straight edge and blade.  The results are serviceable but not terribly attractive.  It at least allowed me to avoid making a trapezoidal cover.

When it came time to make the cover I discovered another error.  I was making this at the same time as another octavo, and somehow had switched the endpapers I intended for each book.  It wasn’t the end of the world (at least they both matched) but the whole look turned out a bit more aggressive than I was planning.  The unexpected hazards of working on a Coffee Shop AU and a story about serial killers at the same time.

For all the issues on the outside of the book, the typeset for this text came out really well.  Times New Roman for the body text, which gets a bad rap for being very basic but excels at fitting a lot of text into a small space.  Grenzel for the title, which is another very versatile, not-at-all flashy font.  It picked up some toner haze in the printing process, which means it's probably time for a replacement cartridge.

I may remake this again in the future to try to fix some mistakes, but it will do for now.

[heliotropepajamas-books]

Fanbinding: The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized by the_ragnorak

42nd Project, 60th Bound Book, Binderary 2026 Book #1 The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized by the_ragnorak (@ursavorpalis) Date Completed: 02/07/2026 Size: Legal Quarto.  310 pages, 62,168 words.

This is an Inception AU I typeset during a period of forced inactivity last summer, so I’m not sure I can fully remember details or thought processes behind some of the typographic choices I made.  Swirly scene dividers?  Sure, why not!  No press name on the title page?  Okay, I guess.  The body font is Liberation Serif, which is literally the default in LibreOffice Writer (the program I use to format things).  I do remember thinking the fact that the Pirate Bay title font doesn’t stick to a level baseline fit the chaotic vibes of the fic as Eames drags Arthur from pillar to post.  So much for decisions made while supervising my grandfather and his dementia during a hospital stay.

For the cover I wanted to branch out a little bit from my usual bookcloth-and-decorative-paper quarter bind style but I’m not yet confident enough in my HTV skills to try a full cover design.  The motif in the corner on its own took a couple tries to properly adhere.  The TV image comes from Canva and was chosen as a nod to the Gil Scott-Heron poem/song the title is referencing.  Plain kraft cardstock for the endpapers to keep with the minimal vibe, but they were sewn instead of tipped on with glue for a bit of variety.

[heliotropepajamas-books]

2026 Binderary Overview

Binderary is an event run by the Renegade Bindery’s discord server that is essentially a bookbinding intensive with online classes and workshops and everyone setting their own goals - whether that is finishing X number of books, mastering a new technique, or putting a dent in their work-in-progress pile.  This was my third year participating in Binderary and turned into the year of typesetting on the fly and sewn-in endpapers.

This year, like last year, I bound 12 books.  Unlike 2025, where I started the month with a few books already printed out and a slew of typesets in reserve, this year I got a late start because of travel and only started with four typesets prepped.  I blew through those fairly quickly and spent my lunch-breaks for the rest of the month frantically formatting fics, and made my goal just under the wire.

Binderary Stats!  12 books bound (3 folios, 4 legal quartos, 3 letter quartos, 2 octavos), making 652,621 words in 2,925 pages.  6 of the books were multi-work anthologies and 6 were single-fic volumes, with a duology included for variety.  There were 9ish fandoms represented, with 6 of the books being crossovers.  Only one author copy this time around, and in the end I’ve added around 9 inches of books to my shelf during this event. Thankfully I've acquired another bookshelf for this hobby, so I'm not in danger of running out of room from this event.

Like last year, all supplies were from stash.  I used up the last of my cobalt Allure bookcloth and finally finished a pack of scrapbook paper I bought at the dollar store about 20 years ago.  I also used up just over 100g of PVA, which made the level in my glue jar go down by nearly an inch (and that doesn’t include the methyl cellulose mix I was casing in with for the bigger books).

I'll be adding posts for the individual books in drips and drabs. It may take a while to get everything photographed with how gloomy things have been here recently. In the meantime, here's a cat.

[heliotropepajamas-books]

Fanbinding: Sour Cherry Pie Life

Project 51, Bind 70, Binderary Book #11 Sour Cherry Pie Life by FaithDaria & paburke Completed: February 27, 2026 Size: Octavo. 19,101 words, 166 pages

Throwing it back to the early days of my fic-reading timeline with a crossover between Supernatural and Criminal Minds.  

Wordcount wise this is right at the breaking point that could work as either an Octavo or a Quarto, but given the time crunch before the end of Binderary and the pile of scrap materials I wanted to use up, I went with the smaller option.  

The typeset came together quickly with Coelacanth for the body font and Chenier for the title (going for a slightly age-worn look).  My octavos usually hover around 95 words-per-page but I managed to hit 115 with this bind.  

Things went a little haywire with the aesthetics once I was actually constructing the book.  I was making this at the same time as another octavo and it wasn’t until it came time to make the covers themselves that I realised I had accidentally switched the endpapers between the books.  It was too late to do anything about it since the textblock was all glued up with spine lining and mull so I just plowed on ahead.  And so my story about a serial killer has a very cozy feel.

[heliotropepajamas-books]

Fanbinding: Marketplace - Crossover Tales (Series) by BootsnBlossoms & Kryptaria

43rd/44th Project, 61st & 62nd books bound, 2026 Binderary Books #3 & #4 The Marketplace - Crossover tales by @kryptaria & @bootsnblossoms Completed: February 11, 2026 Size: Folios. [263 pages, 84,499 words] [424 pages, 135,395 words]

A two book series - first covers an alternate meeting between Q and Bond, while the second includes the events of Skyfall and ends up as a OT3 with Bond, Q, and 007.

Aesthetics chosen almost entirely because I had papers that coordinated nicely without being identical (which coincidentally also coordinated with my first 00Q book).  I’m getting a kick using sewn endpapers and finding thread in my stash to match, so these were sewn with very subtly different colors.

My typesets generally look like they were done by someone tapping away at an ancient linotype machine with how basic they are, and these two books were no exception.  Coelacanth for the body font, titles & chapter headings in Imprint MT Shadow, and Miriam Mono for subheadings - all pulled together in LibreOffice Writer.

I actually had to make the textblock for Bound By Contract twice.  Somehow when I was sewing I flipped the signatures around halfway through and didn’t notice until the spine had been glued and I was in the process of trimming.  I could salvage the endpapers but had to redo everything else.  Could have been worse though!  It’s just paper and now I have a dead textblock to practice other techniques on.

[heliotropepajamas-books]

Fanbinding: Death is a Sailing Ship by Maleann

Bind #39

Death is a Sailing Ship by Maleann Date Completed: October 12, 2025 Size: Quarto.  27,818 words, 196 pages

Another excellent afterlife fic for The Terror.  When members of the expedition die they return to a version of their ship, where they have to work out the dynamics with those who died before them and those who keep joining them after conditions get more and more dire.  It’s hard to explain but I highly recommend the story.

Fairly plain binding, using some bookcloth scraps and a piece of scrapbook paper I’ve had in my stash for at least 15 years waiting for the perfect time to use it (and here it is).  Quartos make such nice chunky books, and this feature was enhanced by printing on some mystery paper I picked up from my local creative reuse store that is on the thicker side with a marvelous color and some flecks that give it a kind of weathered, textured look.  

I kind of leaned into the patina for the formatted text.  The main title is Chenier, with IM Fell Double Pica for the subheadings and Century for the body font.  I had to print using an EcoTank for Reasons, which also unintentionally fed into the rustic look.  Those are amazing machines but not quite as crisp as my usual laser printer.

I always lose the dots on the “i”s when doing HTV letters on a small scale and this time was no exception.  Someday I’ll remember to do smallcaps instead but I was worried about the full title fitting on the spine.  

[heliotropepajamas-books]

Fanbinding: Conflicts of Interest by rageprufrock

43rd Project, 61st Bound Book, 2026 Binderary Book #2 Conflicts of Interest (Series) by @rageprufrock Date Completed: February 8, 2026 Size: Folio.  417 pages, 138,105 words.

This is one of my favorite fics despite the fact that I mostly know about Superman through cultural osmosis and minimal exposure to the actual media.  I’m not usually a kid-fic person either but this is one of the best I’ve read.

Colors chosen because they seemed to fit with the characters.  The HTV title on the spine gave me a lot of issues and after it was on I realized I’d left off a letter (watch out for plurals).  It’s a good thing this is for personal use.

This book is actually made of two longer stories and a short, so I had the chance to try a couple different styles of title pages.  I rather like the way they all worked together.  Formatted in LibreOffice Writer with Bookman Old Style as the body font and Gil Sans Extra Bold for the titles since it seemed to fit both the mid-century Superman and Y2K Smallville vibes.  I also amused myself with a million different handwriting fonts for various letters and notes passed in class.  Some people can do very elaborate typesets with amazing illustrations and embellishments.  And then there’s me spending a day and a half waffling about scene dividers before settling on a small line of stars (a grawlix in the Astronomy dingbat font - very versatile). 

Bonus:  I did another set of sewn on-endpapers for this book, which means I had to find thread to match.  I have several generations worth of sewing thread in my house inherited from various relations and I’m pretty sure the one that matched in the end belonged to my great-grandmother.