Just in time for the upcoming 2nd anniversary of The Duelist's Apprentice, (Or: The Uncanny and Serendipitous Reawakening of one X'rhun Tia) I finally finished this leather-bound edition I'd been puttering away at for the past year, as a gift to my beloved editor and life's companion - without whom, this story would never have come to life.
"Now, pray don't tell me that the very one who danced within the blaze of the Vermillion Scourge, leaving gratifying Garlean-Prince-shaped scorchmarks upon Ala Mhigan flagstones, is suddenly fearful of getting a tad…singed?"
I may have experimented with "carbon tooling" using candle soot, among other new techniques...
Details, and a lil sumpin' sumpin' special secret beneath the cut:
Spine stiffener and tabs for split boards: Japanese kozo (mulberry) paper and linen
Spine decoration and title: handpainted blind tooling
Cover decoration: blind tooling and carbon tooling
Inner book:
Text block: Cougar Natural Digital Smooth, 89 gsm
Inserts: Map of the known realms and beyond Eorzea (as of 4.0), a diagram of the Elemental Cycle, commissioned Art Nouveau "playing card" by @ruderubicante, and neoclassical painting by @suwisuwii
Endbands: hand-sewn silk headbands on hemp cord
Endpapers: my own Suminagashi-marbled, kozo (mulberry) paper
Edge painting: handpainted
Typeset by moi
Process pics to come at: @glassheadcanon
Just because it’s so meaningful to DL, I also included a copy of this drabble I wrote for a past FFXIV Write, at the very end of the tome.
So yes - I did geek out a bit, trying my best to incorporate multiple elements in the making of this book: Earth (through antiquing), Fire (in the leather tooling), Water (Suminagashi paper marbling), and (as general Final Fantasy lore considers it an element)...Light!
P.S. - The sigils on the spine glow in the dark :3
An eighth of the way through, now - learning lots (thanks to the super supportive podficcing community), and having fun (especially with compiling the bloopers reel)!
Of course, it helps that "A Case of You" has always been one of my fave early chapters - one of the very first plot turning points I'd written out for the fic (starring a drunk X'rhun, with fun, yet revelatory, banter and Miqo'te hijinks).
