FANTASY, FEATURING WORKS BY KPOPFANFICTRASH
Fantasy, featuring works by @kpopfanfictrash [Note: this project was completed in June 2022.] The entire concept of this book changed about five times before I settled on something… and the only reason I settled on the final design was because I found that lizard-scale paper while digging through a flat file at the Chicago Dick Blick’s with a friend. She got to see me rework the whole design in real time as I flung paper around and chattered about what I could do with it.
Read moreTHESE THINGS UNSEEN, BY BONYENNE
These Things Unseen by bonyenne[Note: this project was completed in June 2022.] My first flatback! I usually round and back my spines, because… well, tbh, I need all the practice I can get, but also because it’s more aesthetically pleasing to me and helps accomodate the sewing better. But at 34k words, this textblock was too small to round – which meant playing around with a new binding method. I’ve wanted to incorporate ribbons into a MDZS/Untamed book for a while – TEXTURE, BABY – but not just as a bookmark.
Read moreSPARROW, BY SUGARPLUMSENPAI
Sparrow by @sugarplum-senpai[Note: this project was completed in June 2022.] After a year and a half of messing around with cutouts, I decided to try something slightly different: a bookcloth inlay! (Praise be to cutting machines for making this so easy, whew.) Less texture, but good for an overall crisp design – and I love how it turned out. My favorite interior detail involved the POV shifts throughout the book. To add a visual cue for the reader, I changed up the header graphic depending on the character:
Read moreTHE LEAST OF ALL POSSIBLE MISTAKES, BY RAGEPRUFROCK
The Least of All Possible Mistakes by @rageprufrock[Note: this project was completed in March 2022.] A few excellent discoveries with this project: Those endsheets! A literal map of London! Hollander’s continues to be a treasure trove of great decorative papers, and this was no exception.I got to have more fun with the embossing tool while crafting the Chief Inspector insignia on the cover (though if I had to do it over again, I’d up the pressure setting to make the details clearer).
Read moreTHE SIMPLEST WAY FORWARD, BY HARRIET_VANE
The Simplest Way Forward by harriet_vane[Note: this project was completed in March 2022] I had but one goal with this project: take every cheesy wedding craft cliché and cram it into one book. I swept through the wedding section of Michaels like a kid doing one of those Toys R Us runs back in the 90s. I dug up the swirliest fonts I could find. I grabbed the sparkly gold lotka that’d been idling on my shelf.
Read moreUNSTOPPABLE, BY NETRIXIE
Unstoppable by Netrixie[Note: this project was completed in November 2021.] BEHOLD: A CHONK. At 149,980 words – just 20 words shy of my maximum 150k cutoff – this is still the longest fic I’ve bound to date. I actually had to tweak my typesetting template a little to make sure I could trim the incredibly thick textblock once it was sewn! I use a (sadly now discontinued) Silhouette Curio for the cutouts on my covers, and this was the book where I decided to play around with its embossing feature, too.
Read moreAND I DOUBLE DARE ME AS WELL, BY IODHADH
and i double dare me as well by @iodhadh[Note: this project was completed in October 2021.] More gentle conspiracies ahead! iodhadh commissioned me to bind not one, but two copies of their fic: one to keep and one to gift, done up as a matched set in Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen colors. (With, of course, some extra pops of red and gold for Xue Yang.) I decided I wanted to take the cover design in a slightly different direction than usual, so no cutouts this time – just some ink, cloth, and marbled paper.
Read moreTHERE IS NO SHORTAGE OF BLOOD, BY HOWODD5EVER
there is no shortage of blood by howodd5ever(Note: this project was completed in August 2021.) Do I love using cutouts in my book designs? YOU BET I DO. And this one is a bit more complex than it looks at first glance! The red cloth is actually a full binding, minus a few sections of the turn-ins so it wouldn’t look too bulky. Once I’d gotten that settled, I cut out the swirls in a sheet of black bookcloth and laid it over top to make it look more like a traditional quarter binding.
Read moreINTO EXILE, BY SATH
Into Exile, by Sath[Note: this project was completed in August 2021.] Gang, this bind was an absolute delight. Earlier in 2021, one of Sath’s friends secretly commissioned a binding of “Into Exile” as a present for her; that was the first great part, because making surprise gifts for people has always been my jam. But then, as I worked on the typesetting, I contacted devkymm to ask for permission to include their fanart in the book.
Read moreWITCHER STORIES, BY ASTOLAT
Witcher Stories, by astolat [Note: This project was completed in June 2021.] My first anthology! A friend asked me to collect her favorites of Astolat’s Witcher fics, which gave me a chance to fuss around with the typesetting in ways I hadn’t before. Like a two-page title spread! And a(n admittedly very simple) table of contents! And drop caps! This book was my drop caps gateway drug, and I am now a FIEND.
Read moreTHE ROOTS GROW RIOTOUS, BY HANSBEKHART
The Roots Grow Riotous, by hansbekhart[Note: This project was completed in June 2021.] Do you ever read the first chapter of a WIP and just know you need to bind it once it’s finished? Roots was that fic for me. Months before it wrapped up in April 2021, I was drafting layouts in my head, researching fonts, and hoping hansbekhart would be cool with me creating a physical copy of their fic.
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