cover-story-bindery

[cover-story-bindery]

CORSET SPINE!

There's probably a tutorial for this out there somewhere, I wouldn't know as I didn't look. I just decided to Fuck Around and Find Out, and I think the end result came out really beautifully!

I've done the fucking around so you don't have to! Here are the steps so that you, too, can make a book that says “unadulterated filth, but like, classy” [alternatively: “The opposite of whatever 50 shades had going on over there”]

(I don't believe in math, so no precise measurements here, I eyeballed it.)

Have hubris and spare bookcloth

Buy a grommet tool and grommets or dig yours out from wherever you left it ten years ago (watch a YouTube video or something on how to use it if you don't know how)

Decide on how big you'd like the edges of your corset to be, and then cut fabric to at least a half inch wider than that, with about a half inch overhang at both ends to fold over the top and bottom of the book cover. Mine was about 2.5 inches by 11 inches.

Remember that you are making a corset spine on two sides of the book and do the same thing a second time.

Cut two pieces of bristol board (or other thin but stiff paper-like material. It needs to be stiff enough to be able to fold the bookcloth around the edges) to the length of the cover you're attaching them to and about half-ish the size you want the finished corset to be on each cover. Mine was 1 inch by 9 inches.

In order to give my cloth a clean edge that wouldn't fray, I essentially "hemmed" it using glue. I used my hinge spacers to mark the cloth at 5mm on either edge, then glued the bristol board down at the edge of the mark on one side. Let dry for ten minutes or so so the paper doesn't slide

Put a thin layer of glue along both marked edges, then fold it over to the back side of the book cloth. It will overlap your bristol board on one side.

Dry both corset sides under a flat object with light weight for at least an hour or until you remember to come back to them. They need to be dry and flat or your corset will look weird ask me how I know

Mark the side of the corset that does not have bristol board with evenly-spaced marks for where you want your grommets to go. You only need grommets for the length of the bristol board, there will be extra cloth at the ends. Try to keep them even from the edge as well as each other, because it will be obvious if you don't ask me how I know

Place grommets. Follow your tool's instruction. Mine punches holes in the fabric, then you insert a grommet and backer, then press them with the other part of the tool. YMMV

At this point you're going to need to be working with a completed book case (I do bradel binding). I think you could do this on a completely cased-in book but I didn't try it. It's important to note that these corset strips are not structurally important. I think you could make the case and make them structurally important, but I just put them on top of the bookcloth on a completed case

Dry-fit the corset pieces to see where you want them on your case to give you whatever your desired amount of corset is. I aligned the edges of my pieces with the edge of the cover boards at the hinge. When you're satisfied with the placement, it's time to glue!

Apply a thin layer of glue to the bristol board and the folded over hem/edge on top of it. Do NOT glue it all the way to the grommets - you're going to need some room to work with the ribbon or whatever your lacing material is ask me how I know

Glue it to the cover and burnish it with your bone folder for good adhesion. Do the other side. (Make sure that your grommets are even with each other across the spine.

(at this point I put the case under weight and let it dry for a little while for the glue to set but if you feel frisky you could do the next step and THEN put it under weight)

Apply glue to the entire piece of fabric overhanging the top and bottom, fold it over the edge of the case, and glue it down.

Now would be a GREAT time to trim the corset sides to match the edge of bookcloth fabric inside your case, so it doesn't look weird underneath endpaper ask me how I know

I used binder clips to hold everything in place to dry.

Case in as usual

Lace it up like shoelaces!

[cover-story-bindery]

I actually just realized I never made a post for the book I made @sammialex for her birthday! She posted about it, and my brain basically checked that task off as done. Go ADHD!

So for her birthday, I bound my series Security Issues, which is essentially a pornographic journey through the evolving relationship of GentleDom!Bucky and PraiseKink!Clint. (fandom friendships are mostly about giving each other pornography lbr)

It's surprisingly sweet for what it is.

So obviously this bind needed to have panache! It needed to have style! It needed to remind the reader of bondage. It needed to say "unadulterated filth, but like, classy”.

Clearly, it needed a corset spine.

Which I had never done. Forever-enabler Stella sent me a few inspiration photos, and between our mutual backgrounds in sewing/quilting and my own hubris, we persevered. (I could have found a tutorial, probably, but decided to FAFO - I think I invented a technique! I'll put the instructions in a separate post.)

As usual, I did my shopping on Hollander's -- the bookcloth is Japanese mohair in pine green, and the endpapers are a Thai marble in black/silver/gold, and it has a black silk ribbon to match the corset. (I made myself my own copy, and my endpapers are a linen-texture ivory and the grommets are black - I'll drop a couple extra photos at the end.) All the art was purchased on Etsy from various artists.

This bind was GENUINELY fun to make, I really had a great time with it, and I love how it came out.

and minimal changes to my copy I ran out of silver grommets:

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so tumblr ate my first post

Friends, when I tell you I have been sitting on this bind for weeks.

(I have actually been sitting on three binds for weeks, eagerly awaiting their delivery to the intended recipients. I originally planned to finish these and take them with me to Chicago so they could be posted locally, but alas, I am not as fast at bookbinding as I thought. I have learned nothing from this. What I have learned is that UPS is very slow, and the UK post is very fast!)

Anyway! First up we have ...

From This Day Forward by @flawedamythyst

This one is a comfort read for me, and it was delightful to bind! It's a Regency Arranged Marriage AU (though it's in my notes as 'The Pride and Prejudice AU -- it has nothing to do with Pride and Prejudice), and my first bind over 100k words! It is also the first time that I've done individual pieces of art throughout the story instead of a consistent masterpage applied to each story page. The quote at the end is obviously Jane Austen.

I'm overall pretty happy with how this one came out, although as usual the HTV was finicky and annoying. I think that's the defining feature of HTV at this point. I made two copies - one for myself and one for the author.

The bookcloth and endpapers are both from Hollander's - Verona Lilac and a traditional Florentine in purple and olive (with gold accents!). All the art throughout the story was purchased on Etsy from various artists, as was the cover design. The HTV is a chameleon dark purple (I don't know the exact color -- it came in a pack), and gold and black foil.

[cover-story-bindery]

Another day, another bind!!

This one is also a pretty early bind that I’m not totally thrilled with the result so may go into the “re-do” pile. related note if you would like any of the binds that end up in that pile let me know I did try a lot of cool different things with this bind that I would FOR SURESIES do differently if I did them again.

The paper is from Hollander’s Verona line in Bluejay, and the end papers are their Thai marble in “Tsunami”.

So, because I am an idiot, I tried to put HTV foil on the cloth exactly where I thought it should end up. In the theoretical location of where the book board should end up. Partially this happened because I used the cricut transfer foil on the back (which obviously MUST be done prior to making the case) and for some reason thought that meant I also needed to do the HTV foil the same way

Kids. Do not do this

I should have foiled the cricut design, then cased in to position that appropriately, and THEN added HTV. Let this be a lesson to you all.

That said, it didn’t turn out horribly given the fact that I’m not what one would call “precise” with my math.

Typeset created in Affinity Publisher. The interior art is all free vector images I got either in the stock images of affinity or on google image search. The endpapers were laminated to blue cardstock (which I no longer do, it’s an extra step that I find unnecessary unless the paper is very thin/translucent and/or I hate the back of the endpaper).

I did have fun playing with fonts and such to get an effect I liked with the chapter summaries (which I normally don’t include but these were relevant).

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This bookbind for this week is spins the Random Photos on my Phone wheel

Freedom’s Reach by @drgrlfriend

Guys. I uh.

I got real ambitious with my cricut on this one. It was a very early project and nobody explained weeding to me. Also, when you buy a cricut, you literally have no idea what you’re doing. It seems really straightforward!

Until you find the world’s most finicky, curly, loop-de-loop pattern possible and then make both covers out of it.

It was SO ridiculous that when I made my own copy, I skipped all of that entirely 🤣 (it’s one of my comfort reads, I definitely love having a physical copy).

But the beautiful curly cue version went to @drgrlfriend herself!

I will never, ever, ever do this again.

The Bookcloth is Hollander’s Allure line in wheat, the endpapers are also from Hollander’s, and they have beautiful dandelions! I coated the book with Krylon matte finishing spray because the vinyl permanent, not iron on, and I wanted to to hold up to regular handling.

I’m not sure I can actually recommend that though, it’s very sensitive to moisture/humidity and will take on a weird grayish cast if you spray it in moist conditions. Ask me how I know.

(BTW I used the same cloth/paper for my copy, which I’ll add at the end so you can see exactly how done with curly-cues I was)

And here’s mine 😂:

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I’m not very good at keeping up with this blog 😂

Moving right along, in no particular order, today we’re looking at my not quite cursed but slightly uncooperative bind of Shatter Together by @thepartyresponsible

It’s actually a 4-part series that follows a ‘what if’ timeline AU where young, broke, but still deadly Clint Barton runs into post-resurrection Jason Todd.

And somehow they hit it off.

This is a love story y’all

Anyway it’s bound in Verona ‘Smoke’, and the endpapers are batik ‘stone’. I typeset it in Affinity as usual, and made my very first table of contents! @sammialex helped me add color to my SVGs. The font on the cover is double-layered with a metallic maroon underneath black foil, and the skyline is plain grey HTV.

Also hey TPR - if you want a copy, hit me up!

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Alright, now that I’ve handed these off to their intended recipients!

I had the delightful opportunity to meet up with some of my oldest and best fandom friends this weekend, friendships formed in the blistering inferno of a fandom that was already twenty years old when we met - ten years ago! When we decided on the trip I asked if anyone wanted a fic bound for them, fully expecting each of them to pick one of their own fics.

Instead they decided to pick one of mine, and while that’s very flattering, it also meant I had to bind a fic I wrote in 2018.

sobs in old flawed writing

Anyhow!

This one was easier than some, mainly because I mostly ignored the writing (because otherwise I was going to burn it down and re-write it completely), and focused on pretty details. The bookcloth is plum from Hollanders’ Verona line, the endpapers are Indian marble gold/silver on black (also from Hollanders), and the cover art is cut from holographic HTV and was an enormous pain in the ass. It doesn’t want to stick to anything!! The interior artwork was mostly purchased on Etsy and I’m sorry to say I can’t recall the seller at the moment. I printed on bright white A4 paper and sewed it with blue thread to match the castle which was supposed to be more purple but the screen lied.

Overall pleased with how this came out, except for the cover imperfections, and now I will endeavor to never read it ever again!

@chronicwhimsy @maevemauvaise @remsyk-blog I hope you enjoy them!

East of Eden by @kangofu-cb (me!)

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Okay! On to book binds that weren’t cursed

Gold on Your Fingertips, along with the sequel This Feels Right, was the first fic I bound. It is also the one I glued the spine to. I actually got a lot of practice making this bind, over and over and over again. At least it was my own fic and not someone else’s being mangled 😂

I gave the first successful copy to @drgrlfriend because the fic itself was a gift to her, but I did keep a copy for myself!

The bookcloth is Hollander’s Allure line in Skylight and the endpapers are Lokta marble in blue/yellow/gold. I typeset it in Affinity Publisher (kind of poorly, to be honest, and certainly with a lot less frills than my more recent stuff) and hand-traced the fingerprints at the beginning of each chapter. The gold handprint on the cover was purposefully wrapped around the spine (a nod to the story) using iron-on foil, and the one inside on the title page was placed using Cricut transfer foil.

I learned a lot from this bind! Not least of which is to put iron-on details on the cover BEFORE the casing-in.

Gold on Your Fingertips

This Feels Right by @kangofu-cb (me!)

[cover-story-bindery]

This is not the first fic I bound - I definitely bound one of my own fics first, accidentally glued the spine to the case, and then hid it in the back of my craft desk never to be seen again

But I’m posting these binds first because, to be quite frank, they’re curséd.

I have redone the covers FIVE times. Unclear how much of the endpaper I have gone through. I have printed both text blocks AT LEAST three times. Volume II doesn’t have tapes, because I forgot them.

I don’t know what kind of blood sacrifice I was supposed to make for this to go smoothly but I obviously didn’t get it right.

Anyway, these are for @sammialex. We first collaborated on these binds way back last summer, when she was looking for an artist to do cover art and I poked at @maevemauvaise because she’s super talented and it seemed like her sort of thing. The end result is stunning!

The printed hardback from [redacted company] was (in my opinion!) NOT PRETTY ENOUGH

So when I decided, sure yeah, bookbinding, 1000 hobbies in a trench coat, sounds like fun, I knew I wanted to make Sammi a more beautiful copy of her work because I know how much love and attention went into the story.

I learned, at minimum, five specialty skills just to make these.

The bookcloths are Hollander’s Verona line in Merlot and Forest, the cover design was created by @maevemauvaise and hot foiled directly onto the book cloth using a foil quill and my cricut, the endpapers are Hollander’s Thai marble in “Firestorm” and “Forest”, and the paper is Neenah classic linen 8 1/2 x 11, in natural white, which has a really nice heft and texture and feels sort of old-fashioned in a way that vibes with the setting. The ribbon is black velvet which is probably impractical but I’m in charge here.

I designed the typeset using Affinity Publisher and I definitely went ham with green vines and blood drops, but I don’t regret it. It looked like A Lot on the screen but in person I think it’s exactly the right amount.

These babies are going in the mail next week, as soon as I get back from my trip, where I hope the curse won’t follow! @sammialex thanks for letting me play with your work, for your patient guidance with Affinity, and for giving me the opportunity to make every common mistake and several uncommon ones trying to bring these fics to life 💜

Upon What Soil series, by SammiAlex (mind the tags)

Volume I: Vessel at the Launch

Volume II: Last Restraint