#I traced my own hand for that one bit ✨fancy✨

[an-albino-pinetree]

Hm. Well I don’t think that’s supposed to happen after you die-

Art credits for the ‘start screen’, of course go to @sm-baby 👍🏻

[thegingerwrites]

Fanbinding: am i a stranger to you? by @chasingfictions

Summary:

Just then, the last of the blood slipping from that boy into Spike, him and Dru grabbing for each other with their fangs in each other’s mouths, then walking hand in hand up Fifth Avenue, all the way back home, a little prayer croaks out of him, before he realizes enough to grab it back— Please. Please, let it be like this always. - (In which New York City is one of the various loves of Spike's unlife, he can’t stop thinking about the Slayer, and in which, mostly, he just really wants to belong somewhere, if anyone will have him.)

link here

I was inspired by the folks at the Renegade Bookbinding Guild and their Binderary 2024 events to try my hand at binding some of my favorite works of fanfiction. This one is the fifth part of chasingfictions my blood tastes like laughter series and has had a special place in my heart since 2021. I'm from NY and I read this between classes my first semester back at school during the pandemic and Spike's love for the city seemed to perfectly resonated with my own so I wanted to commemorate that in print!

This is the first text block I've ever sewn by hand. At four signatures, this seemed like a perfect starter project. I'm learning that part of designing books is doing it by ✨vibe✨ The gray/white/silver/gold marbled cover said New York to me, sort of a glass and concrete with a bit of shine aesthetic. I went with red end papers because vampires. The typesetting isn't too fancy but I really wanted to find an art deco ornament to separate sections of the fic. It took me a while to figure out how I wanted to decorate the spine. I originally used a gold foil quill to trace the text of the title and author but then went over it with a paint pen recommended in one of the Binderary sessions last month and fell in love with the effect. I can't believe my hand was steady enough to get it that clean 😅