#custom book bind

[kirkscarr]

it’s official!! First, Best Destiny -- Part 1 by the lovely @ophelia-j finally has the physical form that it deserves!! here’s a little photoshoot of the finished product (:

to see how i bound this book i have another post that can be found here.

next up: specialty pages!!

first off there are these title pages

and then the copyright page!

the table of contents!

*note: i did remove the chapter notes to format it more like a “real” book. (looking back, i honestly wish i hadn’t because i do always love reading those!) because i removed the notes, i decided to include which episode/movie the chapters follow in the table of contents!!

the chapter headers!! THEORETICALLY it says t'hy'la in vulcan script.

and then i have this TBC page that i stuck in right before the epilogue!

this is such a small detail but it honestly might be one of my favorite parts. i did my very best to emulate a real book's design, so i have this fun little barcode/QR code at the very back. and!! the QR code links to the actual Ao3 story!! how cool is that???

conclusion!!

throughout every step of the bookbinding process i was mentally like "this is gonna be the step where it ALL FALLS APART" and??? it never did??? like? i just made a 900 page book??? that's crazy guys.

anyways!! i am so, so, SO thrilled that i am now the proud owner of a physical copy of First, Best Destiny -- Part 1.

*sidenote for the author!! thank you so much for all your support on my last post - it actually made my day! <33

[rainreignrayn]

rebinding the hunger games series in honor & preparation of Sunrise on the Reaping! linked on my etsy 🏹

[hopelessdaydreamer7]

Bind of my favourite fic Darkness Exist to Make Light Truly Count by @aquaquadrant

This is my first bind ever and it was a really fun process! Recently my cousin @haxkattpress has got into book binding and has done many amazing projects! So on my visit with her we did this project together!

For the typeset I wanted to do something really artistic like Rapunzel. To do this I went to the tangled art book and used Claire Keane work that was used for the drawings around Rapunzel’s tower! But to make the drawings work with the fic a bit more I went in and drew Varian in a few since it’s not just a story about Rapunzel.

For the book itself we went with a nice mint green and pink and white marble end papers! And to make it even more artistic we speckled the sides with three different colours to really add character.

The illustration on the cover was also one of Claire Keane concept arts for the film. I thought it was really beautiful and would be a nice touch especially with the bird theme.

Maybe one day if there’s the working for a future bind of the fic since I just went up to chapter forty the end of act three I could use the illustration again but give it a new look. Here’s a mock up idea of what it could like.

This bind is for personal use only and not for profit. I will love to keep it on my shelf with my other books. The fic can be found on ao3! Thank you AquaQuadrant for writing the fic I hope you like the bind and hope to do others like this one day!

[alistairs]

Last day at my nightmare retail job let’s goooooo!!

[jaysbraindump]

Six of Crows custom edition

Front and back covers both designed and created by me :) they're a little bit messy but overall I'm quite proud of them

The custom edition was a birthday gift for @bohemian-rhapsody-in-blue and is fully annotated with all my thoughts and feelings on the book, including some hand drawn sketches of each of the crows (pictures under the cut)

The Crow drawings are all based on their actors from the show with some mixed in elements of inspiration from their book counterparts

[acmkart]

The endpapers of this book appear to have been made with coloring pages, which I loved and had a great time filling in. I ended up gluing them shut because I messed up, though.

You can see where the binding is starting to come apart. I believe this is because of the weight of the textblock with all the things I added in, not because of any flaw in the binding. I did take advantage of this slight gap to tie in a ribbon to use as a bookmark.

The journal came with this lovely note and the envelope with a wax seal, so of course I had to include it on the first page of the journal.

The book was made by BooksAndTrees on Etsy.

[holomancomics]

Just this last year I started printing out and binding Public Domain comics for my collection, so far I have only made a handful but I think I'm getting the hang of the basics and pretty soon I'ma move up to longer hard back custom prints/binds

These 3 form a kinda set in my collection, at least I consider the three a set as there comics about who'd I consider The Big 3 Strongmen Of the Platinum Age, unless we consider Everett True, then its 4

This is the most recent custom binding and printing I did, I'm actually writing a short story on Sprocket Man rn and decided to go the extra mile on this print by doing some experimented with the cover and im pretty sure this is actually the thickest bind I've done so far, also also, I'm not gonna lie, the main reason I did a collage style cover for this is cause my cat messed up a good chuck of the original cover, luckily I found i could cut around it

This is a fun collection, a feel set of the series "Your Page" from the golden age comic Funny Pages from Centaur Publishing, a bunch of cool early examples of fan art in hear and tmk this is the first ever dedicated fan art page in American comics

Gonna be honest, this comic is weird and I only added it to my collection cause it was made by a favorite author of mine Gelett Burgess who's behind one of my favorite novels and pulp Heroes/platinum age superhero's, Astro The Master of Mysteries

This is probably the thinnest collection I own, it only has two comics from this series inside, why, because I was only able to find a scan of one other strip online and the second strip contained in this volume is one I got in its original printing plate form, I actually have a few copies of the plate comic in this one including one print made using the actual plate which I'm currently planning on framing that original steal plate and will probably post about that two

All and all, 10/10 hobby, highly recommend anyone who likes and collects comics or books to look into doing this, here's a playlist of how to videos I've been using to learn and it's proven invaluable

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoQSPOwoMto78lPq6AIG4S09hKYo1LJUr&si=n3_DATIiloaUrmG_

[kirkscarr]

ok so i just finished my book cover for First, Best Destiny - Part 1 by the amazing @ophelia-j !!

admittedly i was going to wait until i actually attached the text block to the cover before i posted this haha, but i was SO excited after making this cover that i decided to just post it and then update with the finished product later!!

this book is absolutely embedded in my soul, and words cannot even describe how gorgeously it’s written. it’s a book that made me realize - hey, the adventure doesn’t end as you grow old.

you can read it here. i promise you won’t regret it!!!

anyways!!! here’s all of my other bookbinding steps for anyone interested.

cam’s somewhat incomplete bookbinding guide

please note that i am an AMATEUR hobbyist. please do not actually use this as a tutorial.

oh also!! bookbinding terminology will have a * by it which will be explained at the end in order to make this flow better. i’ll also link the tutorials i used at the end of this for anyone interested.

1) Formatting the document! I downloaded the original text as a PDF, and then designed a cover page, grabbed some art from the internet (i know, frowned upon, but this is just a personal copy so it is what it is), and then designed a table of contents and chapter icons!!

*side note! i added which episodes each chapter follows to the table of contents (pictured below) as this book was written as an accompaniment to TOS and the movies.

2) Next, I printed out all NINE HUNDRED PAGES??? admittedly i could have done it in less if I’d used a bigger page size, but sending things out to be printed is expensive so we made do. after printing, i folded them into signatures*.

*there’s an additional note about the paper i used at the end

3) punching out holes in all the signatures! although not technically necessary, I honestly don’t think i would’ve been able to sew this behemoth without doing it.

4) sewing the pages into a real!! actual!! book!! this was the part i was most nervous about. i’ve NEVER attempted to sew anywhere near this large of a book before, so i tried out a new method of sewing in hopes of making it a bit more sturdy. we won’t know if it worked until this book endures some wear and tear, but i’m pretty optimistic!

5) next up is glueing the spine! this is where it really hit me that a lot of bookbinding is just…glueing shit together. later i also added cardstock to the spine in hopes of helping it adhere to the cover better, and a book headband* for decoration.

5) now we’re onto the book cover!! they only sell bookboard in minor bulk around here, so we’re not even gonna discuss how much bookboard i now own… anyways! i glued the faux leather onto the bookboard and then let that dry.

6) last up! off to the cricket! a huge thank you to my friend for letting me borrow her cricket AND supplies! anywho, this is where i designed my cover art. i then adhered the design to the cover. after this step, i realized i…definitely need some kind of sealant - so, if any more seasoned bookbinders have suggestions for this i am all ears!!

all in all, this was a super fun project, and a great way to kill some time while i recover from surgery! i absolutely plan to bind the sequel at some point, but that may be a…ways away. i’m a STEM major and school starts back up soon so…time will be in short supply lol!

To be continued...

Terminology

*signature: group of sheets folded in half, to be worked into the binding as a unit.

*book headband: just look up a picture if you’re curious because tumblr says i can't add any more pictures lol.

*about the paper!! i actually got it from a local specialty paper store, but if you want something similar i've heard amazon has some good bookbinding alternatives!

Tutorials

please PLEASE go check out Jess Less on youtube. she's phenomenal. here are her vids and what i used them for.

don't laugh!! i actually stole MOST of my techniques straight from this video.

i used this one to help me format the book correctly! although i still ended up with some goofs haha (see: any pages on the left side have the page number in the margin LMAO).

[786printmedia]

Custom Book Binding | Coil Bound Printing in Newport Beach

786 Print Media Inc offers custom book binding and coil bound book printing services in Newport Beach. Quality craftsmanship and fast service. Call 714-850-1870!

[printarabiadubai]

The Smart Guide to Booklets: Print, Bind, Share

Got something important to share — an event agenda, product details, or a how-to guide? A booklet might be your best friend. It’s the perfect balance between a flyer and a full-blown book: compact, professional, and packed with just the right amount of detail.

So, what is a booklet? It’s a small, multi-page print piece that keeps things clear and organized. Booklets are flexible, professional tools that make your message easy to hold onto — literally.

Binding methods you’ll want to know:

Saddle Stitching – Simple, cost-effective, and ideal for slimmer booklets.

Perfect Binding – Clean, durable, and gives you that sleek spine for titles.

Wire-O & Spiral – Sturdy and easy to flip through — great for manuals or notebooks.

Sizes that fit your needs: From pocket-sized A6 to spacious A4, standard and square formats help your content shine.

Look for "booklet printing Dubai" on Google. Print Arabia, a renowned name in Dubai, UAE, will pop up. We offer the best quality products at affordable prices. Reliable delivery all over the UAE.

[pleasant-plant-x]

[pencilium]

I think the biggest challenge to my finding a satisfying career is having my most experienced and desireable skill set be something I hate doing that grinds my soul into dust.

[firebound-press]

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO I PROUDLY PRESENT!!!!!! A FULL COLLECTION OF FISH N CHIP WORKS BY @earlgay-milktea !!!!!!!

My first ever leatherbound book!!!! Over 650 pages!!!!! My first time doing double core endbands!!!!! It’s all in here!!!!!!!!

It’s got custom graphics by @fishcop !!!! It’s got a couple graphics from me!!!!!! We’ve got it all!!!!!!

Ive been working on this book for over a year now and I’m so so proud to finally have it done. There’s a lot of stuff I could say about this bind but it mostly boils down to “holy shit I actually did it that’s so cool”

A lot of love and work went into this bind so if you have any questions please don’t be afraid to ask! Please!! I want to talk about it!!!!

Works featured:

Heart of the Sea

Breaking Free

Honesty Is The Best Fallacy

Captive Hero

Lovefool

Bitter Water

advancing on real ground

Wreck the Halls

Before Daybreak

You can also read Earls other work here:

https://archiveofourown.org/users/earlgay_milktea

[akisteahouse]

Thinking about Fisherman!Reader with smitten goldfish-mer Riddle Rosehearts…

Who you met one fateful day when you caught him in your net, after noticing that it was much heavier than usual, pulling it up to see a furious redheaded mer.

Who was kicking his shiny orangey-gold tail back and forth, the rough texture of the ropes making angry red marks across his skin, clawing and scratching at his binds, snarling in what you could only assume to be highly agitated mermish - Mother always told him not to get too near human boats. >:(((

Who was already quaking before you pulled out a blunt dagger, and now had fully activated his fight-or-flight response, shutting his eyes when you approached and knelt down to him, knife poised directly above him…

Who immediately opened his eyes again when he wasn’t met with the sharp sting of a blade, but instead… freedom?

Who got more confused when you helped remove the ropes restricting him, even helping him get off your little fishing boat, and back to sea, no less! What was this madness?

Who went back home dazed and had a good, long think… before remembering rule 374 - to always return what one borrows! Ugh, how could he be so foolish to forget?

Who decided the best way to pay the odd human back would be to supply them with fish - after all, that was why they were in the sea, and why they had set up those troublesome nets, yes?

Who was so shy and bashful at first, coming back to your little fishing boat with armfuls of fish, rushing away whenever you caught sight of him peering up at you from the depths, only his head bobbing on the surface of the seawater.

Who warmed up to you, little by little, until he was comfortable enough to hang his arms on the sides of your fishing boat, ranting in mermish about one thing or another - you never really understood much, but it was fine. (Company was company, after all.)

Who started grooming himself anxiously, usually right before meeting you - plucking off loose scales on his tail, adjusting and readjusting his hair like some kind of troubled maiden. (A proper mate had to look presentable, correct?)

Who grew bolder over time, swimming circles around your boat, sometimes nudging your waist with his head. Clicking and cooing much sweeter sounding mermish to you, always leaving slightly disheartened. (Were you not fond of him? Was that why you weren’t responding to his advances?) :(((

Who started poring over history textbooks in his free time, researching specifically on human courting customs - Prince Rielle had a human partner, so there must’ve been at least some in books, right??

Who disobeyed Mother, venturing into some shipwreck ruins, to search for any books teaching Common language, so he’d have the chance to court you properly - he was a gentleman, after all.

Who came one day particularly elated, speaking in mostly broken Common, with a bit of mermish sprinkled in, managing to string together a mostly understandable sentence - “You, me, together?” (You giggled. Progress!)

Goldfish-mer Riddle, who is absolutely determined to prepare himself to be the best mate for you possible, no matter how many shipwrecks he may need to explore, he’s prepared to take your heart, and maybe even your last name in the process. ;)

hnnnnnnnnnngh first mermay post how’d I do

[deikshen]

The Shen Yuan that dies - really dies. He actually dies and doesn't transmigrate, but well, you know, death is a timeless thing and the flow of time itself in the world of the dead is so weird lol So, well, let me make up that all the demons and ghost kings and cultivators inhabit this powerful timeless space where the dead also go, and oh, there's Shen Yuan now -

So, Shen Yuan is just a silly ghost fire filled with pent-up rage, damn shitty novel, damn shitty author. Is he “alive” for something? Because of how much he hates PIDW and its fucked up ending. Get a lower-ranking ghost body because he's just... angry at Airplane. His new form is, ah, well, different and weird, but he can grow his hair to go unnoticed, and can steal some robes.

Get a small job eventually just because he was bored and although he don't need to eat, it would be nice to have extra money - and the tea house owner doesn't care if he's a human or a ghost as long as he's not creepy with the customers and serves their tables. It's a routine that gives him the quick financial support to get bad books, complain more - and maybe he's getting stronger because of it? Because of his anger at mediocre authors and repressed anger? Does it even make sense?

At some point, Tonglu opens. Shen Yuan has headaches and the desperate feeling that he must go, as if he summoned. He tells his boss he's going to be out for ghostly reasons - his boss is like, oh, you needed a vacation anyway. And Shen Yuan goes.

It's a massacre, of course. A mix between the Hunger Games and the Purge, but Shen Yuan has something they definitely don't: a lot of knowledge in shooting video games. And he doesn't have a gun, but hey, he can shoot resentful spiritual energy and it works like bullets or something - he soon discovers that the more ghosts he overcomes, he becomes stronger. He has more power to throw, more skills, a stronger body.

Go to the kiln. Have bloody fights. At some point he gets a sword and it takes him forever and nothing like a training sequence to use it properly. And finally, the kiln opens and Shen Yuan comes out looking... Well, stronger.

He returns to the teahouse to change and take a bath. The owner tells him that it's been thirteen years, what the hell, but lets him in and gives him hot water and clothes.

Shen Yuan's new body and new abilities are strange to him. He notices himself taller. Stronger. His hearing and smell have improved. His abilities seem to be more wordy, as if he could persuade people if he spoke to them in a specific tone, as if his words could bind them. Well, it's not a bad way to be dead.

Shen Yuan tries to continue working at the tea house, but the humans are clearly terrified by the powerful ghost king aura in their area, so there are hardly any customers. Shen Yuan just sighs and decides to leave. He has some savings anyway.

Ghosts run away from him. Humans either try to kill him or hide. Shen Yuan is fed up; no matter if it is in the mortal world or the ghost world, people are gossiping about him and how he has not taken a Territory, about how unorthodox he is, about how they are waiting for him to start his killing spree one day.

Shen Yuan learns to change his appearance from creepy ghost to normal human, hide his resentful energy, and camouflage himself in the human world. It's a long way from his old tea house, and so many years have passed that the kind owner has probably already died, so Shen Yuan gets another job at a bookstore. Nothing unusual. Just a boy who was once from a wealthy family and was disinherited when his older brother took over the family leadership because of their bad relationship. Now he must work to live.

People swallow that story like a good meal, some even feel sorry for him.

And Shen Yuan is having a decent afterlife. Boring, mostly, but with good days. He reads a lot, gets angry a lot, writes authors letters that reach their desks without them even realizing how the hell did this crazy guy find his addresses. Let's just say he's having an interesting life.

Then one day, he meets Luo Binghe.

He... He literally knows that he's Binghe. It couldn't be anyone else but Luo Binghe. He does his investigations, and apparently, Emperor Luo Binghe exists, he has been there all along. It's not like Shen Yuan knew it; the ghost realm and the human-demon realm are divided, and even if they have a common mortal ancestor, demons and ghosts don't usually meddle in their own things.

Not that Shen Yuan wants to be cannon fodder anyway; he keeps his distance in Binghe, works at that bookstore, gives friendly greetings to his customers, and keeps sending angry letters to authors.

And one day Shen Yuan receives a direct visit from Luo Binghe at his door. With a letter in his hand.

"This letter was on my Second Wife's desk," Luo Binghe says, with a fake smile. "No one but her can open or read it, so this Lord wonders after discovering the resentful energy signature on the paper, what missives does this Ghost King exchange with one of the Emperor's wives?"

Shen Yuan is not surprised that Luo Binghe knows who he is - ever so OP the Protagonist! However, it is more difficult to explain that his wife actually writes cut-sleeved novels that the fact that Shen Yuan was reading and criticizing them in the first place.

Well, he's been dead for over a hundred years, really denying that he's at least bisexual at this point in his life...

[dream-unity]

Theseus' Guide to Ruining a Perfectly Good Boat Binding

Name's Dream, howdy hey. I'm someone who just. Hangs in this fandom somehow. Theseus' Guide is if not one of my top, the top fanfiction in the Gravity Falls fandom for me. And as such, I really really wanted to bind it. So... I asked @stump-not-found for permission and got it for a personal binding! Here's the result [thus far].

More pictures under the cut! Including the special things I included. :] Some spoilers below as well.

I knew I had to do *something* special for these lines in Chapter 8. God. They hurt me.

I knew even before I began working on this wanted to include some of the comics. [There's more than what is pictured here!] But I had to ask how/where? At the end of the chapter where the doodled align to? Finally, I decided to add them at the end altogether. It felt like the most natural place for them to go.

The dust jacket! Given that there was no where cover art for Theseus' Guide, I had to decide on something myself and eventually settled on this piece of art by Stump. I'd rather have an image that depicts Stanley and Stanford and the kids as well- but hey! Something to consider if I want to replace the jacket or for Part 2.

Finally, the hardback itself. It doesn't have any detailing currently but the name, but I plan to add things. Currently, I have a project where I'm recreating Journal 3 by hand. When I get the brass metal plates needed for that, I hope to add custom 'gold' detailing to the book on the front and back, as well as the spine. But for now, I feel really proud of how it turned out.

It took forever to lay it all out in Latex and get it looking professional but I love the result. I might try my hand at a few other fanfictions I really love to add to my personal bookshelf. Hope y'all love it too! [Pst. @starstreampress just released their own personal binding as well, which people should *also* check out.]