#quillingwords

[notallsandmen]

@quillingwords there’s medieval precedent for Purrito of the Endless 😂

[wintersmitth]

25 of the choose violence ask game 👀

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

I'm assuming this is for Sandman so.

I'm sick of people saying that Dream is somehow lacking, complaining at the choices he made that led towards his end.

Dream is a compelling character with rights and wrongs, he doesn't need to die to come back right. Dream is a characters with flaws, and we can argue all we want that he needs therapy (he does), but my boy is not a... A thing that needs to be broken, and to have peace's of him rearranged, with what doesn't fit, discarded.

[qqueenofhades]

Hi there! Shifting the political asks a bit - as a republican (small r, 🇬🇧 variety), I’m wondering if you’ve either looked into or are aware of any literature regarding what a transition away from the monarchy would be like, practically? I’d imagine there will be a legislative process (maybe referendum?) and involve landmark changes in constitutional law and political institutions. But what about the devolved governments? And which buildings would the Family get to keep and which ones would be taken over by the government and/or the National Trust? Etc etc - I’m sure I’m missing some very important stuff here. It’s a fascinating rabbit hole and I’d love to learn more. This actually happening always seems like a long shot but with the recent political turmoils who knows, could actually happen. A girl can dream…

You may have already heard of them, but I would suggest checking out Republic, the main anti-monarchy UK campaign group, for a basic overview of the demand for republicanism/abolition of the monarchy, how it would work, the legal/constitutional arguments for it, and so forth. Their website can most likely also point you to other resources, ways to get involved, and so forth, so yes, I would give them a look and see what you find there.

Alas, I don't think abolition is a remotely likely prospect for at least another generation, especially since people are obsessed with William as the more popular alternative to Charles and even if they don't like Charles, would tend toward supporting his son. There is also the usual culprits of imperial nostalgia, British supremacy, racism, etc etc. that would see (and does see) any attack on the monarchy as an attack on the basis of British identity, and would ferociously resist any attempt to remove them or otherwise change the narrative. Britain has had a class/elitism problem for as long as it has existed, there are tons of powerful interests that would militate against it, and yeah, there is likewise a lot of work and a lot of time that needs to pass, and a lot of things that need to change, before I would ever consider it to be a remotely feasible possibility.

[wizardofgoodfortune]

Please enlighten someone illiterate in the language of flowers - what’s the significance of calla lilies behind Daniel?

so the calla lilies showed up with daniel in this panel of the wake. @onehundredandeleventropicalfish has a comprehensive post about the flowers and the endless, and she mentions calla lilies there as well, appearing with destiny.

while calla lilies have many meanings, there's a couple that stands out in relation to daniel: rebirth and resurrection. they're often used at funerals to signify this, that the dead aren't gone, just somewhere else, and different. a death of one aspect can equal to the birth of another. life in death. etc etc

this theme was also in the rose walker<>zelda and morpheus!dream<>audience parallels in the kindly ones.

[issylra]

❔for the wip ask game ❤️

Thank you for asking! 🖤

❔Choose a random WIP and talk about it.

My bingo square for "hand feeding". It's basically just a love letter to Dream's hands, and Hob watching Dream use them as he works out the nuances of being retired/human. It has a nice mix of angst, fluff and smut, so I'm really excited to finish it. It's like third down the list right now of what I want to knock out. Hopefully soon. 🤞

(wip ask game)

[virgo-dream]

💗 for the wip ask game!

💗Is there a scene you can’t wait to write for a WIP?

The one where the contents of the letter mentioned in chapter 2 of my Victorian AU fic are finally revealed and it forces Hob to make a very big decision regarding his and Dream's future. I'm really excited for that one, but even more excited for the reaction when people read both the letter and find out what Hob does about it.

[valeriianz]

🍍 for the fruit ask game!

okay CJ, i'll answer your pineapple, but only because i like you so much (im not currently playing the fruit ask game lol)

🍍 What kind of AUs do you like? Are there any AUs you hate or just generally have beef with?

yes, hello. welcome to my blog *gestures vaguely*. inside you will find an over abundance of human and modern AUs! because i am not that imaginative or creative enough to slink much further out of my comfort zone haha.

i dont have beef with any AUs typically, as i've said before, i'll read almost anything if it's done well enough. but i always tread carefully into AUs involving a (significant) age gap, hard drug use, BDSM, and high fantasy (although, ngl, these dragon AUs ive been seeing lately have-- uh-- captivated my interest 👀)

<3

[serenailith]

2 for the get to know your writer ask please ❤️

2. Do you plan each chapter ahead or write as you go? it depends, really. for “yesterday’s gone”, i planned ahead on all but two chapters. but some of my old marvel fics were all written by the seat of my pants. i guess it really depends on how inspired i am for the fic.

fic writer asks

[immacaria]

tag 9 people you’d like to know better

I was tagged by @mathomhouse-e @sonata-ix @virgo-dream

3 ships: 1. Dream/Hob from the Sandman

             2. Jiang Cheng/Nie Mingjue from the Untamed

             3. Jedediah/Octavius from Night At The Museum

First ever ship: Miguel/Tulio/Chel from El Dorado

Last Song: Se Não Fosse Tão Tarde - Lou Garcia

Last Movie: Glass Onion

Currently reading: 1. Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery

                           2. Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of The Wild Woman - Clarissa Pinkola Estés

                           3. Women, Myths and Goddesses - Martha Robles

Currently watching: The Owl House

Currently consuming: Hershey’s chocolate bar

Currently craving: Hamburger

I’m going to tag @quillingwords @littledreamling @hopefulpenance @the-cloudy-dreamer @altair214 @wizardofgoodfortune @virgo-dream @tj-dragonblade @banancrumbs (Some of you have already done this, so ignore it alright?)

[kulapti]

Aug 2023, bookbinding of The Silent Isle Imbowers by Tharkuun.

I’m sooo so so pleased to finally share this! I have been actively working on this for many months and waited until Tharkuun received her copy before posting so the final result would be a surprise.

-----------About this bookbinding under the cut

This binding has been one of the more elaborate pieces I have attempted so far. This has been my first binding where I (1) made three copies of a piece at once, (2) used a modified a historical illustration, (3) collaborated directly with another artist on the decorative elements, (4) finished matching art for the cover and title page, and (5) layered paint and heat-transfer vinyl for the covers. These are also (6) the first non-tiny books I have made with this style of hinge and cover attachment.

Pretty much immediately after I first read this story I felt I had to make myself a copy of this. I had a strong mental image of a vintage-looking cover for a fairy tale, with a deceptively simple design of flowers on the cover, probably with fancy metallic accents, the kind of thing you’d find in an interesting used bookstore with no summary, no text on the back, no dust jacket, just the flowers and maybe a title. I’m going to make a separate post about making this cover design a reality because oh man has it been a journey lol! I designed and drew the digital art for the cover (digital because of the cut and application method), as well as the corresponding title page illustration (pencil and dip pen, scanned, title added digitally).

When I asked Tharkuun about it she was excited to suggest I get in touch with quillingwords, who generously agreed to collaborate with me! Among her talents quilling writes calligraphy, and hand wrote both the book title and chapter headers for me to incorporate into my plans. Check OUT those chapter headers! So fancy! A font could never!! Quilling has also been very encouraging and let me yell about this project in dms for months so the final result could be a surprise for Tharkuun. Thank u so much quillingwords, your calligraphy adds invaluable amounts of swag to this project.

I was going to do some kinda neat font for the chapter headers, but quilling’s work is too cool for that and I decided to use a modified piece of a historical illustration instead. The illustration also happens to be cool as heck: I was browsing the Artstor database (an academic quality resource available for free via Jstor, my beloved) and found E. N. Neureuther's 1836 gorgeous etching for etching of the fairy tale Briar Rose, an illustration made for a printing of a Brothers Grimm recorded German fairy tale with Sleeping Beauty elements. Much to my delight this illustration not only matches the general look I wanted but is actually relevant to the story, itself a Sleeping Beauty spinoff.

Slightly less stylistically consistent are the endpapers, which are prints of two different paintings by Arnold Böcklin: Isle of the Dead (1883) in the front and Isle of Life (1888). The first painting had occurred to me as an excellent visual to go with the story, and Tharkuun and I discussed this and agreed that pairing it with the related later, more optimistic piece was too thematically appropriate to resist.

I had fun and learned a lot making these books and I am very pleased with the result!!

Materials: Archival bookboard, cardstock, cotton cheesecloth mull, archival PVA glue, linen thread coated in beeswax, paper cord, red cotton embroidery floss. Blue cotton backed with archival paper, acrylic paint, machine cut black and gold heat-transfer vinyl. Laser printed text and illustrations. Metallic scrapbooking paper.

[chubsonthemoon]

Last Binderary book is DONE!!!! This is the incredible Maybe sprout wings, by @moorishflower.

This post is going to be a doozy, so gonna just skip straight to the cut!

INTERIOR

INTRODUCTION

I really wanted to model this bind after my own copy of the Odyssey, (which is all highlighted and bookmarked and annotated to hell from my Great Text courses in undergrad ehe, so this bind was such a fun trip down memory lane!). But beyond just the cover/general aesthetic, I also wanted to give the book a similar feel to these kinds of editions of classics--there's usually an introduction, translation notes, and other supplementary materials, right? Like, a physical manifestation of the work of many, many people, all having conversations with one another across time and space.

So that's what I did! I wrote a short introduction (I will also probably post it to my AO3/my blog as well, in the name of preservation etc. etc.) and began reaching out to folks in the fandom who I knew had created art and meta for the fic. The result? 18k words of analysis, comments, and meta, and nearly twenty pages of art!

And this is what I love most about this bind, I think! This book is the work of several people--truly a collaborative work by the fandom--all of whom I will now be shamelessly calling out below :D

CHAPTER HEADER ART

First and foremost, this book would not be what it is without the gorgeous header art by @fancy-rock-dove! Thank you so much Dove for letting include your work, and for being so supportive and kind these past few weeks about this bind <3 You in particular have contributed so much to this book (which I will be getting more into in the next section ehe), and I'm so psyched I get to hold your art and words, too!

NOTES ON THE TEXT

This section was divided into four parts: Asks and Answers, Meta, Selected Comments, and Chapter Heading Art: Process

For Asks and Answers, I trawled Heather's blog for meta she had written in response to questions and other meta about the fic. Asks came from @fancy-rock-dove, @quillingwords, @kulapti, and myself! (I THINK I got all of them--tumblr's search function is finnicky even on its best days, so so sorry if I missed something T_T) I first got hooked into reading this fic because of one of these asks, so I'm very fond of this section in particular :D

For Meta, I included two wonderful essays written by @pastrypuppy (also known as @kulapti) about Hob as an author figure and the Disrupted Fisher King narrative in MSW. Her analyses were so fascinating and I just had to include them in the book! (And thank you as well for your permission, friend!) (also hello fellow Renegade comrade 🫡)

For Selected Comments, I owe everything to (once again :3) @fancy-rock-dove, whose insights are the epitome of transformative fandom at work. I'd look for their comments after I read every chapter to see what their takes were on this or that element of the story, and every single time I would go "!!!!! I didn't even realize!!!" or "OOOOOOOH I hadn't thought of that!!" It was like being in a lecture hall and always whipping your head around when one of your classmates raised their hand, because you knew they were going to say something fascinating that you hadn't considered before.

Aside from one of my own comments, Dove's comments make up the entirety of this section (for which I owe you my life--your long-form responses to fics are a gift to this world) but GOSH was it also so much fun going through the comments section while typesetting and seeing all the keyboard smashing, yelling, and crying from the other commenters. Communal nature of storytelling and ongoing meaning-making of fanfiction, babey!

And finally for Chapter Heading Art: Process: once again Dove coming in clutch with some wonderful insights into the design of each of the chapter heading art pieces! This kind of stuff is honestly my favorite: meta about art for a fic which is, in turn, a transformation of an existing story (not even to mention that The Sandman is its own kind of fanfiction of existing mythologies and histories)--I just!! Think it's all really, really neat :'D (for more coherent/polished thoughts on this pls see my introduction asjdfkls)

ART

The art gallery!!! A million thanks to @fishfingersandscarves, @honeyseller, @jazzpsych, @doctor-rainbowfoxey, and (HI AGAIN DOVE) @fancy-rock-dove for granting me permission to include all of your beautiful pieces!

As usual for artworks in my binds, I printed each piece out on specialty photo paper to really make the colors pop, then sewed each page separately to the text block! Behold, everyone's beautiful beautiful pieces!

The art gallery also satisfies the certain "oooh shiny" part of my brain that always activates when I see pictures in a book, so am also very fond of this section :3

CONSTRUCTION

And now on to the nitty gritty stuff! I used the German Bradel binding technique again, my second time using it. Even though it's more complicated than the case bind, I really love how it gives you the full board space for the cover designs (~it's free real estate~). Keep it a secret but I kiiiiiiind of made a small goof in the last few steps (I did the turn-ins a step too early and so had to paste an extra sheet of cardstock to secure the spine to the boards, whoopsie), but it's a pretty small difference, aesthetically speaking, so it wasn't the end of the world XD

Edges are once again fake gilded, but this time I tried something new with the colors! I did two layers of acrylic paint--one watered down shade of red for the base, then one metallic gold on top of that. I really like the red/gold effect! I'll have to keep experimenting with this kind of layering:

ALSO. Y'ALL! I think I'm finally getting the hang of endbands!!! Many thanks to the folks at Renegade who hosted all the endband workshops last month--I'm still working through them, but even the few sessions I've seen have been TREMENDOUSLY helpful. I learned that tension is Very Important, as well as thread thickness, so I tried doubling my thread and keeping a Very Close Eye on how I was holding the threads while doing the beads. And behold! I still have a ways to go (and one day I would LOVE to do the fancier designs), but I'm v happy with the progress I've made so far!

And finally the covers!! ARCHIVAL MOD PODGE MY BELOVED. I printed on the same matte presentation paper that I used for the art, then did several coats of archival matte mod podge + a pass of gloss mod podge over the title strip to make it ~shiny~. Then once those had dried and I'd adhered them to the boards, I sprayed two layers of matte clear acrylic sealer (also mod podge!) to finish it off. I had some issues with the paper tearing when I handled it before it was fully dry, but luckily the blemishes were small enough that it was easy to do spot corrections with my black acrylic paint. And now I know to be more patient next time LOL

(some non-photoshoot shots that show the shine a little better!)

FINAL THOUGHTS

I had a lot of thoughts while I was binding this book--about Sandman fandom, about Dreamling fandom, about the Odyssey, about storytelling, about fanbinding, about Binderary, about Renegade, about my friends--but really what came to mind the most was gratitude!

Simply put, I'm so grateful to everyone I've met both in this fandom and throughout the years I've been active online--this is SO fun, y'all. It's so much fun to love stories together--to talk about them, to write them, and of course to bind them! I hope I've adequately conveyed that gratitude.

But of course, this book would not exist without the wonderful words of @moorishflower. Heather, thank you so, SO much for sharing your stories, thoughts, and time with us--it is always a happier, better day when I get an email notif from you and when I see you on my dash. I love your work so much, and I'm so happy I finally get to put it on my shelf! So thank you so much again, for everything <3

and OKAY THAT'S IT FROM ME FOLKS!!!!! Binderary 2023 is officially a wrap! I had SUCH a blast--will probably write up a reflection post on it uhhhh after I take a very long nap ajslkdfjslk _(:3」∠)_

all my love! <3

[the-cloudy-dreamer]

Peak through at a secret garden in springtime. Promises start out so little, just a peek of green things. And then over time — a hundred years, and then a few hundred more — they grow bigger, and unfurling. It would be impossible to guess what color they would be before they bloomed.

When Dream realized he trails off into wide-eyed quiet. Hob was still touching him, his thumb against the corner of Dream’s mouth. Slowly, he leaned in and let the kiss blossom between them.

Happy Dreamling week from @quillingwords and myself ✨ thank you for writing something specially for my illustration my heart is so warmed my friend 🖤

Also again but thank you to @mr-sadman for organizing this event! Seeing all the fandom together for this has been a delight and I’m so happy we get to share in the dreamling fun!

[wintersmitth]

3 & 4 for the fic writer ask! ❤️

Thank you!!

3 already answered, as for 4!

4. What detail in fic you're really proud of?

Ok so generally I'm pretty proud how I can get character voices. It's different syntax, it's different slangs, it's slightly different worldviews idk. My Hob is different from my Dream is different from Peter Parker is different from Sirius Black. Also I think I'm not half bad with writing teenagers and kids, apparently?? Ok, teenagers, but I'm surprised that my Orpheus in The Tide Keeps Rolling On was so well received as a child character writing?? I literally haven't interacted with a child that age in years.

Ask me ficwriters questions!

[wizardofgoodfortune]

THE SEVEN LAMPS OF ARCHITECTURE 15th century venice au by @quillingwords & @the-cloudy-dreamer

November, 1475. Hob Gadling arrives in Venice, explores a mysterious world of cosmic grandeur, trades ink-stained love confessions with his stranger, and embraces the most important lesson of all: that life is a story all on its own, past and present and an ending that isn't really an ending at all.

[notallsandmen]

Blanket Permission

For @academicblorbo and @quillingwords ❤️

Now with amazing art by @quillingwords

***

I knew I should have had him neutered in 1589, Hob thought blearily, having just been yanked from a very pleasant dream and unceremoniously deposited in a mudpuddle outside the Gates of Horn and Ivory. It was apparently monsoon season in the Dreaming again — no thunderclouds this time, but the kind of thick mist of rain that seeped into your bones.

Ah. Right. He should have suspected as much.

Hob hadn’t seen or heard from Morpheus in two weeks, which wasn’t unusual. There had been some kind of diplomatic incident surrounding Thor — who was apparently a) a real, existing god, and b) an absolute moron and a sex pest harrassing all pantheons. Somehow, the latter part made it slightly easier for Hob to not descend into complete existential panic about the whole “gods are real and vaguely beneath me” bombshell Morpheus had casually dropped on him, with the disinterested tone of someone commenting on a disappointing nephew. Every academic institution had their own seemingly unfireable sex pest, so this was at least something Hob could wrap his brain around. But now, the situation had escalated into some kind of divine, eons overdue #metoo movement, and Morpheus had been asked to mediate.

(This was honestly a little rich, given Morpheus’s somewhat checkered romantic past. But, after rescuing Calliope and releasing Nada from Hell, Morpheus was at least showing a willingness to make amends, and that was a step in the right direction.)

So, when his spouse went AWOL for a few weeks, Hob didn’t worry too much.

But Morpheus’s communication style still left a lot to be desired. One recurring and particularly annoying habit was Morpheus’s passive-aggressive tendency to pluck a sleeping Hob from his dreamscape and then drop him somewhere in the Dreaming, forcing Hob to come to him, as if this was some spontaneous lunch-time visit to deliver a coffee order and a snog. Don’t get him wrong — it was bloody adorable, and Hob would do it all the time if he could, but staging this elaborate dance every time instead of just asking him for some loving attention was honestly getting a little ridiculous.

Hob could smell Mervyn’s cigar smoke before he even saw him, giving him a jaunty wave.

“How’s it going?”

“He’s that way,” Mervyn grumbled in response, not even looking up from his moat-digging, nodding his head in the direction of the balcony next to Morpheus’s private chambers.

“Cheers, mate,” Hob said, before sauntering off to collect his sulking paramour in Sulk Zone 1.

But Hob wasn’t quite ready for the sight that met him; an aching tenderness swelling in his throat to the point that he was left a little breathless.

Oh dear. Hob should have known.

Because there on the balcony sat Morpheus, in his cat form. It wasn’t even his majestic ”King of Cats” form, but a scrawny little thing: fur flattened and soaked by the rain, crouching on top of his paws, his tail twitching anxiously, making clipped, pitiful noises that indicated that he was choking down a yowl.

It was heartbreaking, and just a little bit pathetic, and Hob was taken aback by how forcefully he needed to scoop Morpheus up and hold him.

Whenever he turned up at The New Inn or Hob’s flat like this, it usually meant that Morpheus was feeling a little overwhelmed. He would curl up in Hob’s lap, magnanimously allowing himself to be petted until his frantic, self-soothing purring quieted into that of cozy contentment.

However, Hob had never seen Morpheus in his cat form in the Dreaming, before. Maintaining authority, keeping up appearances, and all that — even if Morpheus’s mood swings was probably the poorest kept secret in the realm.

Hob crouched down, reaching out his hand to carefully stir Morpheus from his woe-is-me introspection.

“Hello, darling. Feeling tiny, this morning?”

The sheer force of the needy headbonk against his knuckles was all the answer he needed.

He gazed into the huge, icy-blue eyes: Morpheus’s cat form was pretty much his only non-weepy one, but he knew that the wide-eyed tension around the eyes was the feline equivalent of tear-swollen lids.

Soon, thankfully, something soft swept over his eyes, until Morpheus was slow-blinking affectionally back at Hob.

“There we are, sweetheart. There we are.”

Right. It might be a little bit demeaning, given that they were in the Dreaming — but Hob knew that none of Morpheus’s subjects would dare disturb them, until Morpheus was ready to be seen.

And desperate times called for desperate measures.

Hob closed his eyes, focusing his mind the way Morpheus had taught him. When he opened his eyes again, he was holding a dreamstuff facsimile of the fluffy Starry Night blanket he had purchased from the giftshop after a Van Gogh exhibit, to be used for situations just like these.

Morpheus deflated somewhat, before giving him an obliging nod — a royal edict allowing Hob to tenderly wrap the blanket around him and lift him up, folding it until Morpheus was completely swaddled.

Purrito of the Endless, he thought, biting his lip so as not to show a treasonous smile.

Morpheus melted into his arms with a rumbling purr, kneading his paws into the cloudlike fabric, rubbing his cheek against the palm of Hob’s hand.

After a few seconds, he looked back up at Hob, tilting his head with a tentative, enquiring chirp.

Will you stay?

“Always, my love. I’ll always take care of you. Whatever you need.”

[tharkuun]

Last line tag thingy

About twenty thousand years ago, @cuubism and @the-apocrypha tagged me in one of these. Well, I'm nearly done this oneshot self-consciously given the temporary title of "Disclaimer i am not a surgeon" that i started about a year and a half ago, and here's a snippet from it!

The first time John Doe has a visitor, he’s accompanied by a couple of detectives. The mood in the ICU is anxious, a breath held in anticipation. The visitor – he’d signed in as 'Robert Gadling' – hesitates at the open doorway. It happens, sometimes, with first-time visitors. People that aren’t used to seeing loved ones fighting for their lives. Sometimes failing. (Too often, failing.) It can be easier to step away and pretend it isn’t happening at all. To his credit, this Robert bloke only seems to hesitate long enough to furtively glance between the wan figure on the bed – skin almost the same colour as the washed-out sheets, wrists again tied to the bedrail to stop him from picking at his skin – and the police at his back. “That your missing friend?” one of the coppers – the woman, with dark skin and a gentle demeanour – asks him. “Yeah,” Robert says. He sounds gutted. Utterly wrecked. “Yeah. That’s my friend. I didn’t even know he was – well.” He clears his throat. “That’s my friend,” he repeats, finally.

tagging @mathomhouse-e, @amielot, @quillingwords, @chaosheadspace, @five-and-dimes if anyone has anything they're working on!