#zutara bookbinding

[perfectlypanda]

Southern Lights by colourwhirled (@colourwhirled-writes)

My fourth Zutara fanfic bookbind! Clocking in at 769,274 words, I knew that binding Southern Lights was going to be a challenge (to give you an idea of how long that is, the famously long War and Peace comes to only 560,000-587,000 words, depending on the language it's in). In the end, I had to split the story into 3 volumes - this first volume is 872 pages long, and covers chapters 1-30.

After formatting the text (texts actually), I set about trying to design the covers. And I tried and tried, but I wasn't happy with anything I came up with. Finally, I decided that I would do a cloth binding, and then I could add a dust jacket once I made a cover design I was happy with. It's not super obvious in photos, but the vinyl I used to make the title and designs is color changing! Depending on the angle and light, it can range anywhere from a light gold-green to teal to blue to indigo (the colors of the Northern/ Southern lights!).

This is by far the biggest book I've bound so far (and it's only 1/3 of the story), and so it posed some new challenges compared to the other fanfics I've bound so far, but I'm enjoying learning and improving my skills.

Don't be intimidated by the length - this is absolutely a fanfic you should read if you haven't. Thank you so much for letting my bind your story @colourwhirled-writes! Two more volumes to go!

[sunnylune]

I posted 3,641 times in 2021

30 posts created (1%)

3611 posts reblogged (99%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 120.4 posts.

I added 456 tags in 2021

#fan art - 113 posts

#zutara - 99 posts

#atla - 90 posts

#art - 31 posts

#tiks - 22 posts

#zkmodernau - 21 posts

#katara - 21 posts

#signal boost - 21 posts

#uquiz - 19 posts

#film - 19 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#then you try to mold yourself into the idea you think you belong in and your family raise concerns that hey you’re obviously uncomfortable

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Really getting into acrylics now

4 notes • Posted 2021-02-03 05:25:54 GMT

#4

We the generation that did everything right

Went off and got a higher education ended up with crushing debt

And terrible addictions

That we struggle to help stave off or keep up

Some of us figure to just work and work and work to get up on that corporate ladder up that next step managerial

but we end up tossed around and worked to the bone where our bodies be aching and we can’t afford medical care

What happened to the world that was promised to us

Find your dream and you’ll never work a day in your life so what they said

Looking around and I see that the dream is just a nightmare

Dismantling all of that they told me and they turn around and call me broken for pointing out the flaw

I can’t afford my dream if I can’t even afford to live

We just working to barely live

We chasing that world that we were promised the one full of justice the one that’s fair the one where we don’t have to see each other struggling to eat or to sleep

Where we could see our friends and neighbors thriving

They’ll still turn around and call us communist cause to them that’s dirtier than racist

They’ll still turn around and call us broken to our faces

And they’ll keep saying just work hard achieve your dream but it can’t be what you really want it’s gotta benefit the capitalist me

5 notes • Posted 2021-03-07 03:59:37 GMT

#3

Something I finished today

7 notes • Posted 2021-08-20 05:57:36 GMT

#2

I’m not in lockdown anymore but I want to start bookbinding my favorite fics and pair that with the watercolors I’ve done for those fics

7 notes • Posted 2021-08-25 01:37:31 GMT

#1

MUSIC TAG

RULES: we’re snooping on your playlist. put your entire music library on shuffle and list the first ten songs and then choose 10 victims. Players

I was tagged by @superdanys 😘

Good Good Things - Descendents

Famous Last Words - My Chemical Romance

Moment’s Silence (Common Tongue) - Hozier

Haunting - Halsey

Going Backwards - Depeche Mode

Something I Learned Today - Hüsker Dü

Burnin’ for You - Blue Öyster Cult

Different State of Mind - Kid Bloom

World in My Eyes - Depeche Mode

On The Verge - Le Tigre

tagging @labibliobeque, @rorygilmorre, @authorpetalstosarah, @thevictorianghost, @words4bloghere, @coffeeequaltolife, @etherealherondale, @tinyhistory, @skiesfullofsong, @cannnwenot, if you want to of course :) 

9 notes • Posted 2021-03-22 04:32:47 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[thequietsenpai]

Hello!

Hi! I’m Ari, but I go by TheQuietSenpai. I am finally able to start my collection of bookbinding! I have many trials and errors, so I wanted to make sure I could do it and be satisfied with my work. I never want to ruin the book that someone wrote so beautifully. I will be bookbinding Zutara and Dramione fanfics from authors who allow me too. As of right now I do not do commissions. * Soon*

[perfectlypanda]

Twist Me to the Left by @grapefruittwostep

My foray into learning bookbinding using Zutara fanfiction continues! This time I wanted to see if I could figure out a process that would let me print covers instead of using bookcloth. I'm really pleased with how it turned out and I'm excited at the flexibility this will give me with cover design.

Speaking of the cover: The CDs on the back cover is free clipart from here. The look of the colored spotlights in the background was meant to just be inspired by the cover of This is How You Fall in Love, but comparing the two in hindsight my spotlights are much more similar than I intended. If the book wasn't already complete (or if this wasn't just a private copy for my personal library) I'd go back and make changes to differentiate the art more, but since I can't I want to make sure that credit is given where it's due.

Katara wears a blue dress since she's described as wearing blue dresses/ skirts several times, and then her turquoise chucks. Her arm tattoos are a bit less extensive than they are described as being. In the book, Zuko mainly wears black band t-shirts, but I wanted to bring in a little more color to his look so he has a red shirt instead. His guitar is red with a flame sticker that's the logo of his dad's company.

I followed the video series for a rounded, case bound book by DAS Bookbinding on youtube. I also took inspiration from @omfgreylo’s fanfic book binds for things like including a page with the AO3 details and a QR code that leads to where the story is posted.

I'm very excited about how this turned out, and can't wait to keep working through my list of Zutara fanfics I want to bind! If you haven't read Twist Me to the Left then you should go do that. Thank you again for letting me bind your story @grapefruittwostep!

[perfectlypanda]

Chance Encounters at the Wonderlust by Marijayne

I've been wanting to learn bookbinding for a while, so I finally took the plunge by binding one of my favorite Zutara stories! I followed the video series for a rounded, case bound book by DAS Bookbinding on youtube. I also took inspiration from @omfgreylo's fanfic book binds for things like including a page with the AO3 details and a QR code that leads to where the story is posted.

Large portions of the story take place at the Wonderlust hotel, which I imagined as having a bit of a classy art deco vibe, so that's what I leaned into a bit with cover, bookend pages, and font choices. Zuko first meets Katara sitting on a blue and gold sofa, which informed the choice of colors. I'm only just now realizing I chose different fonts for the cover and the title page. I thought I had used the same one. Oops haha.

This project went way smoother than I expected. I had to improvise in parts because I didn't have specialized equipment like a book press, but otherwise everything went well! The part that was the most challenging was adding the design to the cover, but that's my fault for using iron on vinyl meant for stretchy fabric (it was what we happened to have on hand already). If I had used a normal iron on vinyl, I think it would have given me less trouble.

I'm really pleased that with how this turned out, and I already have a list of other Zutara stories I'd like to bind and add to my bookshelf (just personal copies, not for commission or anything like that). Thank you again to @marijayne-writing for letting me bind your story!

[perfectlypanda]

Down the Road and Back Again by Mauve_Avenger (@the-badger-mole)

My third Zutara fanfic bookbind! I had more challenges with this one than I did with the first two books I bound.

I designed and scraped three finished covers before coming up with the one I used. Down the Road and Back Again may be a Zutara story, but it's also a story that really celebrates the friendship between Katara, Suki, and Toph. Focusing on that element finally led to a cover design I was happy with.

But the struggles continued - when I uploaded the cover image to the printing site, I hit the wrong button and it changed the scale so that it printed slightly larger than I meant it to be. Not so significantly that it was unusable, but enough that I had to measure and glue in the book boards extremely carefully so I didn't cut off part of the title at the top or the author's name at the bottom. The title on the spine was too tall for it though (my error when sizing it as part of the overall design). Rather than wait and get the cover reprinted, I opted to add a spine cloth cover.

Then when I started gluing the book block to the cover the way I had for my previous bookbinds, the glue didn't set. I went to glue the scrim and tapes down, but the glued edge of the shoulders didn't stay in place, and shifted. Luckily, I noticed before the glue had time to harden, but I had to rush to pull things apart and reposition them. In my hast, I didn't pay attention to ensuring that the book block was evenly centered so the tail square ended slightly larger than the head square. It's literally just a different of a couple of millimeters, but the perfectionist in me is annoyed.

Despite the road bumps, I'm still really happy with how it turned out and excited to have a physical copy of this story. If you haven't read Down the Road and Back Again yet, go do so! Thank you again to @the-badger-mole for letting me bind your story!

My other two Zutara bookbinds: Chance Encounters at the Wonderlust, and Twist Me to the Left.