On this page, I'm planning on just showing off some of the things I've made so far, works in progress, and things I want to do in the future, along with notes on how things were made, things to keep in mind in the future, etc. Hope you find this interesting or useful in some way!
I was commissioned to make a set of journals for someone to give out as Christmas gifts quite a while ago. Specifically, I've been working on these since early July and just finished the last one in late November of 2022. Woo!
Each journal has 144 pages of lined 90gsm paper, and an oldtimey illustration that (roughly) matches the theme of the book. The covers and end papers were mostly made from pads of Recollections scrapbook papers that I got on sale at Michael's, with a few made from Parklane artisan paper from JoAnn's.
Here are some of the insides:
I've made a few of these already, but I'd like to make more soon!
"to be idle and blessed" by whalebone
I made this back in August and kept forgetting to put it up here, sorry! It's a piece of original fiction about a robot falling in love with a gardener and it's just really sweet! You can read it here on ao3.
This was my first time trying a Steifbroschure (stiffened paper binding), but it is really easy, quick and efficient. I'll have to do more of them in the future! (I wrote more about the process on Dreamwidth, if you were curious.)
Assorted Short Stories by H.P. Lovecraft
This was a gift for my mom on Mother's Day, with her favorite stories. This was also my first attempt at a Bradel binding. I've come a long way!
Our Path is Crooked, But True by ncfan (wip)
This was seriously such a good fic! You can read it here.
It's fairly long (160k words), so I decided to split it up into three parts, but, so far, I've only got the first one actually made. Everything else is typeset and ready to go, though -- it's just that I was commissioned to make things and, so, wasn't able to focus on personal books for a long while, y'know?
The cover is handmade marbled paper I bought from Hollander's and the endpapers are gold metallic cardstock. So swanky! I've gotten a lot more experience since I made in back in May of '22, though, so I almost want to remake it...
space-themed commission
Before this, I avoided making traditional Coptic bindings because it seemed too difficult to attach the front cover properly... I think it actually turned out really nice, though! Roughly A6.
pride-themed set
Like I said above, I was a bit nervous about doing a traditional Coptic, so these are a weird variation I made, based off of the Sewn Board binding. Roughly A6.
forest-themed
Another variation. I really like the brown and blue color scheme! Roughly A5
some pamphlets
These are just nice to have around, quick and easy to make, and it's just fun to make these sorts of doodly covers. I used offbrand Sharpies on the first ones and they have since really faded, which is unfortunate, but also they're just for quick little thoughts and notes, so it's not really a big deal.
first attempts at sewn board binding
I was so incredibly proud of these at the time! I remember picking them up and just thinking, "Wow... I made this! There is nothing exactly like this in the world!"
...Unfortunately, since then, that pride has kinda subsided into cringe: "Wow... I can't believe I managed to screw everything up so badly!" When I look at them now, I can't help but think about how the spines are ugly, the corners weren't done properly, I had absolutely no idea how to do the endpapers at all... Also, I used wrapping paper from Society6 for the covers which, while very well printed and designed, doesn't hold up very well, with the top layers of ink scraping off pretty easy, even just from normal use on a desk. :/
It's sad that such a happy feeling has been lost to pessimism, so I wanted to try to show these off in a better light: as a testament to my journey of learning this skill, the first vital shaky steps to get to where I am now.
...and here's the third and fourth attempts!
By this point, I got a much better handle of what I was doing! Look, the endpapers are properly attached and everything! I also think that these designs are very neat!
