I feel like I did more for binderary today than at any one point of Feb 😅

I was in the zone yesterday and today tho, burned thru sewing, gluing, trimming, sanding, painting edges and making the cases! Tomorrow I’m going to get all the htv cut and weeded (which is sooo tedious). And then it’ll be time to case in, possibly mailing them out this week 🤞

people on TikTok don’t realize fic binding didn’t begin with idiots selling mass printed fanfiction on TikTok-Shop. They think it started as a negative thing ON TIKTOK😭it started on tumblr years ago as a way to appreciate authors!! It was never about selling fics, we’re AGAINST THAT HERE and always have been. I am so tired of the way TikTok rewrites fandom culture.

Hi there,

I don't think it's overstating to say that I'm the person who first popularized fanbinding on Tumblr. I began binding fic in September 2018. It was and is an exciting, novel way to participate in the traditional fannish gift economy. You do it with your own two hands, and you have the chance to make an extravagant gift to authors whose often very personal work means so much to you. In the process you have many opportunities to create close personal connections within fandom.

Because there are so many wonderful fics out there, one person could never give them all the love and recognition they deserve. I really wanted to see the practice grow beyond myself. I wrote a detailed manual of my process and offered it up for free so other people could join in. In the years since, Renegade Bookbinding Guild has arisen, always as a team collaborative effort, and it's remained a community focused phenomenon that explicitly supports open knowledge sharing without fees, deep respect for fic authors, and fosters more practice of that gift economy. You, dear reader, are welcome to join us in this project. We have bound thousands of books at this point, and every day more books are born.

I'm not on TikTok, but I've been linked to a lot of misinformation being posted on it over the last few years. I've also heard about a lot of profiteering going on, taking advantage of the hard creative work other fans have freely offered to feed our souls. Speaking only for myself, I think it's a damn shame that some are so quick to commodify the work of other fans. Gifts should beget gifts, not grifts.

When we treat fanworks as free "content" from faceless sources, to suck down voraciously and demand more, or make a quick buck off, the supply will start to dry up. Fanworks are labors of love, but they are still a lot of labor. The energy that keeps folks engaged and creating is essentially a feedback loop. Many authors and other creators are spurred onward to make more, write another chapter, draw another porny picture, bind another book, simply because of the sheer joy they see that their act of creation gives to other fans. I see the Renegade philosophy as helping to supply that energy back into the system. Fic authors deserve that we respect their works as their own, and that fic you love that they spent so long writing deserves every bit of fawning, gibbering, ranting, sighing, rec listing, and sometimes binding, that we fic readers might offer it in return.

ArmoredSuperHeavy, Dead Dove Publishing 2024.11.26

My approach to #binderary2025 has been disorganized at best. Tonight I made some paste papers, I’m not 100% pleased, but they’re pretty good. I think I’ll probably try them again tomorrow.

I did finish my first set of the Percy Jackson books, which I will be making again because all I can see is what I want to fix 😅

The Pines by docofthedark ( @doctortrekkiefe )

This book was requested by a family member - he's had an open offer for a bound version of any fic he wants (within reason) for a while now and this is the one he finally asked for. While it's not a world I'm very familiar with, I was riveted by the story- I see why this is the one he wanted on his shelf.

Decorative Sunday

ROLLER-PRINTED PASTE PAPERS

Most paste papers are done freehand with paper, a starch paste, pigments, and range of brushes and tools to make the designs. In the early 1970s, noted American fine-press printer Henry Morris of Bird & Bull Press devised a method of making paste paper designs using hand-cut rubber hand-rollers. In 1975, he printed and published a manual on his process entitled Roller-Printed Paste Papers of Bookbinding, printed in an edition of 215 copies on his own handmade paper at the Bird & Bull Press in North Hills, Pennsylvania. Shown here are original paste-paper sample included in the book. Morris writes:

Our copy is another donation from the estate of our friend Dennis Bayuzick.

View more posts of publications from Bird & Bull Press.

View more posts with paste papers.

View more posts on decorative papers.

View more Decorative Sunday posts.

Binderary 2025: Week 3

In the Renegade Bindery Discord Server, we are once again running Binderary during the month of February. Attendance is free, and a link to the 18+ Discord Server can be found on our website (scroll down for the link).

Whether you’re new to the world of bookbinding or an aged veteran, join us for a month of binding fun! This event is all about community & learning, be it trying something new or refining existing skills.

All our workshops are run by members of our fanbinding community, and some of them are even on Tumblr!

Here’s the list of who’s running the week 3 workshops:

Making Fish Skin Leather: @roseserpentpress Speedrunning a book with a sewing machine: Eldahir Working with Leather: @blackoakbindery Mini Makin': Speed Run Bind Along: @simply-sithel Braided Headbands: Eka Italian Paper Case Bind: Eka Cover(t) Operations: @starblightbindery Making Mini Books: @queercus-books

Binderary 2025: Week 2

In the Renegade Bindery Discord Server, we are once again running Binderary during the month of February. Attendance is free, and a link to the 18+ Discord Server can be found on our website.

Whether you’re new to the world of bookbinding or an aged veteran, join us for a month of binding fun! This event is all about community & learning, be it trying something new or refining existing skills.

All our workshops are run by members of our fanbinding community, and some of them are even on Tumblr!

Here’s the list of who’s running the week 2 workshops:

All About Bookplates: @silentsunpress Typesetting in LaTeX: @queercus-books VI: Villainous Imposer: @simply-sithel Typesetting in Affinity: @kate2kat Typesetting in One Click: Microsoft Word Macros 101: @owlwinter8 Bookbinding Craft Along 2: Noodle Cutouts and Cover Board Fun: @celestial-sphere-press & @pleasantboatpress Italian Paper Case Bind Pt. 1: Eka InDesign for Beginners: @misanthropiczombie The "Single Section Conservation Binding" as a Beginners First Binding: Experience, Variations and Ideas: minx Decorative Papers: Triple Threat: @starblightbindery, @duran-binding & @mourningmountainsbindery

DIY notebook/junk journal tutorial for people on a budget

I found myself watching a lot of bookbinding videos recently & had the realization: I could probably do that at home, for free. And I was right. So before an influencer convinces you to drop 50 dollars on a book press and a fancy bonefolder, here's how:

DIY notebook/junk journal tutorial for people on a budget

I found myself watching a lot of bookbinding videos recently & had the realization: I could probably do that at home, for free. And I was right. So before an influencer convinces you to drop 50 dollars on a book press and a fancy bonefolder, here's how:

DIY notebook/junk journal tutorial for people on a budget

I found myself watching a lot of bookbinding videos recently & had the realization: I could probably do that at home, for free. And I was right. So before an influencer convinces you to drop 50 dollars on a book press and a fancy bonefolder, here's how:

DIY notebook/junk journal tutorial for people on a budget

I found myself watching a lot of bookbinding videos recently & had the realization: I could probably do that at home, for free. And I was right. So before an influencer convinces you to drop 50 dollars on a book press and a fancy bonefolder, here's how:

Another year, another Fanfiction Writers Appreciation Day!!!! If you are a writer of fanfic, please know just how appreciated you are!! Fandom would be such a different space without your creativity and labors of love. 💜

Holidays are all about making traditions, and the bookbinding friends with @renegadeguild once again came together to bind copies of fics for their authors as a show of our appreciation. This year I had the absolute joy of binding Emergency Help Wanted by the wonderful @piyo-13 and even got to collaborate with her on some of the design elements! It's a Modern AU Jiang Cheng/Lan Xichen fic that starts with a "help wanted" ad.

Ok. So. I may have gone a little feral with this one. Online "help wanted" ad spiraled into loading wheel scene dividers, spiraled into fake Google search result headers, spiraled into FULLY committing to those authentic looking text messages. In full color. (There are so many. I typeset in MS Word. It was SO worth it, but god what a struggle at some points.) And don't forget the "recent searches" title page! Or the computer cutout on the cover! (It's bluescreening, just like Lan Xichen through this entire fic!) Also that cover/title page image that I just kept adding details to. (It's supposed to be Lan Xichen's desk, so it simply didn't feel right until it had sticky notes on the computer, #1 dad on the mug, scissors and measuring tape, scribbles on the sticky notes) Did I have a ton of fun designing this one? Perhaps. Couldn't say. Maybe just a tad. (This is a lie I had an ABSOLUTE BLAST!)

Historically, I've waited until I finish at least the typeset before reaching out to the author, but not so with this one! I got the idea for the fake google search results from Piyo's authors notes, teasing the contents of the next chapter. But! Those didn't start until about chapter 4! So I reached out and asked if we could collaborate and I'm forever glad I did! Not only does this have teasers for each chapter, I also got to bounce design ideas off of her, including what shade of blue and purple for the text messages. Because my friends, that is a serious matter and changed SEVERAL times throughout the process.

Also shoutout to all my Renegade friends who gave input and encouragement over the past year while I worked on this (what endpages to use? how to make this shade of green perfectly Nie Huaisang? how do we feel about this text message design? or how about this one?) - I love you all dearly and appreciate you so much for putting up with my nonsense at all times.

Binding details below the cut!

And because I had so much fun with the chapter headers and other details:

Hidden Fore-edge Painting tutorial part two

Last two for @renegadeguild’s FanFic Writers Appreciation Day! For the wonderful writing duo of @theladydrgn and @sylwritesstuff editions of their lovely Always You. Omegaverse au where Aziraphale and Crowley are best friends as children, then loose track of each other before finding each other again. “Vaguely 18th century” is one of the tags. It’s a beautiful what-if take of their fabulous story It’s a Nautical Feeling, which started my bookbinding adventure.

E, 117,835