fallingsunbindery
Falling Sun Bindery
Hey! I'm Nicole, and I make handmade books of common domain texts, fanfiction, and other works. Falling Sun Bindery is a member of Renegade Publishing (renegadepublishing.org).
34 posts
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
Last Seen Blogs
newstodaynetwork-blog
News Today Network
ohyeahben10
Ben 10 Sideblog
investimentos7906-blog
Untitled
ohyeahben10
Ben 10 Sideblog
k-half-blood
Welcome To Camp-Halfblood
Text
To Trip is Just to Fall by catwalksalone
63,280 words | 310 pages
Completed October 8, 2023
This is another incredible Wat/Geoff story by catwalksalone and I really cannot get over the humor and love and humanity baked into every word. You didn't know you needed to read about two kids growing up and falling in love and being messy but trying so so hard - but you DO!!!
In keeping with the themes of the story I went for a very posh outside and somewhat clashing endpapers (hand-marbled by me) inside; the riot of color in the marbling made me think of Wat. And as a nod to a bit of recurring imagery throughout the fic - geese in flight on the back cover.
This was my first attempt at putting HTV on laval bookcloth, which has a velvet-like texture. It went all right, though with a bit more adhesive bleeding and warping than with regular cloth. I realized too late that in my worry about heat damage, the spine lettering is off-center. And I should not have done all those tiny dots on the front cover!!!! But again I will chock it up to Thematic Resonance and say that nobody's perfect and that's okay :)
Absolutely go read To Trip is Just to Fall and lose yourself in a coming-of-age story with an enormous amount of heart.
95 notes
·
View notes
Text
Used my cold and rainy day of PTO to finish up a laced limp paper binding I've been sitting on for a while. This is a non-adhesive binding (except for the spine lol) and it's so satisfying when it finally comes together in the last step. I used scrap papers left over from a project in April so I'm glad to finally get this off my desk!
17 notes
·
View notes
Text
to the sky without wings by leupagus
81,567 words | 232 pages
Completed September 16, 2023
I wouldn't even call myself a Star Wars fan, but the premise of this fic intrigued me so much that I read the whole thing and became so so attached. And then I found the perfect blue-green paper for the cover and knew what I had to do. If you zoom in on the headband picture you will see that it's also tricolor (blue, green, and gold).
I was absolutely devastated while making the case, because the cover paper seemed to be wrinkling horribly, but once it dried it had no problems! I also struggled with the HTV on the spine because I use a household iron, and the spine is longer than the heating element. So making sure everything adhered evenly without melting or warping took a lot of concentration and patience :)
Go read the trash fire jesus series and weep <3 This one is really a gem.
202 notes
·
View notes
Text
Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire
240 pages
Completed September 4, 2023
Hello to the TINIEST book I've ever made (or seen in real life). Credit goes to @simply-sithel for the typeset and the wonderful rainbow printing. My eternal sorrow that I received the printed (and cut!!!) pages in mid-April and didn't do a single thing with them until sometime in July.
The finished dimensions of this book are about 1 3/8" wide, 1 5/8" tall, and 3/4" thick. I'm not rightly sure what you'd even call this size but I love it so much, it fits in the palm of my hand and I can almost hide it completely by making a fist. Making the case and endpapers also let me use some paper I've had sitting around since 2020 when I first started bookbinding (though I got distracted and used the same paper for both, oops).
63 notes
·
View notes
Text
Out of the Darkness More Brightly by catwalksalone
8,986 words | 96 pages
Completed September 4, 2023
I'm literally begging y'all to read this short and sweet fic about the movie A Knight's Tale which I discovered SO long ago and which has been a comfort to me ever since. It has pining and medieval monks and a perfect wintry atmosphere.
I had a GREAT time using medieval-looking fonts here and finding an illuminated manuscript design for the title page. The book is sextodecimo (16 pages on one side of a letter sheet) so it was too small for HTV - at least for me, I know there are some people out there with steadier hands :D So I got myself a gold pen and went to work with some success.
Anyway if you love monks go read OOTDMB.
116 notes
·
View notes
Text
The Interrogation by magdaliny
51,263 words | 280 pages
Completed August 20, 2023
This story is sweet and haunting and cathartic and so many moments have stayed with me since I first read it. It was a joy to typeset and bind <3 Even when the HTV fought me and had to be applied twice.
172 notes
·
View notes
Text
to be as one is by TheGoodDoctor (@doctors-star)
35,627 words | 224 pages
Completed July 19, 2023
This was a project of firsts. My first Fanfiction Writers Appreciation Day bind, my first time making a copy of a book for the author, my first time using single-thread endbands and heat-transfer vinyl, and my first time making three (3) copies of a book at once.
This is such a moving, intimate story and I knew as soon as I read it that I wanted to bind it. I was lucky enough to have endpapers and thread reminiscent of the trans flag to go with the Gender Themes of the series, and I also felt that the floral details fit the ideas of beauty that the fics explore (and as a bonus it's also simply pretty).
I set out to make two copies - one for me, one for the author - and ended up making a third because I botched the first cutting job, then realized it actually wasn't that bad. While three copies is a lot of work, it was actually nice to have one extra chance with each step. I kind of felt like that third copy was my bad-luck-catcher that absorbed most of my mistakes. It's definitely the wonkiest out of the three now that they're all finished :D
Happy Fanfiction Writers Appreciation Day! Thank you to @doctors-star for writing such a touching and beautiful series of works, and for agreeing to have it bound. Everyone go read "to be as one is" here!
78 notes
·
View notes
Text
Update post!
I did some HTV tests (using the White Tree of Gondor and Aragorn's coronation song, lol) with mixed success. I'm working with an iron, not an EasyPress, so I think the uneven heat and my own inexperience caused the mangling and warping of the designs. I had two additional tests that went somewhat better but I'm a little anxious about replicating that.
Luckily I have some wiggle room on my next project. I made 3 text blocks (because of one messy cutting job that gave me an extra) and four cases, because I realized I had added an extra 1/8-inch after gluing the cloth. I was surprised at how weird it looked even with that small of an error. So I will do another practice HTV test on the throwaway spine, and if it works out then maybe i'll make another book to fit it!
Also pictured: berry paper that I bought as a treat, and my first time doing endbands with single-strand embroidery floss. I'm never going back, y'all, it turns out so delicate.
6 notes
·
View notes
Text
People have been wondering what has to come next after the wizardblogging and clownblogging and whatever and my pitch is medieval monks. Like we can all pretend to be tonsured.
26K notes
·
View notes
Note
Hi! Sorry if you've already done this, but could you maybe talk a little bit about how you do titles on covers/spines? They always look fantastic. Do you use something like a cricut machine for the letters?
thank you!! i'd be happy to talk about it especially bc it's been taking up a lot of room in my brain lately.
you're right, i use a cricut. i bought my Cricut Maker secondhand and it works quite well so far. up until now all my titles have been made with "premium vinyl", which requires no ironing and is supposedly permanent. however i've noticed that it comes off quite easily when applied to bookcloth, especially with thinner/smaller letters. i titled 90% of my books within a two-week time period so i didn't realize this would happen until after they were all done. for this reason i don't recommend the permanent vinyl for spines or cloth covers - i don't know how it would work on paper-covered boards. maybe it'd be better without those cloth fibers.
the one other titling method i've used was using a stencil (cut with the cricut) to paint with fabric markers. that worked really well and looks very dramatic (and there's nothing to be in danger of peeling off) but i don't think my hands are steady enough to do very detailed designs.
i have bought a couple sheets of heat-transfer vinyl to try out next - the idea of ironing my books is a little scary but i have heard that htv produces much longer-lasting results on bookcloth. i have some scrap boards covered in cloth that i will use as test pieces and i will post an update after i give it a shot!
maybe more information than you wanted to know, but thank you for asking!! <3
8 notes
·
View notes
Text
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
122,169 words | 360 pages
Completed March 12, 2022
A second binding of P&P! This was for a work auction, and the highest bidder picked out the text, cover papers, spine cloth, and endpapers. I was relieved he picked a book I'd already typeset :D Unfortunately he did not want the Jane Austen font I'd used for the first binding but I suppose it's all right :)
When I was doing the endbands I realized that the color scheme of the whole book is the trans flag - an added bonus!
This binding also marks my decision to switch to a different method of titling. So far I've been using Cricut's "Permanent Vinyl" which, it turns out, is not permanent on bookcloth! It sticks great for a day or two at most before peeling/falling off at the slightest provocation. This book was the last straw - because it was a gift, I couldn't ignore it when I saw the letters starting to shift around, so I peeled them off and glued them back on with PVA one at a time. Never again... I'll probably use HTV going forward, but I also bought some mod-podge to try just applying that over the titles I've already done and hoping it doesn't completely ruin them :/
50 notes
·
View notes
Text
Just a quick post of the notebooks I made for my roommates for Christmas! I took a guillotine training class and ended up with a thick stack of weirdly-sized paper, so I cut it in half to make the grain run the right way and bound them up into two books. I asked my roommates for their favorite colors and used that for the designs. Each book is only about 4" tall. I wish I'd been able to line them but hopefully they will still get some use :D
47 notes
·
View notes
Text
And is there Honey Still for Tea? by Jay Tryfanstone w/ Art by Dualbunny
19,090 words | 202 pages
Completed December 30, 2022
Completely a bonus that my fingernail polish matched this :D
Ever since I learned about fanbinding, I knew I'd have to bind this. It's such an unlikely, macabre little gem about Pooh & friends learning about the horrors of war, told in the style of A. A. Milne, with one incredible Pooh-like companion illustration. I had a great time using this Pooh font to match.
The cover papers are hand-marbled by me, and the endpapers are too! The latter was made at the end of a marbling session when I was draining the carrageenan and couldn't resist doing one pull of the fantastic colors left in the vat. You can see the angle at which the tank was draining :) When I saw the result I knew it was perfect for this fic.
#bookbinding#hand binding#fanbinding#winnie the pooh#and is there honey still for tea#dualbunny#jay tryfanstone#2022#octavo#fanfiction
175 notes
·
View notes
Text
Pain of the Past by emo_chicken
32,000 words | 183 pages
Completed December 12, 2022
My first bound fanfic was also my first gift to someone else was ALSO my first time making identical copies of the same text. A tall order, but I think it turned out all right!
I discovered Pain of the Past during D&D when we compared an NPC to Preminger from "Barbie: The Princess and the Pauper" and then went down a rabbit hole of obscure Preminger content (including this video). We all got such a kick out of this story just existing that I knew I had to bind it for the group's Christmas presents.
While typesetting the fic, I was thrilled to find it was actually really compelling and moving underneath the absurdity inherent in Barbie fanfic. I originally chose these ornate papers and fonts partially as a joke, but in the end I thought they were fitting for what turned out to be a pretty epic story.
My one gripe, half a year later, is that I did not test-print the book, so the font ended up being juuuust a bit too thin to be easily legible. But the fancy drop caps make up for it :D
#pain of the past#the princess and the pauper#barbie#preminger#ficbinding#bookbinding#hand binding#2022#quarto
134 notes
·
View notes
Text
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
35,000 words | 192 pages
Completed March 20, 2022
Another little book <3 I am absolutely in love with the title font, Messenger Texture. It was fairly simple to weed for the vinyl, too. I hesitated when picking endpapers, because I will forever associate that blue marbled pattern with Moby-Dick and other water themes, but in the end it was the only thing I had that went with the bookcloth. Maybe it's snow and ice instead!
23 notes
·
View notes
Text
The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
35,683 words | 240 pages
Completed August 28, 2022
My first octavo book! Each page is 1/8 of a sheet of letter paper. I used Duo bookcloth again, and the endpapers had actually been on my wishlist for a long time. I knew they would be perfect for a sci-fi story, and I finally had an excuse to splurge and by a sheet! As a bonus, the sheets are so large and this binding is so small that I still have a ton of that paper left :)
33 notes
·
View notes
Text
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
49,378 words | 228 pages
Completed July 25, 2022
I mostly remember the Children's Illustrated Classics version of this story, so this was a nostalgic book for me to bind. I enjoyed fiddling with the typsetting to make it look a bit more period-appropriate, and of course the cover had to be red. I made this at the same time as The Great Gatsby, and the case for this one is just 1/8" bigger than the Gatsby binding, weirdly enough. I like Gatsby's fit better. But overall I think the design of this one holds together very well!
10 notes
·
View notes