piscesmoonpress - Tumblr blog

piscesmoonpress · 4 hours

Note

In a similar vein to the person who said about being intimidated by other works.. How do you handle seeing someone has bound a fanfic you want to bind but feel you'll never be good enough because theirs looks so good?!

I feel like this meme pretty much sums it up:

But also: if you love something enough, that will shine through in your work. Also if you stick with the hobby long enough, you can always remake it!

62 notes · View notes

piscesmoonpress · 3 days

Text

Away Childish Things by @letteredlettered

I'm so excited to finally share this bind of one of my all time favorite fics! Thanks to lettered's generous binding policy, I decided to go all out.

This bind has a foiled cover and spine, hand sewn silk endbands, and thirteen custom chapter headers. It was also my first time rounding and backing.

You can find more pictures and information about my process under the cut.

For the cover and spine, I recreated the design of Beasts of the Field (1902) by William J. Long.

I wanted something that captured both the whimsy and maturity of the story, and this cover fit my vision perfectly. It also gave me the opportunity to recreate another antique cover from the public domain.

Unfortunately, the design was a bit complicated for my Cameo 4, so I was unable to fill the lines in. You can also tell that the foil did not adhere properly near the bottom, so the flowers are lighter than I would like them to be.

Because of the trouble I was having with my Cameo, I decided to foil the spine by hand. I deeply regretted this decision two hours later, and it took me four hours to finish foiling. My wrist still hurts!

Sewing the headbands was my absolute favorite part. I was encouraged to try them by a lovely binder on Instagram, and I ended up completely addicted. I splurged on some fancy silk thread so I could give this fic the royal treatment it deserves! I think they look like beautiful little caterpillars.

As for the rounding and backing... I'm not going to talk about it. Nightmare. Lots of nervous sweating. Emotional agony. Next topic!

I worked on the typeset back at the beginning of January when I had some time off, and it took me a solid week of obsessive editing to complete. My sister suggested that I use Harry and Draco's patronuses for the chapter art, but there unfortunately aren't many public domain illustrations of deer and foxes playing together.

It was at that point that I also decided that I wanted the animals to match the respective ages of Harry and Draco and the tone of each chapter. For the 13 chapters I ended up editing 25 different illustrations together. The bulk of these are taken from vintage versions of Bambi and Reynard the Fox. It's possible that a few stock images from 1980s nature books snuck in there, but I did my best to keep them all pre 1925.

I'm not a skilled editor, and some of these are worse than others, but I'm quite proud of what I was able to cobble together. On the final page I put a young fox and deer running off together. I wanted it to seem like Harry and Draco's inner children had been freed.

I'm a bit embarrassed to say that this bind took me about 4-5 months to complete! I started in early January, and went wildly off track learning how to round, back, and sew headbands. And then I was hit by some killer creative block that only lifted last week!

There are still many things I could improve on, but I'm so proud of everything that I learned and accomplished with this bind! A big thank you to lettered for inspiring me with such a wonderful story. <3

#not my books #AH

339 notes · View notes

piscesmoonpress · 18 days

Text

The Bolthole by aideomai and Tepre

I bound this fic a month or two ago for the Renegade Guild’s Pacific Northwest server exchange, and it finally reached the recipient. It’s a lovely Drarry fic about a hoarder Harry who lives in a cottage, and Draco comes to stay with him. I printed the cover design with a laser printer on Japanese book cloth, and I was delighted with how it gave it the feel of a much older book.

The endpapers are homemade paste papers, with the book edges painted to match.

#not my books #absolutely need 2 read this one

213 notes · View notes

piscesmoonpress · 24 days

Text

Edible Book Day 2024

the appetizers

A Commonplace Snack by Daemonluna

A collection of tropes and other ephemera, rendered in nori and rice paper. Sewn with a glass sweet potato noodle, ornamented with cilantro and lime.

This is how we roll (bamboo slips) by anonymous

This is the first book I have made since joining Renegade. I didn't think I'd get to make books and eat them too.

The (Not Actually) Matzah Plague Board Book by Noodle and Noodle's Auntie

10 Plagues by Noodle and Noodle's Auntie. Illustration by Noodle and Noodle's Auntie. Writing and Binding by Noodle. Materials: Gluten Free Matzo Substitute, fruit roll ups, fruit by the foot, sour belts, licorice, fruit rolls, sour sticks, cumin, water.

a fluffy breaduation by Sandy Kitty Bindery

i do not regret anything... except maybe the dentist bills ;)

Pancake Scroll by Zhalfirin

This was a lot easier than I had anticipated. A bit bland because I wasn't sure what I'd do the painting with and therefore didn't season the batter. It goes really well with a side of salmon and soy sauce though.

the mains

the iron chef secret ingredient was lasers by Lark

lasers are friends not food.

6/10, at least I chose turkey this year.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Thunder (Dragon's Thunder Press)

This was my first book bind ever. The case is French toast. The 2 signatures are each made of 3 omelet folios, and they're sewn with mozzarella string cheese strands. The end pages are each a slice of prosciutto, and they're pasted in with raspberry fruit syrup. Finally, the titling was done with black icing.

Sandwiches (And Books) Are Beautiful by Velvetwastaken

The ‘book’ ultimately failed to be readable as such due to a betrayal by the onion binding. But it tasted amazing, and thus I think still encapsulated the spirit of edible book day: good books are meant to be devoured.

and of course… … the desserts!

Mistakes were Marbled by anonymous

I baked a strawberry cake with buttercream icing. The buttercream set a bit too quickly for the marbled effect to work, and attempts to fix it caused structural damage, resulting in ... this. I would like half-points for retaining good flavor, despite appearances.

Brandy Snaps by Lottie

Brandy snaps for the pages, strawberry laces for thread. Complete with two weaver’s knots to tie the strawberry laces together

Book Cookies by six

Sadly not fully functional books - the cases are rigid sugar cookies baked into various open forms. The pages are edible wafer paper marked up here and there w/ an edible ink pen and the frosting quite tasty! Experimented with two different sizes and various page configurations. Fed some of them to various Renegade members. There were no fatalities.

Titles are overrated by Zhalfirin

I'm still baffled this turned out the way it did.

It's a delicious little baumkuchen chonker (app. A6 in size and about 6cm thick) cased in chocolate powdered marzipan.

Don't forget to vote for your favorite! And check out last year's winners here.

#i forgot it was edible book day but these are little yummy masterpieces #not my books #still books

208 notes · View notes

piscesmoonpress · 28 days

Text

Comments and fic links below! (PS: click to see not crap quality photos/videos)

First finished ficbind for 2024, and first that I actually tried my hand at gold leafing (compared to previous use of gold inking). The gilding uses a hand-painted on glue and then the gold sheet overload and rubbed off; since the glue is put down not flat it adds a bit of texture to it, much like embroidery which I found cool. The design was based off a old cover design which I altered slightly to fit for the title of the book; been wanting to use one of the designs for a very long time now so rather chuffed to use one this time round, and (generally) well please with the typesetting. I actually painted the cover all in one long day with one piece running in the background during the holidays, lol. Two photos below are WIP photos and one including one of my su-purr-visors on my very cluttered desk. He's since passed due to being hit by a car, so the photos of him supervising me for this fanbind is something special to me.

The book itself contains mainly the Trigun vashwood fic Trillium and Ivy and upon remembering that there's a few other shorter stories involved, it became an impromptu anthology of the series. So overall it contains:

Trillium and Ivy (E, 80k)

Nick Wolfwood is the new director of Conrad-Chapel Funeral Home in May City, located across the street from Saverem Greenhouse & Landscaping. Over time, the owner, Vash, gets to know Nick and introduces him to the rest of the neighborhood, including local busybodies and married feminist bookshop owners Meryl and Milly. Vash and Nick are inexorably drawn to each other until they have to start admitting their feelings.

But Vash's brother, co-owner of the garden center, hasn't left his past as far behind as the twins had hoped when they started their lives over in May.

Raise a Glass to the Turnings of the Season (G, 7k)

A collection of small ficlets set in the universe of Trillium and Ivy, a modern AU in which Wolfwood runs a funeral home across the street from Vash and Knives' garden center.

Regarding the subjects of hospital visits, body image issues, adoption, laundry, and more.

I've seen all the demons that you've got (T, 8k)

The Hollywood-glam-slash-mad-scientist meet cute is going perfectly well, thank you. Except for all the anxiety, loneliness, insomnia, nightmares, body dysmorphia, identity struggles, poor communication, stalkers, arson, kidnapping, drugs, and concussions.

Other than those things... Knives might actually be onto a good thing in his life for once.

[A brief look into Knives' experience during Trillium and Ivy, a modern AU in which Wolfwood runs a funeral home across the street from Vash and Knives' garden center.]

#not my books #the GOLD #i’m in love

188 notes · View notes

piscesmoonpress · 29 days

Text

Fic binding: In Which Merlin Reveals His Magic, Arthur Embarks On A Quest, And Uther Absolutely Does Not Admit He Was Wrong About Anything, Ever, by @alex51324

Over a year after typesetting and sewing it: finally done!! This was the first time I tried to deboss-- I used two thin pieces of board for the cover, used a cricut to cut the dragon shape out of one of them, and then glued them together. Turns out jabbing at leather with a pointy stick is kind of relaxing. (Also, for a fist attempt, I should probably have chosen something with fewer tiny points.)

#not my books #absolutely gorgeous #the debossing is perfect #merlin

494 notes · View notes

piscesmoonpress · 1 month

Text

Art Heist, Baby! by otrtbs (@otrtbs)

When James Potter answers a mysterious ad in his local coffee shop, the last thing he expects is to be thrown into a world of white collar crime, but how can he resist when the mastermind behind the operation has dark hair and brooding eyes and promises wealth beyond James' wildest imagination? He would do anything for that boy named after a star, including stealing millions of dollars of fine art.

Pairing: Regulus Black/James Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Marlene McKinnon/Dorcas Meadowes, Alice Longbottom/Frank Longbottom Fandom: Harry Potter

Disclaimer: otrtbs no longer allows binds of Art Heist, Baby!. This edition was first typeset and bound in May of 2023. Please do not use this post as a permission to bind Art Heist, Baby!.

Art Heist, Baby! was one of the very first jegulus fics I read, and eventually became my second-ever bind. The original binding for this fic was done over the course of a single weekend, which makes me cringe a little now—but I am still so proud of this typeset and the bind itself, despite its flaws.

Half-Letter | 219,117 words | 609 pages

Title and Drop Cap Font: Bodoni 72 Body: Adobe Garamond Pro Accent(s): Gill Sans, Futura Condensed

Typset by me in Word.

Designed by me in Illustrator.

Materials

Cover Bookcloth: Duo in Blue Jean HTV: Siser Brand in Gold Metal and Powder Blue Endbands: Mettler Silk Finish Thread Endpapers: Chiyogami Paper

Eventually, I found that the structure of my previous binding was less-than-ideal, and I decided to rebind my copy. Given that I couldn't change the typeset, I spent a lot of time deciding on a cover design, and eventually settled on using Ivan Aivazovsky's Ship on Stormy Seas (a painting synonymous with this fic) as inspiration.

The process of turning the boat from this painting into something that could be used with a single shade of HTV was difficult, but I eventually settled upon a design I was happy with after messing around in Illustrator for a couple weeks.

When I removed the cover from this bind, I also trimmed and painted the edges, sewed double-core french endbands (two-tone, to match the bookcloth), and reinforced the spine (though I couldn't do much for the pre-existing swell). Overall, I am thrilled with how it looks, and with how my original typeset fits with my more developed design style.

Thank you to Nat, for writing such a beautiful (and heart-wrenching) story. Art Heist, Baby! is free to read on ao3, here.

#jegulus #wolfstar #bookbinding #fanbinding #my books #marauders #ficbinding #james potter #regulus black #marauders era #sirius black #renegade bindery #art heist baby

242 notes · View notes

piscesmoonpress · 2 months

Text

Draco Malfoy, It’s Your Lucky Day by Faith Wood

Even though he's unarmed, injured, lost in the Forbidden Forest, and facing a possible murder charge, Draco Malfoy gets lucky.

Pairing: Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy Fandom: Harry Potter

One of the first fics I ever read on ao3 (yes, I went through my history to check), and still one of my favorites. I’m not sure why this fic in particular stood out to me, but it’s so well done—definitely a unique concept for an Eighth Year fic.

Quarter-Letter | 37,382 words | 228 pages

Drop Cap: Ardenwood Body: EB Garamond

Typset and bound by me in InDesign. Cover designed in Illustrator.

The most time-consuming part of this bind was definitely the cover design—I spent way too long messing around on illustrator to create the design on the cover (which I wish I had added into the original typset before I printed, but own well). Then, when I went to cut it out with HTV, a lot of the smaller details ended up getting lost anyway.

It was my first time doing sprinkled edges on a book, which I chose to do for the deckled edge, and I have mixed feelings on how it turned out.

Cover Bookcloth: Verona in Espresso Spine Bookcloth: Hamartan Goat Leather in Black HTV: Siser Brand in Gold Metal Endbands: Mettler Silk Finish Thread

Draco Malfoy, It's Your Lucky Day is free to read on ao3 here.

My mess of an illustrator cover file.

Another small detail, but I’ve finally made a mock-copyright page design that I like. It’s going in all my InDesign typesets.

#bookbinding #fanbinding #my books #drarry #piscesmoonpress #ficbinding #fanfiction bookbinding

171 notes · View notes

piscesmoonpress · 2 months

Text

The Bolthole by aideomai, Tepre, and GallaPlacidia

I'm absolutely thrilled to finally share my first fic bind here on Tumblr! I completed this bind back in November, and it introduced me to so many wonderful people.

You can find pictures and detailed explanations of my process under the cut.

This is "The Bolthole" by Aideomai, Tepre, and (formerly) GallaPlacidia on Ao3. The cover design is adapted from "The Little Brother" (1902) by Josiah Flynt. The typeset is my own.

I fell in love with this cover the moment I saw it, and wanted to try to recreate it with book cloth. As a hobbyist book binder, I like to try to revitalize older designs from the public domain. There are so few copies of this book left in the world, so I thought it would be fun to give it new life as the cover of a contemporary story.

The cover is made out of three different colors of book cloth from the Allure and Verona lines. The book cloth and endpapers were bought from Hollander's.

I used my Cameo 4 and a strong tack mat to cut the design out of each color of book cloth. I then assembled the pattern like a puzzle. It was MUCH harder than it sounds! Some of the pieces were incredibly thin and fragile, and they were difficult to keep track of.

For the foiling, I used my Cameo 4 and the We R Memory Keepers fine tip foil quill for everything but the spine, which I did by hand. I foiled immediately after I cut, without removing my mat from the machine. This helped me line everything up. It did not, however, prevent me from sweating bullets as my machine worked.

This method was, frankly, torture, but I'm really glad that I tried it. Now that I've had a nice long break, I'd like to try it again soon. I love running my hands over this book, and the texture of the book cloth feels wonderful under my fingertips. I do, however, have a few words of caution. Do not try this out unless you have book cloth to burn! Here are some pictures of just a few of my failures.

The Cameo 4 is not your friend. Your cut-outs can and will get fucked up for no reason. If the mat isn't sticky enough, or the blade isn't sharp enough, or the fabric doesn't adhere properly, your design could get completely shredded. I strongly recommend that you avoid Verona book cloth, or anything with a paper backing and loose fibers. It was absolute hell to work with. When it wasn't shredded by the machine, it was fraying like crazy. Acrylic coated cloth is the way to go if you want clean lines. And, you know, your sanity intact.

This was my most challenging bind to date, but I learned a lot! Aside from experimenting with book cloth, automated foiling, and my Cameo 4, it was also my first time formatting, printing, and sewing a text block. I'm incredibly grateful for all of the online tutorials and wonderful people who helped me make this bind a reality!

#drarry #a stunning bind w stunning inspiration #not my books

199 notes · View notes

piscesmoonpress · 2 months

Text

choices by @sophsicle ✨

this bind has been a long time coming but fuck if it didn’t need to be absolutely perfect. you know when you just love a story so much that it feels embedded in your heart? that’s choices for me. making this bind has been my magnum opus and i wouldn’t let myself make it until i felt like i could do it justice.

@earlgreymoony agreed to do the art for this bind and HOLY FUCK DID SHE DELIVER 👏🏻👏🏻

#gorgeous gorgeous #not my books

215 notes · View notes

piscesmoonpress · 2 months

Text

Savage God by PottersPink, binding by DCB Bindery

My take on a Collector’s Edition of this spectacular fic by @potterspink. Check out the slipcase & paperback editions I bound for Binderary!

Specs: Square back bradel, black edges, pink endbands, flexible made sewn-on endpapers, A6.

On the process: A more elaborate design inspired by Diamond matches. I based the patterned endpapers and black edges on the matchbox design, and I’m so happy with how they added to the overall look!

Honestly I feel like I improved on a lot of skills in these past few bindings, not least of which are half-decent jobs on trimming, sewn endbands, and colored edges. Took my time and redid multiple parts when I screwed them up and I’m really glad that I did.

More DCB Bindery Projects

(Submission for @steverogersbingo C3 Free Sapce & @stuckybingo Adopatable Square: The One That Got Away)

#this one is gorgeous gorgeous #not my books

105 notes · View notes

piscesmoonpress · 2 months

Text

Bound: Away Childish Things by @letteredlettered

One of the first fics I bound last summer was Away Childish Things for my friend @thirdeye1234. It was a thank you for the excellent podfic she made of this gorgeous fic.

But recently, I thought, hey, I want one too! So here it is. I have learned quite a bit since I made the first one, so the typeset got a little refresh (but not much changed, really.) I also decided to go in a different direction for the cover since the last one was kind of a happy accident. And I've learned a lot more about decorating covers as well since then. So on this one I used a foil quill pen instead of HTV.

But the best part? The end papers! I braved my fear of rejection and reached out to @appleslightning to ask if I could use her gorgeous artwork, and she said yes! I had to reconfigure it slightly to fit the format, and then I made a little collage of the items for the back end paper.

ETA: This is the bookcloth I used.

214 notes · View notes

piscesmoonpress · 2 months

Text

As promised! I wrote about the illegal fanbinding that's led to writers deleting their works recently, how that connects to the current pull-to-publish wave, and what happens when the rapidly expanding sphere of fic readers starts to get disconnected from *fandom*:

The ever-increasing reach of fanfiction has inched the practice away from text-written-in-community to a more traditional author-reader relationship—and the context collapse that’s come with viral works being treated like any other romance novel has spurred clashes between different types of readers with different sets of expectations. In the past few years, fic authors across all corners of fandom have increasingly complained about shifting attitudes from readers who treat them like any other content creator, demanding the next chapter as you might demand your favorite influencer’s next video. But unlike on creative platforms like TikTok and YouTube, the fic writer doesn’t get revenue from their new installment.

We'll also talk about this in some capacity on the next episode of @fansplaining! (In contrast with today's episode, on the non-monetized, gift-economy practices of many fanbinders, whose hobby is also imperiled by the people selling and buying fic.)

7K notes · View notes

piscesmoonpress · 2 months

Text

skinny-dip inside your mind by spacexcowgirl (@spacexcowgirl)

Through the smoke and dark lighting, it’s hard to make the man out, but his looks really don’t matter. This isn’t about what Regulus wants in a partner, it’s about what he needs to survive. At the moment, he’ll take whatever he can get.

Pairing: Regulus Black/James Potter Fandom: Harry Potter

I'm so excited to share this bind that I made for Rose, who wrote one of my favorite jegulus fics over the span of a single weekend, and messaged me about it incessantly the entire time.

Turning this story into a bind was so fun, and I'm incredibly proud of the way it turned out. Hopefully, I managed to do this masterpiece justice.

Quarter-Letter | 23,433 words | 157 pages

Title Font: Clavichord Body: Fern

Typset and bound by me in InDesign for @spacexcowgirl.

Making the typeset for this bind was a bit of a process I wasn't prepared for. Previously, I made all my typesets on Word, and the switch over to InDesign was not an easy one. That said, I have officially been converted, and I am so proud of the way this one turned out.

Rose said that she imagined this story as a bit dreamy, though given that it's an incubus fic, I did got in a bit of a gothic direction. All the design details, excluding the eye on the cover page, is done using the Fern and Clavichord fonts, including the motif on the back of the bind.

This was also my first quarto, which was a fun challenge that I wasn't expecting to enjoy so much. I can confidently say there will be many quarto binds in my future—this one was quick, easy, and addicting.

Materials and Techniques

Cover Bookcloth: Duo in Mudbath Spine Bookcloth: Iris in Black HTV: Siser Brand in Red Endbands: Mettler Silk Finish Thread

The only new technique I used in this bind was the double-core french endband, which I learned from @no-name-publishing as a part of the @renegadeguild binderary tutorials.

The binding itself is a three-piece bradel bind that I used before on my Choices bind. It's slightly adapted from the DAS tutorial to accomodate a flat spine, as this book was a bit too small for my comfort to round, but otherwise used all the same steps.

I recently acquired a few yards of Duo in various colors, and I absolutely fell in love with the mudbath color for this bind—the contrast of the blue and the red gives it a very dreamy look. The spine is Iris bookcloth, which is a favorite of mine because of how well it foils. This bind is photographed on misprints, of which I had quite a few, given that this was my first quarto.

skinny-dip inside your mind is free to read on ao3, here.

#jegulus #marauders #fanbinding #ficbinding #regulus black #james potter #bookbinding #my books

128 notes · View notes

piscesmoonpress · 2 months

Text

Crimson Rivers—bound for a friend for personal use only.

I’m so in love with how these turned out and put my entire heart into them. Mistakes were made, screaming ensued, procrastination was a bitch but we did ittttt.

Thank you so so much to @alexsays-no @crownvus @aoarcturus for letting me use your gorgeous work for these binds 😭😭🫶🏼🥹😘🥰 I appreciate y’all so much!

And thank you to bizarrestars for writing one of my favorite stories that have stuck with me since I finished it months ago.

#stunned by the cover design #not my books

325 notes · View notes

piscesmoonpress · 4 months

Text

Fanbinding: Reputations. by @outpastthemoat

Defeating a Sith Lord before losing your Padawan braid, that’s a difficult reputation to live up to.

Another bind for the Greece meet-up - this time for Nic, @finalfrontierpublishing. This is an absolutely fantastic gen fic that explores the personal growth and struggles of Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon following Obi-Wan's Knighting (if Qui-Gon had lived). This is one of those fics that is really cathartic, grappling with self-worth issues.

I love this fic so much and I am ecstatic because it turned out to be my favorite bind of 2023. I was aiming to evoke the aesthetic of a temple, with a beautiful floral Japanese cloth, tile-like chiyogami endpapers, and mosaic drop-caps. There's re-occuring themes of climbing temple stairs and ringing temple bells as forms of meditation and emotional release, and I was able to source art for the chapter headers to represent that. Finally, I had a lot of fun matching the sewn endbands to the fabric and coloring the top edge of the book.