ANBU Legacy 2.2 - @anbu-legacy

With kind permission of the authors

Full cloth binding with title hot stamped on the spine.

case materials covers - grey board (2,4) spine stiffener - cardboard covering material - coated book cloth, black hot stamped title - heat reactive foil, silver

inner book text block paper - Munken polar, 100gsm endpapers - Chiyogami paper endbands - woven bookcloth and chord

Format: ~A6 (10,5cm x 14,8cm)

ANBU Legacy 5.2 - @anbu-legacy

With kind permission of the authors

Full cloth binding with title hot stamped on the spine.

case materials covers - grey board (2,4) spine stiffener - cardboard covering material - coated book cloth, black hot stamped title - heat reactive foil, silver

inner book text block paper - Munken polar, 100gsm endpapers - Chiyogami paper endbands - woven endpands

Format: ~A6 (10,5cm x 14,8cm)

ANBU Legacy 2.1 - @anbu-legacy

With kind permission of the authors

Full cloth binding with title hot stamped on the spine.

case materials covers - grey board (2,4) spine stiffener - cardboard covering material - coated book cloth, black hot stamped title - heat reactive foil, silver

inner book text block paper - Munken polar, 100gsm endpapers - Chiyogami paper endbands - book cloth and cord

Format: ~A6 (10,5cm x 14,8cm)

Hello there!

Every time i see one of your bound books, i just sit there with my jaw on the floor in awe. They look so stunning, everything is so cohesive, and your creativity amazes me every time 🥺💕

I'm about to fanbind my first work and I wanted to ask if you've got any tips or things you wish you'd have known earlier? Like, I know it's gonna be far from perfect and the process will probably be rather stressful for me (perpetually impatient perfectionist), but maybe you had a moment of "oh man this is so obvious, how could i go wrong there"?

I hope you're having a fantastic day, and I'm gonna admire your work a little more rn ✨😊

Hello and thank you so much. Reading your message definitely made my day <3

I'm very flattered you like my bindings and glad they feel cohesive. I'd love to say 'that's because I plan them so meticulously', but to be honest, I rarely know every detail of what I'll be doing for a bind when I start XD

Congratulations on the decision to jump down that rabbit hole!

Sadly, I can't really give hints on the purely self-taught approach, because I have indeed formal training and never had to find it all out by myself. There are great tutorials though and while some are really good and in depth from a professional perspective, they might be also difficult to follow for beginners when you still learn the terms for everything. Don't feel bad for starting with a tutorial you find easier to follow.

But still I can say, accept that you will make mistakes and there will be flaws. There will always be flaws or things you find you could improve on (at least in your eyes and even if no one else sees or cares for them). Don't be too hard on yourself when you make them. Take it as a lesson learned and a chance to improve.

Be as tidy and accurate in your work as you can. Your skill will improve and it will get easier to get the hinges right and corners neatly covered and all that.

Keep your work place clean (and a wet cloth and towel nearby to wipe your hands from glue frequently, that will help a lot with not getting stains on your book).

Don't be afraid to mark later covered parts of the book. Like, mark what side is front and what is up on the spine and on the case. Neither will be visible in the end and it really helps a lot. Still it happens that you case in upside down. So even with marking, double and triple check when you're about to do something that will be harder to correct later on. (Especially, make sure you gathered your sections correctly and all the pages are in the correct order and orientation before you sew!). Casing in upside down is annoying, but to be honest, it's not the end of the world and often an easier fix than the wrong order of pages or worse, a forgotten section!

I know its easy to want it all at once, high end materials, perfect typesets, immaculate bindings (I know I do), but give yourself the time to develop the skills needed, otherwise it can be very frustrating and might not give the joy one hoped for.

And finally, don't be afraid to ask questions! I find that most people (myself included) are open and willing to help if they can. I find the Renegade discord server to be a great community for that. A lot of people of all levels of skill and experience share their resources and knowledge and try to help each other there. (Be warned though, the server has grown intimidatingly huge, but still people try to help you from typesetting questions to fix printer issues to explain grain direction and how to build a case at pretty much every time of the day and night.)

They are also just generally nice and fun people and it's up to you if you prefer to lurk and learn or want to chat too.

I hope this helps a bit. Have a wonderful day yourself ^^

Call Me Menace & Villains Never Retire - wingedcat13 Four alterations of the same book that I had the joy to hand over in person as a surprise gift to @desmothene, @pleasantboat, @finalfrontierpublishing and @fantailpress on a meet-up this January.

Many thanks to @wingedcat13 for the permission to share her work.

Read the Call Me Menace here and Villains Never Retire starting here.

Materials used book case boards - museum board (white) counter pull layer on boards- museum paper (white) spine stiffener - photo cardboard (white) vellum (calf parchment) coloured with alcohol based stain - cover material

inner book textblock paper - Schleipen fly 05 115gsm endpapers - marbled paper by Renato Crepaldi endbands - buttonhole silk coloured top edge - chameleon acrylic ink

Winter im Mumintal - Tove Jansson (Moominland Midwinter)

materials used:

original book in signatures printed endpapers publishing paper (for printing the covers) leather (vegetable tanned) silk thread for headbands genuine gold foil (for hot-stamping the title)

ANBU LEGACY 5.1 - @anbu-legacy

With kind permission of the authors

Full cloth binding with title hot stamped on the spine.

case materials 2,4 binders board and cardboard (covers) coated book cloth, black (covering material) silver heat reactive foil (hot stamped title)

inner book Munken polar, 100gsm (book body paper) Chiyogami paper (endpapers)

Format: ~A6 (10,5cm x 14,8cm)

Call of Cthulhu - H. P. Lovecraft

Materials used

case construction covers - grey board, 1,5mm spine stiffener - cardboard covering materials - goat leather, decorative papers title - hot stamping foil

inner book text block paper - Munken pure, 100gsm endbands - Gütermann button hole silk endpapers - decorative paper Dimension: ~ 5,2 x 3,7cm

Carmilla - Robert Sheridan Le Fanu Full vellum Bradel binding with slipcase

Book art - Alphonse Mucha Many thanks @notwhelmedyet for inspiring me towards Mucha for bookart

Materials used:

case board - museumsboard, white spine stiffener - cardboard gathering the case and laser printed cover decoration - white paper cover material - calf parchment

inner book text block paper - Schleipen fly 05, 115gsm endpapers - Chiyogami paper and Hahnemühle Ingres Bütten paper sewing material - linnen thread (flax) endbands - buttonhole silk (Gütermann) edge finish - head and foot edge polished Font's used Titel font - Boecklin's universe Chapter title, page count and drop caps - Amarante text body - Georgia

Slipcase case construction - grey board (1,5 and 1mm) covering materials - Tsumugi paper, Hahnemühle Ingres Bütten paper, Chiyogami paper

Clamshell box for my second bind of Bionic Battle Granny by Ozhawk

Materials used

greyboard 1,5 and 1mm (base construction) goat skin leather (covering material and decoration) marbled paper by renato crepaldi (box sidewalls elephant hide paper (box bottoms and inside spine) coloured foil (hot stamped text)

How did you get into bookbinding? What would you recommend for someone who's interested in getting started?

Hey there,

thank you for asking. I got into bookbinding by undergoing training. I'm a professional bookbinder, which made it much easier (just getting shown how things are done and having experienced binders look at my mistakes and explain where I went wrong is incredibly helpful).

For someone who's interested in getting started in bookbinding and does not have the opportunity to take classes. I would say, first pick the style of binding you want to try. I would recommend to start simple. Give yourself the time to build up your skills and get to know your materials (glue, paper, board, maybe bookcloth). Many like the coptic binding to start with, but you can start out with a case binding too. It will be more complex, but it's totally do-able to begin with too. Then search the medium you learn well from and look for information there. For example, there are fantastic, beginner friendly books. I like 'Books boxes and portfolios' by Franz Zeier in that respect. It focuses on the basics, but not only of books but also boxes, folders and portfolios.

There is also really great online content written and with pictures to lead you through the processess step by step.

As for videos. Sealemon has easy to follow instructions. I'm personally not a huge fan of how she works, because she skips too many steps I find important too, BUT professional binder here. As straightforward bookbinding is in theory, there are a lot of details one can pay attention to, but which are not essential to produce a fully functional and good looking book and she does get one there. Bookbinding can be a money drain, but it doesn't have to be! You can go a long way with simple, improvised tools. Pretty paper can be bought in craft shops and printer paper from bureau supply sections, box cutter and x-acto knives. Cans of food, milkpack, big stones for weights. If you don't own a cutting matt, you don't need one. Some flat and clean board that is 2mm thick or more will perfectly do. The few things I do recommend a bonefolder, it just makes things easier on the fingers (and nails) and other materials can leave coloured streaks. (As do rings and nailpolish btw. so if you like that, apply a clear top coat on the polish and take off rings before working with white paper). A 25/3 or 30/3 linnen thread for sewing together with a block of beeswax to wax the thread before sewing. (Beeswax candles will do, but not normal candles. They are made of stearine which will make the thread sticky and more difficult to use). On a last note, there's @renegadepublishing and their discord serverw here you find all stages of binders. experienced ones and beginners to ask questions. The server is huge and can be a bit overwhelming, but there's always soemone there (or a few) who will do their best to help and likely has run into a similar problem at some point. So this got a bit lengthy and I'm sorry for that but I hope it helps.

Fullclothbinding with marbled paper onlays and heat stamped decoration.

The design was loosely inspired by traditional chinese bindings and this binding by Dimitris Koutsipetsidis (please check out his work and blog and shop and everything!)

Materials used

case: 1,5 binders board and cardboard - (case construction) Iris bookcloth, paperbacked - (cover material) marbled paper by Renato Crepaldi - (paper onlays) heat activated foil - (cover decoration)

inner book: Munken polar, 100gsm - (text paper) Satogami paper - (second fly leaf, story divider) marbled paper by Renato Crepaldi, 80gsm - (endpapers) buttonhole silk - (endbands)

ANBU LEGACY 1.2 - @anbu-legacy

With kind permission of the authors

Full cloth binding with title hot stamped on the spine and UV ink decoration on the front edge.

case materials 2,4 binders board and cardboard (covers) coated book cloth, black (covering material) matte silver heat reactive foil (hot stamped title)

inner book Munken polar, 100gsm (book body paper) Chiyogami paper (endpapers) button hole silk (endbands) UV ink, Blue ghost by Noodler’s ink (fore edge decoration)

The Call of Cthulhu - H. P. Lovecraft

Half leather binding, with leather corners. Title stamp on the spine. Hand sewn endbands. Edges coloured with acrylic paint. Dimensions approx. 4cm x 5,5cm

With accompanying slipcase.

materials case binders board, 1,5 (coverboards) cardboard (spine stiffener) goatskin leather decorative paper gold foil, hot stamped (title)

materials inner book Munken polar, 100gsm (text block) Majestic fancy paper, iridescent, 120gsm (endpapers) button hole silk (endbands) acrylic paint (edge colouring)

Dimensions: ~A9

materials slip case binders board, 1,5 (case construction) Satogami paper (lining) decorative paper (cover material) Majestic fancy paper, iridescent, 120gsm (cover material)

Bredlik Poems (anthology) - collected and credited by @marvinhere                                                  doodles by Jenny

This typeset was shared with me complete with doodles and QR-codes.

materials used

cover binders board, 1,5 (covers) cardboard (spine stiffener) leather, goat (covering material) heat activated foil (hot stamped title and decorations)

inner book Munken polar, 100gsm (book body) printed decorative paper (endpapers and endbands)

slipcase binders board, 1,5 decorative paper, printed (narrow sides) satogami paper, black (wide sides, inner lining)

dimensions 2,5cm x 2,5cm

The Raven - Edgar Allan Poe

These books were part of the Renegady Publishing Tiny Books Bang 2023 event.

Typesetting by @yarnnerd

Full leather binding with gauffered and painted cover, coloured edges, hot stamped spine title and protective slipcase. materials used:

cover binders board, 1,5 (case construction) leather, goatskin (covering material) colourshift acrylic paint heat active foil, silver (hot stamped title)

inner book munken polar, 100gsm (book body) munken polar, 100gsm, painted with oak gall ink (endpapers) colourshift acrylic paint (edge colouring) decorative paper, linnen thread (endbands)

slipcase bindersboard, 1 (case construction) satogami paper, black (lining and narrow sides) decorative paper (wide sides)

book size: 3,1cm x 4,7cm

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy the design I chose. (It also makes me stupidly happy you immediately recognised the chapter dividers for what they are.) I completely forgot to add a format or anything else that helps to discern the size. This small chonk stands ~10,5 cm tall (that’s around 4,1"). With a total of 561 pages it contains the stories from 'Prologues' to ' Anbu trials - After the Tornado'. The next one will very likely just consist of the missing ‘Demon Mission’.

ANBU LEGACY 1 - ANBU-Legacy

With kind permission of the authors and artist.

(Actually it's part 1.1 since I split up and re- sized Vol. 1 for more convenient transportation and reading.)

Full cloth binding with title hot stamped on the spine and UV ink decoration on the front edge.

Frontispiece by @quill-q

case materials 2,4 binders board (covers) coated book cloth, black (covering material) matte silver heat reactive foil (hot stamped title)

inner book Munken polar, 100gms (book body paper) Chiyogami paper (endpapers) button hole silk (endbands) UV ink, Blue ghost by Noodler's ink (fore edge decoration)