Time to revisit an old classic! The Triumph of Time series by @sunderedstar (my favorite transformers fic of all time? signs point to yes), but with eight or nine months more of experience and in pursuit of the deep leather secrets! Naturally, I tried to shop outside of bookbinding-specific retailers and immediately bought the wrong kind of 2oz veg tanned leather (I bought buttero leather, after fighting the skiving and my turn-ins the whole way, I learned that it is prized for its stiffness, ofc. my lesson has been thoroughly learned XD). But still! I also tried silk moire endpapers for the first time, and backed the exposed surface with gold tissue
Then it got back burnered for a little while as I tried to figure out what to do with the tooling. I had a concept, but wasn’t sure about the details. I tried to do a completely different craft activity last week, so naturally this shook loose! For the three long fics, as word count increases and stakes escalate, I went for the feeling of a gradually rising sun. And then for the collection of short fics that fall before and after the main verse, I avoided an actual sun while keeping similar radiant vibes. The back covers got simple tooling with the pallet, plus my one (1) pretty tool in the corners, and the spines got the (faux) cords outlined, then extra embellishment with the pretty tool. I’m very stoked!!! I didn’t want to just repeat the same parametric designs I did before, even though it wouldn’t have been bad for the space-time shenanigans here. I wanted something new, and I’m pretty excited about how it turned out!
Another book!! I tackled kaasknot’s I’m Gonna Love You With My Hands Tied again, because I love it and I’m obsessed with repcomm now and I’m big mad about it and also I wanted to see how it felt shorter and fatter, as a physical object! Spoilers, I loved it. I also loved the fabric I bound it in before, so I used it as fabric endpapers for this binding, and made my endbands color coordinated to match those endpapers. It all added up to a palette I really enjoyed! I also sewed on proper raised cords for the first time, which was fantastic. So I got the book assembled, but…. what next?
And then…. I decorated. Oh man. So l am learning to use proper brass tools, but those are heckin EXPENSIVE, one of mine is totally borrowed, and you need a bajillion of these things to add up to flexible picture drawing. I just ordered my second and am wrestling with financial guilt at this very moment. But I also have this foil quill I bought last year and my first creative hobby of note was drawing and you can trace through printer paper and maybe I should run some simpler tests first but what if I just–
I’ve got room for improvement, but it’s still SO shiny, and I’m delighted! I need to experiment more with leather surfaces, because it’s more crisp on paper, but that’s just part of learning to work with the medium. I love this a lot, and I’m so glad I tried it out!!
Another book!! I tackled kaasknot’s I’m Gonna Love You With My Hands Tied again, because I love it and I’m obsessed with repcomm now and I’m big mad about it and also I wanted to see how it felt shorter and fatter, as a physical object! Spoilers, I loved it. I also loved the fabric I bound it in before, so I used it as fabric endpapers for this binding, and made my endbands color coordinated to match those endpapers. It all added up to a palette I really enjoyed! I also sewed on proper raised cords for the first time, which was fantastic. So I got the book assembled, but…. what next?
And then…. I decorated. Oh man. So l am learning to use proper brass tools, but those are heckin EXPENSIVE, one of mine is totally borrowed, and you need a bajillion of these things to add up to flexible picture drawing. I just ordered my second and am wrestling with financial guilt at this very moment. But I also have this foil quill I bought last year and my first creative hobby of note was drawing and you can trace through printer paper and maybe I should run some simpler tests first but what if I just–
I’ve got room for improvement, but it’s still SO shiny, and I’m delighted! I need to experiment more with leather surfaces, because it’s more crisp on paper, but that’s just part of learning to work with the medium. I love this a lot, and I’m so glad I tried it out!!
Time to revisit an old classic! The Triumph of Time series by @sunderedstar (my favorite transformers fic of all time? signs point to yes), but with eight or nine months more of experience and in pursuit of the deep leather secrets! Naturally, I tried to shop outside of bookbinding-specific retailers and immediately bought the wrong kind of 2oz veg tanned leather (I bought buttero leather, after fighting the skiving and my turn-ins the whole way, I learned that it is prized for its stiffness, ofc. my lesson has been thoroughly learned XD). But still! I also tried silk moire endpapers for the first time, and backed the exposed surface with gold tissue
Then it got back burnered for a little while as I tried to figure out what to do with the tooling. I had a concept, but wasn’t sure about the details. I tried to do a completely different craft activity last week, so naturally this shook loose! For the three long fics, as word count increases and stakes escalate, I went for the feeling of a gradually rising sun. And then for the collection of short fics that fall before and after the main verse, I avoided an actual sun while keeping similar radiant vibes. The back covers got simple tooling with the pallet, plus my one (1) pretty tool in the corners, and the spines got the (faux) cords outlined, then extra embellishment with the pretty tool. I’m very stoked!!! I didn’t want to just repeat the same parametric designs I did before, even though it wouldn’t have been bad for the space-time shenanigans here. I wanted something new, and I’m pretty excited about how it turned out!
So, I’ve reached some new milestones! I’ve bound a book with silk moire endpapers. I’ve bound a book in leather, even though it was still learning-quality leather, and it had been largely pared before being handed down to me (I’m working on it! leather takes so many knives, and this one just arrived today). And I’ve used heated brass tools to do some blind tooling! Just straight lines for the moment, I’m working on consistency more than anything else, and still figuring out heat/pressure/etc, but oh my god.
And…. I’ve officially bound my own writing for the first time!!! This is in honor of the anon who reached out to me last year. I wasn’t able to answer their question in the affirmative, but it made me realize I’ve done a lot of work in this arena, and it would make a lot of sense to collect as an anthology
And I haven’t given up my wicked ways, I’m just writing about exciting new blorbos at the moment. Also, as I was going back and collecting text, this writing slaps, I stand by it. So the title is very tongue in cheek, this is very good writing, but!
YEAH, BABY!
This does cover a little more ground than pure noncon, because I haven’t written all that much of that, this is supplemented with a lot of material where consent is technically given, it’s just not given in a good way. It’s a very melancholy book in some sections, but I really do think I do a good job of writing sex where neither person actually wants it to be happening, and one or both of them is using it to self-harm. Unsurprisingly, Starscream shines in this arena, and I stand by my writing for him, I proudly recommend my own archives.
I did also write a quick little intro to the anthology, just an overview of the what and why, and specifying that this is the first time I’ve put my own writing in a book. Only took me like 140 books to get around to it, haha!
The book is subdivided by fandom, approximately in chronological order. The one mcu fic would properly go in the middle of the transformers fics, but that wouldn’t have been pretty. And I wanted the starclonus series to all go together, the fic to fic flow is important. I finished a star wars fic last week, but still have a tgcf wip that would belong here, that kind of thing. The bulk of this book is homestuck and transformers, but marvel, xianxia, and star wars all show up too!
This was so rewarding. I still have a lot to learn about working with leather, but even as a sleep-deprived amateur, I’m having such a delightful time! I also have unfinished leather and dyes and knives and no adult supervision, so I have the power to make a hellacious mess next time I get restless, amd I’m so excited
Two more leather books! The pro I’ve been lucky enough to work with sometimes is so generous, honestly, she lent me some tools while she was going to be absent, and gave me two hides that she received at… either an estate sale or a retirement sale, from another older pro. They had been in storage for a while before she got them and passed them to me, and it shows in spots (and I’m not cutting for best quality, I’m balancing surface area and flattish cuts) but this taught me so much, like about reviving leather and how a hide handles and how the curved bits FEEL when you’re trying to work with them.
Flawless leather would be wasted on me at this point, and this was freeing, I could try more fabric endpapers (quilting cotton, one printed and one batik) and try experimenting with tooling designs without needing to stress. For both of these, I tweaked typeset files i already had, but chose some fics I wanted to mess with in some way.
So first, blackkat’s made of hurricanes and ether! I did this at half-leather size last time, and it was fine, just a little thin, and I was curious how it would feel with a little more heft to it, so I shrank down my margins
Then, feynite’s I Wish You Were My Husband! An old fave, but that means I typeset it ages ago, and my standards have since evolved, haha. Plus, with a whole hide, I have a reason to follow through and set all the side stories next. This was a lot of fun, and I felt like I learned a lot in the process!
So, I’ve reached some new milestones! I’ve bound a book with silk moire endpapers. I’ve bound a book in leather, even though it was still learning-quality leather, and it had been largely pared before being handed down to me (I’m working on it! leather takes so many knives, and this one just arrived today). And I’ve used heated brass tools to do some blind tooling! Just straight lines for the moment, I’m working on consistency more than anything else, and still figuring out heat/pressure/etc, but oh my god.
And…. I’ve officially bound my own writing for the first time!!! This is in honor of the anon who reached out to me last year. I wasn’t able to answer their question in the affirmative, but it made me realize I’ve done a lot of work in this arena, and it would make a lot of sense to collect as an anthology
And I haven’t given up my wicked ways, I’m just writing about exciting new blorbos at the moment. Also, as I was going back and collecting text, this writing slaps, I stand by it. So the title is very tongue in cheek, this is very good writing, but!
YEAH, BABY!
This does cover a little more ground than pure noncon, because I haven’t written all that much of that, this is supplemented with a lot of material where consent is technically given, it’s just not given in a good way. It’s a very melancholy book in some sections, but I really do think I do a good job of writing sex where neither person actually wants it to be happening, and one or both of them is using it to self-harm. Unsurprisingly, Starscream shines in this arena, and I stand by my writing for him, I proudly recommend my own archives.
I did also write a quick little intro to the anthology, just an overview of the what and why, and specifying that this is the first time I’ve put my own writing in a book. Only took me like 140 books to get around to it, haha!
The book is subdivided by fandom, approximately in chronological order. The one mcu fic would properly go in the middle of the transformers fics, but that wouldn’t have been pretty. And I wanted the starclonus series to all go together, the fic to fic flow is important. I finished a star wars fic last week, but still have a tgcf wip that would belong here, that kind of thing. The bulk of this book is homestuck and transformers, but marvel, xianxia, and star wars all show up too!
This was so rewarding. I still have a lot to learn about working with leather, but even as a sleep-deprived amateur, I’m having such a delightful time! I also have unfinished leather and dyes and knives and no adult supervision, so I have the power to make a hellacious mess next time I get restless, amd I’m so excited
Miss @womanofyourscreams from the other day shooting alongside @cait_brady wearing the natural veg tanned suspender harness. #personalwork #peopleofnashville #betterinblackandwhite #leatherwork #leatherharness #bodyharness #leathercraft https://www.instagram.com/p/B4kRQSAn4V9/?igshid=60dfcindc4uy
More #lightpainting with @ladylonglimbs from last month. Mixed strobe and contoured flash light. Leather harness by me. #peopleofnashville #personalwork #leatherwork #longexposure (at Nashville, Tennessee) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4FWMOJn2-O/?igshid=1s62wjco10y1g
Are you the watching of the new Netflix Witcher? I was still busy with work and did not have time, but today I killed myself a pleasant evening. In the meantime, it’s time to recall the armor that was my Everest this year: Superior Wolf Gear. Thousands of hand seams, natural fabrics made by hand, and I’m glad that it looks like it turned out, although if I had even more time I would have done even more Cosplayer awesome @grayson_fin
