r/Fanbinding

Image 1 — My first complete bind
Image 2 — My first complete bind
Image 3 — My first complete bind
Image 4 — My first complete bind
Image 5 — My first complete bind
▲ 100 r/Fanbinding+1 crossposts

My first complete bind

For quite some time I have been just watching and learning (and trying to find paper and the needed supplies and all that), but I finally finished my very first actual fanbind!

The fic is "the light of distant stars", a fic from a very tiny fandom of a chinese book/drama-series (The Lost Tomb/Daomu Biji) tha was written for me by a friend, and that I wanted to bind for quite some time.

I designed the cover (in PS) and also the typeset (which I realize, I did not take any pictures of) and I made so many mistakes and learned so much. Cutting the textblock was an ordeal and it's still wonky and weeding that design was also an experience, I'll defintely not do something that intricate again, some of the little details got lost and the lines were so thin that they came off and I had to put them back (that's why some of them are so wobbly), just like some parts of the finer text. I only have a Cricut joy, so the whole cover had to be smaller than 15 cm. And then I measured and measured and still managed to put the back cover on slightly askance and burned a part of the frame because I had to go over the small text again... But the htv worked so well, it peeled off without much of a problem (just one letter of the backtext came off) and it looks so nice and shiny!

All in all I am very proud of it, I love how the title turned out and it actually opens and closes so well. And now I wanna do so many more!

u/lastangel48 — 3 days ago
▲ 11 r/Fanbinding+1 crossposts

If I use canva does it feed into ai?

If I use canva, will it use whatever images and writing I add to feed ai? I'm a fanbinder and very anti-ai, but everyone recommends canva for cover designing and typesets, so I'd like to know whether I'd be feeding into gen ai or not if I use it.

reddit.com
u/Several_Chapter_4379 — 8 days ago

Question about etiquette

I was wondering what's considered the right etiquette regarding binding a fic by an author whose account has been deleted or who isn't replying to comments and/or direct messages, and posting pics of the bind to social media. I have some fics I'd love to bind & post on instagram (personal use only, not for an exchange or gift, but photos shared to a public social media account) but the authors have either purged their whole existence from social media or haven't been online in years and aren't responding. Thanks in advance!

reddit.com
u/leejinwook — 9 days ago
▲ 1 r/Fanbinding+1 crossposts

Bedazzling books

Hi everyone I have a big question. I’ve recently begun bedazzling my own personal books and I got to thinking, what if I could bedazzle books for people through orders and sell them. I just want to know if people think this is ethically okay because idk it kind of feels like scalping in a way but I know some people really enjoy the looks of bedazzled books but don’t have the time or patience to do their own. I figured I’d ask other book loving people because obviously books are something I love dearly and I’m the type of person that gets upset if even my spine on my book cracks so opinions, ideas, anything is welcome. Thank you!!

reddit.com
u/Lucky-Blackberry-316 — 9 days ago
▲ 216 r/Fanbinding+1 crossposts

The Magnus Archives Binding

My first fully bound book! Obviously still a lot of improvements to make, but I'm really pleased with my outcome.

u/areateen — 13 days ago

paper questions?

hi, i stumbled onto book binding videos on youtube a couple of days ago (not for the first time) and i’m obsessed, to the point where i’ve already made a makeshift sketchbook for my boyfriend with printer paper and yarn. it’s so cool and i can’t wait to print out some fics (and possibly my own writing?) and experiment with different stitches!

but i can’t really seem to figure out what the best paper to use would be? i’ve read that newspaper is good, but that it won’t last as long as acid-free paper (and i’m not actually sure what that means), or that printer paper works fine but i’m not sure how much i’d actually like to use that

also the thing with long and short grain? i think that working on the long grain is better (?) but i’m unsure of which way it’s supposed to be oriented. is the long-grain side the longer side when it’s a full sheet of paper that hasn’t been folded into signatures yet? if i get big sheets and cut them in half hamburger-style (for lack of a better term) would it be better to buy them long-grain or short-grain? does “long grain” mean that the grain goes from top to bottom when the paper is looked at portrait style?

apologies if these are simple questions with obvious answers, i am very easily confused. but when i see a new craft, there’s a good chance i want to get my hands on it and i figured this would be the best way to get answers

anyways thanks for reading, and i’m looking forward to potentially someday posting some books in here!!!

reddit.com
u/pridekitty17 — 10 days ago
▲ 5 r/Fanbinding+1 crossposts

Help Putting the title on the Spine with Faux Leather

Desperately seeking advice.

So I have been trying to bind 3 books and finally got to the lest steps where I would put the covers on. However before I do so I would like to put the titles on the spines of the books which are bound in faux leather.

The polyvinyl in question

Y'all I'm at a loss now
I tried using a heat pen with foil transfer but the results leave much to be desired

https://preview.redd.it/atwi9telzwhh1.png?width=3990&format=png&auto=webp&s=8640262709c0f0f9997526b582574f4708eae249

Silver on Blue and Copper on White
I have no experience with the heat foil so I don't know if this is an issue with the pen, foil, me, or the faux leather.
I did try using Angelus Paint which DOES stick but my hand writing sucks.
I don't have a cricut or know anything about what kind of transfer would be ideal
or where I might be able to custom order precut of such a thing

So yeah any advice? Or tips and tricks? I've tried things like youtube but those all seem to be assuming you have things like a cricut or are using bookcloth.

reddit.com
u/mouser26 — 13 days ago