Bound: Rookie Moves by peu_a_peu

Here's my contribution to the Rookie Moves April Fool's Exchange. I collaborated on it with @amomorii who is an INCREDIBLE artist (and writer!) It was so much fun working with Sam.

The design on the dust jacket was based on this illustration that Sam found. ISN'T IT PERFECT?

Obviously I had to put my favorite line on the back. (Did I mention I got it tattooed? I did.)

I couldn't find the perfect scene break graphics, so I asked Sam to do them, and they are exactly what I wanted. Every chapter has a themed icon.

Did I buy a wide format printer and a roll of soft-touch laminate just so I could make this book exactly as I wanted? Maybe.

The inner book is very simple in design, but I love how it came out. The spine is…I don't even know what, but I put the title on it with the foil quill on my Silhouette. Came out gorgeously. And then the covers are covered in a suede-like paper (some variety of Skivertex). I love how it feels.

Fonts Body: Baskerville Chapters: Lemon/Milk Italic

Do I have enough copies of this fic/series? I don't think that's possible.

(Quick and shameless plug of the podfic I made of the whole series!)

Pammy out here killing it day in and day out.

Bound: 22 Cards: A peu_a_peu collection ft. Rookie Moves and 6 other delightful tales.

Typeset and bound by: me, @phoenixortheflame.

Art by: @the-forbidden-forest

One day, not so long ago, I made a vow to myself: "I'll never bind four copies again."

But then, a couple months ago, I cornered myself into co-hosting a small binder-artist collab exchange (shout out to my co-host, the talented @maleekamolscreates).

Which means I was already on the hook for two copies (one for my amazing artist partner @the-forbidden-forest and one for my recipient).

And of course I had to make a copy for peu. So that's three.

And then I saw the art Amelia was making and, well, you can see why I needed a copy for myself.

Did I regret it? Instantly.

Was it worth it? Absolutely.

I mean... just look at it. Look at the illustrations. Amelia did all of them. Every single bloody one. And this is only the dust jacket. Just wait til you see the typeset.

But first...

Because we went for a monochrome dust jacket and typeset, I really wanted to make the rest of the bind pop — and I think I achieved that.

The cover material is Verona bookcloth with Cricut brand metallic iron-on foil in light gold.

And because I like to make things hard for myself, I did four different back cover designs, each one representing a tarot card.

But wait! There's more!

Hand-sewn chaos endbands, gold-painted edges using acrylic ink, and the most beautiful chiyogami endpapers.

Of course, I insisted on including a few signature details "my followers expect to see from me." (Yes, I really said that to Amelia, and cringed as I did. But also: Its true!!!! Luckily, she humoured me. And anyway, I think it turned out awesome, so, yeah.)

Also, I should say, peu does not write for Hacks. But it's my headcanon. She absolutely could.

Okay now onto the typeset, featuring the most beautiful and perfect art I could possibly imagine for this bind. (Amelia, if you're reading this, you're a real one and I am so happy we had an opportunity to collab on this and ILY ILY ILY.)

I have literally been staring at that one of Harry (probably) getting a blowjob for weeks. God, I'm so happy for him.

And a few more details from the typeset, including a nod to the original Gay Hypnosis design in my Rookie Moves bind (which also happened to be my first bind ever).

This project was such a big undertaking, but I couldn't have asked for a better, more lovely, more talented artist partner. And the material is literally my lifeblood, so...

Thank you, peu. Thank you, Amelia. Thank you everyone who participated in this exchange. Thank you to everyone who cheered me on.

Love,

phoenix President of the peu_a_peu Fanclub

Shoutout to my favourite drarry fic of all time ✌️

Fanbinding: BLOODY, SLUTTY, AND PATHETIC

This bind took a hot minute to finish. I made it my goal to complete two copies of BSP during the month of February, for @renegadeguild's 2025 Binderary. One for myself, and one for the author, who gave me permission in late January.

BSP is my first official author copy, gifted to and recently received by WhatMurdah, whom I can't thank enough for both writing this stellar fic and for allowing me to bind them a copy. I read BSP in mid-2024 and have been thinking about it as a bind since.

Lots of firsts with this one. First-ever typeset. Have a long way to go on that front, as it's definitely not my favorite part of binding. I prefer getting into the nitty-gritty of the bind itself instead of staring at a laptop screen for hours and agonizing over fonts and scene break flourishes. I kept it simple and still learned a lot, so that's a win!

I also had the honor of receiving the "Found Typo(s) After Printing" badge.

However, my dedication page to WhatMurdah made the entire typeset worthwhile.

It was also my first time attempting Renaissance chevron endbands (another goal for binderary! aaand there's a reason you don't see them on the bind itself, ha). When those didn't turn out as I'd hoped, it was my first time doing "random chaos" endbands, a la @maleekamolscreates.

Thank you, Maleeka and Marissa, for holding my hands through that one. I like to know what's coming, so letting go of structure to embrace the chaos of go-with-your-gut-feeling-for-your-endband-pattern was...hard.

But gorgeous, no? Can I get a "good girl," Maleeka??

Another first was creating a full-fledged dust jacket that looks like it came from a professional. I owe that to @phoenixortheflame, who sat with me on a Zoom call for 2+ hours and guided me through her artistic process. We worked in tandem in Canva so that I could pepper her with questions like, "You can pull the rulers across the page like that?!" Thank you for showing me how to center align correctly and for gently critiquing my choice of keep-all-fonts-the-same.

The before/after must be shown because honestly, every time I look at it I want to cry happy tears.

And while I know she will say, "But you had the vision, I just gave you some structure!" I'll still heap praise all over her because JUST LOOK AT IT.

Art by the incredible @jjuuppiter, who posted this work well before BSP was published but somehow must have KNOWN it would be written into existence one day. Please go check out their page. I fell in love with their art for "The Politician's Wife" first, and eventually found "Bloody Witch and Her Worshipper."

And finally, details of the bind itself below and behind-the-scenes photos (my favorite to look back on!) below that.

Bind details:

bind style: full cloth bind, rounded and backed, sewn endpapers, ramie bands

endpapers: "french marble strawberry" from Hollanders, chosen in mid-2024 after reading BSP for the first time 

cover material: "love dove" fabric, designed by Kathy Doughty. chosen solely for its bold colors. 

book edge decoration: head & tail edges hand sanded to 1,000 grit, DIY'd maroon acrylic ink to match fabric, applied in layers, then burnished with Renaissance wax & agate stone. maroon acrylic ink applied directly to deckled fore-edge for author copy. we don't talk about the fore-edge for my own copy.

endbands: double faux core, 4mm leather core, Japanese silk thread

typeset: this was my first-ever typeset, which meant I spent hours meticulously ensuring I didn't mess anything up (full disclosure: I did, but those mistakes are all my own)

dust jacket: designed in Canva; title font, Villanelle; author font, ITC Blaze; body & flap fonts, IBM Plex Serif; art by jjuuppiter 

Did you know? To make a deep maroon color, take 1 drop blue, 11 drops red, and 2 drops yellow. Voila! Deep maroon.

Now you know.

These copies were made for personal use only; no profit was made and all associated costs came from my own pocket. Please abide by the code of binding fanfiction, which amounts to: if you want it on your shelf, bind it yourself.

Kristen only knows how to make fucking gems.

Bound: Drarry as written by GallaPlacidia

It's hard to tell from photos, but this is a big ol' book.

Over 11 inches tall and 9 inches wide.

Bound: The Favourites: A @mallstars Anthology

Typeset and bound by: me, @phoenixortheflame. Featuring art by: @basiatlu, @appleslightning, @reliand, @itsphantasmagoria, @faiell

Here's a little tidbit you should know about me: The first Drarry I ever read was Save the Date by mallstars. I had listened to a few before that, but the first one I actually downloaded to my e-reader and read front to back was STD.

It captivated me. It made me feel things. And it kicked off a record-breaking year of reading nearly 3 million words of Drarry fanfic.

Needless to say, I have a soft spot for mall and their work. And I'd seen a lot of binds of "Save the Date" and "Cut From the Sky," but not their other works. So.. enter the anthology.

I'm a big science fiction fan, so my designs kept skewing that genre. It didn't help that @basiatlu made this epic artwork, which she created in collaboration with mall for their sci-fi AU piece, Blood Orange.

I had already decided on a colour palette: orange, purple, and lavender (don't ask me why), and Bosh was an absolute legend to offer to adjust the colours of her original art to match. (Ty, Bosh!)

It was my first time using printable canvas as a wrap cover, and though there were a few, "oh, fuck" moments, ultimately it turned out really well, and I'll absolutely be doing it again.

I had planned not to do a dust jacket and instead apply the fic titles and anthology title directly onto the canvas with HTV. But then I got scared as shit that I would melt the canvas, and so I chose to leave the cover blank - and, honestly? - I'm super happy I did, because it really showcases the art.

Speaking of art... the typeset is brimming with it. From top-left we have art from @appleslightning, @reliand, @itsphantasmagoria, and @faiell.

The rest of the typeset is heavily influenced by science fiction aesthetic, as you can see with the fonts and my frankly excessive use of gradients. (Take a guess at how many ink cartridges I blew through.)

And the colour palette continued through to the bind itself in the end papers, as well as the end bands and speckled edges, which I achieved using acrylic ink and a toothbrush (thanks to @maleekamolscreates for holding my hand through the process!)

As always, I added a cheeky barcode.

I literally cannot help myself.

It's a line from one of my favourite mallstars one-shots, Birthright, in which Draco is a kleptomaniac. It's romantic! Really!

Also on the dust jacket flap is a buncha nice stuff people have said about mall and their work. (Looking at you, @fastbrother, @smehur, @desertforestfic, @tripably, @garagepaperback, @kk1smet.)

I hope you love it, mall!

California Renegade meet-up

If ever you're given the chance to meet fellow bookbinders in person, do it. Don't hesitate. The experience of sitting amid a group of individuals who are as wholly obsessed about a hobby as you are was, frankly, fucking awesome.

I'm still floating on a happy cloud of endorphins from this weekend's @renegadeguild Cali server meet-up. It was a small melting pot of fandoms and ships, age ranges and skill levels, and an established ethos about sharing knowledge without reserve or judgment. 

Even with the (very) early morning alarm, a long drive, and nerves about meeting everyone for the first time, it was the best experience. I learned how to marble paper and book edges. I tried my hand at paste papers. I held other binders' books (!!!!) and was properly gobsmacked by their skill, listening as they openly shared how they achieved an edge, an endband, a leather cover, a difficult technique. 

At one point, when the day was winding down and just a few of us were left standing inside @duran-binding's kitchen, a passionate discussion ensued about the history and origins of a fandom I'd never heard of. And in that moment, my mind took a snapshot from above: the five of us animatedly discussing fanfiction and how our favorite fandoms could potentially intersect. It left me feeling intensely grateful for being invited into this community of fanfiction binders.

So yeah. 10/10 recommend. 

What an awesome post about the joys of finding people to connect with to do your craft! And the papers they all marbled are STUNNING.

The Cadence of Part-Time Poets

The Cadence of Part-Time Poets by @motswolo

Have been working on this 10 volume set for the past few months now, and they are finally complete. My Magnum Opus. I have peaked and probably depleted all of my brain power.

Thank you to @motswolo for writing such a beautiful story. My brain chemistry has been favourably altered. Will forever flinch when I hear Queen, The Beatles or Bob Dylan. Love to you from western Canada (west coast best coast lets gooooo).

I also posted a TikTok of these since posts here are limited and I love the insides as much as the covers, so if you wanna see between the pages, here’s that.

Also thank you @avisbindery for letting me scream and cry in your DMs while I read the fic. May you get some uninterrupted sleep now LOLLL.

Going to write a whole essay below about the ideas and details because uhhh I wanna yap bit!

So for starters, I wanted to make these binds look like magazines because of the epilogue where (spoiler) Tonya sees Remus in a copy of New Musical Express. But of course this fic is long, so I was like, what if I do multiple volumes? This very quickly spiralled into me painstakingly (finding publication-accurate fonts almost sent me to an early grave) recreating 10 different music-focused magazines from the 70s and 80s from scratch (thank you to Photoshop, Affinity, Procreate and Canva). Each volume features a unique cover, along with stylized typesets to match that display the songs for each chapter but in different designs. And then I went a little crazy and made a 45 sleeve and a cassette too, to really set the scene when I took the photos lol

While the covers display the dates pertaining to the contents of that particular volume (Sept 1975 for volume one, for example) I was thinking about what the magazines would say if they were really published when Marauders are traipsing about being spectacular and famous in the future. I sprinkled in details from the fic itself and fanon-ed it a bit, but that was the general inspiration :-) Tried to keep the photos used either faceless/obscured, or to use the fancasts on Mots’ Cadence master post. I also tried to use period-accurate photos but didn’t always succeed, so settled for photos of 4 member bands where I had to :”) But the general intent with the facelessness was that they could be implied to be Marauders. If you squint? lol. Just pretend. Pls.

Volume One: Based upon The Record Song Book. This magazine went on to inspire the typesets, since it publishes lyrics and such. The cover images are of Spacey Jane and David Thewlis.

Volume Two: Based on ZigZag, specifically the issue from July 1978 featuring Siouxie and the Banshees just because I thought it looked sick as fuck. I re-drew the abstract shapes and such in procreate. The cover images are The Clash and a young Gary Oldman. Lord he was foiiine.

Volume Three: Based on Trouser Press, November 1980. The cover images are a young Metallica, and my personal fav fan cast for James, Reiky De Valk. The film negatives are from a Bruce Springsteen tour, 1976.

Volume Four: Based on Gay Times (November 1984), a queer magazine from the UK because this volume contains Wolfstars first kiss hehe. Also hence Somebody To Love plastered all over the covers. The Front cover is Inhaler. The “4A” on this one is of course the boys’ dorm number, but I made the A the lambda symbol as this was a pride symbol in the 70s after Stonewall.

Volume Five: Based on Melody Maker. Front image is Alex Turner. All of the text on this one is pulled directly from the fic. The scene where they all drop acid and James jumps off the roof Almost Famous style had me hootin’ and hollerin’… until Tomny showed up hahaha :”)

Volume Six: Based on IT (International Times, Aug 1971). Front image for this one is Joy Division, and the back features Jane Asher for Lily

Volume Seven: Based on Record Mirror, June 1976. Front image is John Taylor of Duran Duran. Yum.

Volume Eight: Based on Rolling Stone. More vibes than anything for this one, but the quote still makes me laugh.  Front image is of Matt Hitt. Can you tell I photoshopped a cell phone out of this one? IDK. This photo just screamed ‘Remus’ to me so I had to use it. The back image is an old cigarette ad, but the photo is taken in Shepherd’s Bush.

Volume Nine: Based on Fusion magazine. Front image for this one is once again Inhaler. Oops. Back cover is our gals. Images are Jodie Foster as Cherry, Brenda Sykes as Mary, and Goldie Hawn as Lottie.

Volume Ten: Based on New Musical Express. You know why :”) These are all victims of fanon, but this one especially. I wanted it to be NME instead of the re-invented logos I’d been doing for all the rest, as I wanted it to look like the magazine the Sister gives to Tonya. I referred to an issue of NME from October 1979 for this and layered in fic references where it made sense to. The cover image for this one is (I think) Cigarettes After Sex. This issue also contains all of the B-Side chapters, and the Marauders song lyrics too just for fun :)

Slasher Chick: This is just my take on what Sybill’s zine could’ve looked like. Prob way off but I just wanted to have fun with this one since I had no cover to reference lol. The zine contains her little write-up and the interview, lifted straight from the fic :")

ok yap sesh over byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee lmfaooooo

Bound: The Superfluous Man by peu_a_peu

Okay, whoops, I forgot to take good pictures before I sent it off to the author.

I wanted to bind this, but it's fairly short, but I also wanted to test out the double fan method of making a paperback, so that's what I decided to do. I used Mally's tutorial and it worked great!

I did end up making three copies of this bind - the first I cut too much, the second I printed the cover in black and white, and the third was the one pictured. (Plus I'd put a border around the text on the back, and it kept getting cut off a bit, or it make it obvious that my cut wasn't perfectly straight.)

Oh. The cover. THE COVER. Of course I had to make it look like Potioneer's Guide to Conception and Gestation, Vol 2. Of course.

It was super fun to make. I printed the cover on my inkjet printer, then ran it through the laser printer just to add the title so I could use toner foil on it.

The art inside is by @the-forbidden-forest. SO GOOD.

(And yes, I did make a podfic of this. Naturally.)

Book Decoration: AKA All The Ways I Don't Use a Cricut

(this post is for people who don't want to buy an expensive cutting tool, or for those that do have an expensive cutting tool that would like to mix things up a little)

1. Print That Shit

If you're already printing your own textblocks, an easy step for titles is to print them. Above is a title printed onto an "obi" of decorative paper. I measured out where I wanted things on the finished book and laid it out in Affinity, then printed it on a full sheet & trimmed it down to wrap around the book. A more simple method is to print & glue on the label into a slight indent in the cover (to protect it). A third option is to do the spine in bookcloth, while you print on paper for the cover and then glue that paper onto the boards (this usually looks even better when it is a three-piece bradel bind).

2. Foil Quill / Heat Pens

The heat pen is one of my go-to tools, but it can be a bit touchy about materials. The most popular version is the We R Memory Keepers' Foil Quill (which is one of the most ergonomic), but other pens exist that can get you to a higher heat temp, finer lines, or more consistent foil. For example, I have a pen created by a local Japanese bookbinding studio that fares way better on leathers than the WRMK quill & with a finer tip, but it's hell to control. Best results in general are on paper or smooth bookcloth (starched linen, arrestox, colibri - even duo will work but its less solid). The fuzzier a bookcloth is, the less your foil quill wants to deal with it. This means the heat n bond method of making bookcloth does not play nice with a heat pen usually, but there are two solutions: 1) use this tutorial on paste + acrylic medium coated bookcloth instead that will get you a perfect surface for the heat pen, or 2) use the pen on paper & then glue onto the cloth. I did a video tutorial for both foil quill use and this type of homemade bookcloth for @renegadeguild Binderary in 2023.

You get the most consistent results by tracing through a printed template that is taped in place, as I do in the video above.

3. Paint That Shit

Acrylic paints will do you fine! The above is free-handed with a circle template, because I wanted that vibe. If you need straight lines that won't seep, lay them down with tape first & then paint over it first with a clear Acrylic medium, then your color. Same goes for stencils. Two more examples of painted bookcloth:

4. IT'S GOT LAYERS

By using layers of thinner boards, you can create interesting depths & contrasts on your cover. You can also make cutouts that peep through to the decorative paper behind. The most important part to this technique is the order in which each edge is wrapped. To get a good wrapped inside edge, you will split the turn in into tabs to get them to conform to a curve. You can also layer multiple colors of bookcloth without multiple layers of board, as seen below left, so long as you mind your cut edges for fraying.

5. Inlaid... anything

Mirrors! Marbled paper! I saw someone do a pretty metal bookmark once! The key is creating a little home for it to live in, which is pretty similar to the above layering method. On one layer you cut the shape, & glue that layer onto the bottom solid board before covering. You can do the top layer as an entire 1 mm board (like I did for the mirrors) or a sheet of cardstock, like I would use for inlaid paper.

6. Decorative Paper

Decorative paper is always helpful & adds to the paper hoard... & its effects can be layers with other techniques, as below. Marbles, chiyogami, momi, or prints & maps of all kinds can be great additions. Some papers may need a protective coating (such as wax or a sealer).

7. Stamps (with optional linocut)

While I've not used many more regular rubber stamps, I do know some who have, successfully! And I've used one once or twice with embossing powder (see photo 3 up, the gold anchor on the little pamphlet bind). What also works is to carve your own linocut or stamp, & then use block printing ink to ink it onto your fabric (as i did above). A bit time intensive, but it was nice how easily reproducible it was, and I liked the effect I got for this particular bind.

These methods are not exhaustive, just ones I've used, and there are of course many others. I haven't gone too into detail on any of these for the sake of length (& post photo limits) but feel free to ask about more specifics. Usually I'm using them in combination with other options.

no cricut, no problem. love these examples.