Imagination

February bookbinding wins


In my previous post, in which I was asked to come up with my own challenge, I said that I wanted to finish this bookbinding project I had been struggling with. Well, I have some joyful news, because I did it! I've been steadily working on the books since writing that post and finished them yesterday. I'm so happy and relieved they're finally done!



This project came to be because one of my best friends handed me a pile of her favourite sheet music pieces and asked me to make a book out of them. She plays often and found it impractical to have all her sheet music on separate sheets. We decided quickly that it would be best to bind them into multiple volumes, because one big book doesn't fit onto a music stand. I've never done multiple volumes before, so I was really excited. Making three books that all have to be the same size, and look good together but also separately, was an entirely new challenge for me, but one I was very much up to.

It was easy to decide which sheet music would go into which volume. My friend had solos, duets and group pieces, so it made perfect sense to make one book for each of those categories. After we had made that decision, the design popped into my head almost immediately. I wanted to make the cover look like sheet music as well, with one set of music bars for the solos, two for the duets and three for the group pieces. That way the books would look like they belonged together, but it would also be easy to tell them apart.



The cover is made with bookcloth inlays, so the strips of black and white were all cut separately and then glued together side by side. It was very time-consuming and my hands still hurt from having to cut 30 small strips of black bookcloth, but hey, we got there in the end. Oh, and the endpages match the cover design as well, but with a reverse colour scheme. I made those with a white gelly roll pen and a ruler and I think they turned out very well!





So there you have it. I've given the books to my friend already and she's very happy with them. Hope she'll get a lot of use out of them!

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Imagination

Snowflake challenge - 4




Challenge 4: In your own space, set some goals for the coming year

Personal
2017 en 2018 were difficult years, because during them I discovered that university wasn't the right place for me anymore. The Master's programme I was in was perfect for me on paper, but in reality it wasn't remotely challenging and I was bored out of my mind for the 1,5 years I was in it, until I finally dropped out. As a result, I became very depressed, which forced me to reflect on life and what I wanted from it. Figuring out what you want is hard though. It was much easier to figure out what I didn't want, and throwing those things out of my life was the theme for 2019. I got rid of a lot of things that no longer worked for me. Hobbies, clothes, books, clients, friendships. Some of it painful, some of it a relief, but I like to think that all of it was necessary. I don't think I need to get rid of anything anymore though. I feel like I've stripped my life to the bare bones already. Everything I've left, at least the things I have control over, are things I'm happy with. So in 2020 I'd like to build my life back up. I have room for new hobbies and new friendships now and I intend to actively go looking for those. To be succesful in that, my goals for 2020 are to keep an open mind and not dismiss new opportunities out of fear.

Fandom
-  Writing: I've had this fanfic idea in my head for almost 5 years and in 2020 I finally want to write it, dammit. I know the concept has a lot of potential. I have loads of plans for it and I just want to get it all out of my head. I always thought I needed to be much better at writing before I could do this story justice, and that's probably true, but the reality is that I don't want to write anything else. Every other fic I've written in the past few years has been half-hearted at best, because my fingers were secretly itching to write different words. So done with the excuses. In 2020 I want to see this story on paper.

-  Bookbinding: There are two books I want to make. The first one will be a collection of my favourite short fics, bound in leather and handwritten, because these fics deserve nothing less. This is going to be a ridiculously time-consuming and ambitious project, but one I'm very excited about. Unfortunately, the binding I have in mind is above my current skill level, so I won't be able to finish it until I'm more confident with leather. The calligraphy, on the other hand, I can already do. I still have a lot of planning and designing to do for this project, but I hope to get started on the calligraphy this summer.
The second book, which is a binding of a wonderful fanfic I read last year, will be much more doable. The design for this is already done; I've had it sharp and clear in my head for months. I'm going to get started on this project tomorrow and want to have it finished in April.
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Imagination

Snowflake Challenge: 3



Challenge three: pimp your favourite comms, fests and challenges

The community I'm by far the most active in, is [Unknown LJ tag] , a community for people who ship Snarry. It's quite big and pretty active. It has its own discord group and hosts two fests every year. In April/ May there's the Snarry-a-Thon and in December the Secret Snarry Swap. Both are prompt based, but for the Swap you have to follow the prompt more closely, because your work is meant to be a gift for the person who left the prompt. I have participated in both in the past and always had a great time. I find creating for the Swap easier, because you're creating for someone, which gives you the motivation to continue when you hit a road block. However, the Thon gives you a lot more freedom and I really like that too, so I'm just very happy that both fests exist and I can get the best of both worlds.

I also love snapecase , which is completely dedicated to Snape. It's only active once a year, when it hosts its annual fest, but it's worth the wait, because most entries are a treat. The fest doesn't work with prompts, but with age categories. When you sign up, you have to specify whether you want to write about Snape as a toddler, or an elderly man, or something in between, and that's it. There are no limits to genre and rating. I enjoy seeing Snape's life explored, especially if it's a part of it we don't see in canon, so I'm always looking forwards to this fest. It's actually posting right now, in Snape's birthday month, so feel free to check it out if you're interested!

Last, I feel like I can't leave hoggywartyxmas  unmentioned, which is a community dedicated to Hogwarts' teachers. Like Snapecase, it's only active when it hosts it's annual fest, but it's also worth the wait. The vast majority of hp fanfics focus on the characters from Harry's generation, so it's wonderful to see a completely different set of characters explored for a change. It's obvious that people spend a lot of time and thought on their entries for the fest because canon doesn't give them an awful lot to work with when it comes to some of the teachers, and I appreciate that. This fest is also posting right now, so go take a look!

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Imagination

Snowflake Challenge - challenges 1 & 2



It's that time of year again! Oh, how time flies. Even though 2019 was intense and stressful and I'm glad for it to be over, I do have good memories of participating in the Snowflake Challenge last year. I'm looking forwards to seeing what this year will bring!

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Imagination

Starting the Snarry bookshelf

Earlier today when I was working, I had the idea to create a series on AO3 called The Snarry Bookshelf to which I could add all my fannish bookbinding projects. I liked the idea so much, that I actually put it into motion once I was back home. So now The Snarry Bookshelf officially exists, yay! The Lost World is part 1 of the series and I added Two Minds as part 2, even though I finished that one almost a year earlier.

I haven't talked much about it, but my first fannish bookbinding project was a notebook inspired by Acid and Sinicks Two Minds, which I bound as a gift for Acid back when we were still beta-reading for one another. I never posted it to AO3 before because it was solely meant as a gift for Acid, so it felt wrong to share it with everyone else. However, my excitement about this new series currently overrides my qualms about sharing it, so it's on AO3 now. I'll admit that the photos aren't very good, but I can't take new ones because the book has been on the other side of the world for about a year and a half already, so these will have to do. 

It's great to have 4 works up on AO3 now. I might turn into a productive fanwork creator after all. It also feels pretty good to finally have a series up on my AO3 page. It looks quite dashing if I say so myself. I doubt it'll get a lot of attention, but that's not the point. I turned this into a series because I thought it would inspire me to make more books. A bookshelf with just two books is rather empty after all. I don't have any clear plans to make more Snarry books at the moment (I've actually just started working on a completely different and ridiculously ambitious fan project), but I do want to make more eventually. The idea that I can add any new ones to a series now is very motivating. Mission accomplished I'd say!

N.B. This series is very much a work in progress, so nothing is set in stone just yet. I'm not even sure whether The Snarry Bookshelf is the best name for it. Perhaps The Snarry Library would work much better in the long run. Or even The Harry Potter Library, if I ever decide to turn my vague plans to make my own version of the Monster Book of Monsters into reality. Or maybe I could have multiple series. Or I could... Or maybe... Or perhaps....
Anyway, would love to hear your opinion, dearest reader! And if you have any ideas or suggestions for this series, those are very welcome as well!

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Imagination

Visiting the Boekkunstbeurs and trying my first soaps




Dear reader,

My life has been ridiculously busy lately. Between my dayjob, househunting, and working on a few bookbinding commissions (!), there has been little time for anything else. Fortunately, however, the end is in sight. After more than half a year of searching, I have finally found a new place! I hope to be moving later this month and after that, my life should be a lot calmer. I can't wait.


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