I’m definitely a beginner too, especially with using actual cloth - I think I just got lucky with which fabric I happened to have on hand.

This simple beginning definitely got us thinking about more elaborate stuff to try in the future. Part of why I did a basic cloth hardcover was that the author never made any cover art for it, and partly that I just thought it would be a good fit for the feel of the story. But for some of our own I think we can do some really cool versions of their cover art in this format. Part of that would be inverting the colors and dialing in the contrast for clarity.

I’ve seen some really cool looking illustrations etched on online demonstrating the potential:

That’s right! I’d seen images like these online:

So I knew it could be done and that for some reason the fabric turned lighter where it was zapped, but I didn’t know why, or if that would happen when I tried it. I thought it might darken like paper and wood do when etched, or that it might burn all the way through, or just not look very good. My backup plan was to use the etching as a guide and to paint the letters on with gold paint (I’ve got a pretty steady hand with a paintbrush from painting warhammer in my youth so it felt like okay odds of success) but it turned out much like the other images I saw!

I’m attaching a close up photo to hopefully give you a better idea of how it looks:

I think you can see that the cloth is a little diminished, and the etched section is maybe a thousandth of an inch (or two) lower (though I don’t think the white color is coming from the glue on the back or anything because it’s so consistent). I’m not sure why it reacted like this.

Looking at this test I don’t think I can feel a difference in depth with fingertips until I get to 30%.

To be honest, until reading this comment I didn’t even know that was a thing! This is very cool and something I’m going to have to experiment with in the future!

Every time before this book I used a heavy duty canvas suitable for printing on with a plotter printer. It was very sturdy and seemed pretty impermeable, so it was very easy and low-risk to glue to the bookboard. Dust didn’t really seem to stick to it either.

With this one, I just just glued the fabric to the bookboard with acid-free PVA but I was much more careful with the amount of glue I used for fear it’d soak through. I think I went a little light on my first copy, but I’m working on another and took a few more risks and they worked out - it seems to be better bonded without marring the outside. I have noticed that dust really sticks to it, I don’t know how well this one would hold up to thumping around in a backpack for a few weeks or anything like that. So there’s definitely room to improve on the materials.

Thanks!

This may be a dumb question but are these wheel hubs like car hubs where you can open them up to get at the brakes? If the hubs themselves are hard to replace maybe the brake pads themselves would be easier? Something you could replace with a generic pad cut to size or something?

Thanks! That reminds me: one thing I did on the second and third book blocks was clamp them further in, so they were more or less flush with the boards. (I think the bookbinding book said to let it stick out a bit). That let me compress the spine an extra millimeter or two, so it wasn’t as flaired as on the first one. I think it’s always going to be a little thicker on the spine side because of all the folds and thread, but I think this looks better.

Thank you so much! I’m very grateful for the sheer amount of high quality guides and resources available for free - the bookbinding community seems to be very generous with their knowledge. I basically just read and followed them carefully. I’m also lucky to have access to some great workspaces/tools.

I’m just getting into bookbinding. It requires surprisingly few tools and not a ton of space (though like all hobbies it can always grow to consume whatever space is available). Its a good option if you have access to a printer with free or cheap prints.

Balcony gardening can be satisfying but might not be what you’re looking for.

If you already have a project (or lots of them) in mind, a 3d printer can be great to have around. Depending on your fillaments of choice (determined by what you want the print to be able to do) you might need good ventilation or an enclosure. If you have a spare bedroom that’s a good start.

It’s a lot of fun! And with how small the electronics are these days, there’s tons of space for a second purpose (storage, mini fridge, etc). It can also be done for very cheap (around $50), if you have the time and space to store up some materials.

Very cool!!

Hi, it’s been awhile since you asked, but if you’re still interested, I set up that blog on the instance’s movim platform where I’m posting all my IRL projects, making stuff, fixing stuff, cooking, etc. Thanks for getting me thinking about this, it’s really nice to have one place where all my projects are organized together, and where the posts are backed up off corporate internet. Plus movim is quite nice (everyone using lemmy from slrpnk.net has one) and add free.

https://movim.slrpnk.net/blog/jacobcoffinwrites%40slrpnk.net

Right now it’s got all my old projects (I updated a few posts as I went) but I’m working on write ups for a few new ones. Thanks!

Thanks! My SO’s company lets me dig through their ewaste bin, I’m friends with a guy who works at the recycling center, and my friends and relatives and neighbors know I do this, so they direct old computers my way. I’d also recommend Everything is Free and Buy Nothing groups, which are usually (unfortunately) on facebook, and are a wonderful resource for keeping stuff out of the trash, helping your neighbors, and honestly kind of building community. I’ve met so many cool people through giving and getting stuff on there (I also do something similar with furniture I find on trash day, refinish, and give away, so I’ve been getting to know people through that too.)

I’m gonna see about moving swap to the built in storage at least, hopefully that’ll buy the microSD some time

Thanks! and that’s good to know - I was worried it might do something like that but hadn’t looked into it.

Good to know! Mate is my preferred version but when I installed it I think it took like 12 or 14 gigs, enough that when I ran updates, the download got nail-bitingly close to filling the disk and failing - I’ll go back and look at the options I selected

Hey wow, thank you! Kind of but it’s mostly just for my art projects and writing updates, I keep meaning to set up something more general on this instance’s movim system but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

Thanks! I really like putting these together, though I fell behind compared to my recent projects. I’ve got another one about replacing the plastic insert on a Delta miter saw with a custom plexiglass replacement I made using a laser cutter almost ready to go, which I plan to post in /c/fixing soon, and one about restoring a tabletop and midcentury desk for /c/zerowaste which I’m still gathering photos for. Especially with tech projects, I sometimes find myself referencing my old guides when I come back to a project and have forgotten what I did to get there.

Very cool! I’ll admit I did much less research than usual when I picked spchcat, and I wouldn’t be against trying a different STT tool. spchat works quite easily, but it seems to be cutting off early, though I’m not sure if that’s a product of the software or the limitations of the Pi3B, or some configuration I missed.

The transcription isn’t great - unfortunately, improving on one of the current big open source speech to text programs is a bit beyond my capabilities. To be fair, it’s not much worse than a handful of commercial products I’ve seen

That’s a good consideration and something I haven’t seen brought up with regards to walipinis (didn’t think of it either, though I had read up on the risk awhile back for a postapoclyptic story I was working on about a guy who hunts for old bunkers and safe houses). Nature abhors a vacuum and it likes to fill them with water, mold, and heavier-than-air gasses. Luckily, greenhouses require a certain amount of ventilation, but I doubt most are configured properly for heavier-than-air stuff. Thanks!