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Black Oak Bindery

@blackoakbindery.bsky.social

580 followers 78 following 180 posts

Bookbinder creating custom rebinds of sci-fi & fantasy books and magical journals inspired by D&D. She/her. https://blackoakbindery.com

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Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Nov 27

Dune by Frank Herbert.
Bound in leather. Decorated with gold foil, hand painted end pages and page edges.

More about the process and design in the comments!

Reposting this since now I know the 🪐📚💙 feeds exist!

#booksky #sff #books #sciencefiction #bookbinding

A copy of the book Dune by Frank Herbert. The book is lying on a white background and has a gold design and title on the cover.

A copy of the book Dune by Frank Herbert standing upright and open showing both cover and spine to the viewer. There is a gold design and title on the covers.

A copy of the book Dune by Frank Herbert. The book is standing upright and open to show the interior of the covers.

The top edge of a handmade copy of the book Dune by Frank Herbert. The paper is painted gold and red.

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Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · 21d

It's been a minute since I've posted a tarot deck box. I love making these and can do custom colors to match your tarot or oracle deck! ✨

#tarotdecks #witchy #dailytarot #oraclecards #witchsky

A box that has a black top with a crescent moon design. The walls of the box are gold and there is a ribbon closure.

A box is laying open to show that it is holding a deck of tarot cards. There are cards scattered around the box.

Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · 29d

Happy birthday!

Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Sep 17

I made a video showing most of my rebinding process:
youtu.be/jy2c2_vpNs0?...

#booksky #bookbinding #handmade #booktok

Rebinding Foundation by Isaac Asimov | Fine Leather Bookbinding with Gold Tooling

YouTube video by Black Oak Bindery

youtu.be

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Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Sep 16

Leather endbands are the best ✨

#bookbinding #handmade #booksky

The top edge of a book showing the leather endband.

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Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Aug 27

Doing some inlay work for Left Hand of Darkness today. Mica is cool but I can't say I'd voluntarily work with it again. 🫠

💙📚🪐
🧶

A blue leather book being held up. There are two lines going across the cover and a series of stone shapes blocks drawn in silver.

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Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Aug 14

Thank you 😊

Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Aug 13

Thank you!

Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Aug 13

It was definitely on my "must bind this" list! Good luck with the Hugo nomination!

Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Aug 13

Ok, WorldCon, I'm here with some books! This is my most recent binding: Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky @aptshadow.bsky.social

The leather was hand dyed and painted to give the impression of strange growth. The endpages are a stenciled design meant to represent a net (IYKYK).

🪐📚💙
#booksky #scifi

A blue and black leather-bound copy of Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky. The book is standing upright with the spine facing the viewer and both covers open.

A book standing upright with the fore edge facing the viewer. Both covers are open to show the yellow endpages.

A close of a book showing a black pattern on blue leather.

A close up of the corner of a book showing a black and yellow pattern on blue leather.

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Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Jul 28

Making some craquelle leather for the binding of Alien Clay that I'm working on. This method is fun because you can layer it with other effects and you don't always know how it's going to look.

#leatherwork #leatherdye #Handmade #bookbinding

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Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Jul 24

No worries!
I love that thought. I'm sure they'd have wonderful colors.

Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Jul 24

I also use very thin PVA to secure the stitching depending on what type of thread it is

Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Jul 24

Thank you! The box that it's shown in is the protection against all that. It just stays in the box on the shelf.

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Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Jul 24

I need to revisit embroidery on leather. This one was so fun because of all the different textures of thread, leather, and tooling.

The book is Wizard &Glass, The Dark Tower IV by @stephenking.bsky.social

🪐📚💙

#thedarktower #stephenking #finebinding #bookbinding

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Reposted by Black Oak Bindery

Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · Jul 18

📚💙 #Readers

Black box with the following white text:
"Sure maybe I don't need more books, but WHAT IF, and hear me out, the books need me."

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Reposted by Black Oak Bindery

Seattle Worldcon 2025 @seattlein2025.org · Jul 15

Ready to shop?

The Seattle Worldcon 2025 Dealers’ Room features over 100 vendors with books, games, costumes, accessories and more. Come discover your next favorite thing!

Find us in the Exhibit Hall, 2nd floor.
Browse the list of dealers: seattlein2025.org/exhibits/dea...

Dealers' Room

The Seattle Worldcon 2025 Dealers’ Room team brings together a vibrant and diverse dealers' room with a large and curated selection of merchandise that represents the best in our fandom community.

seattlein2025.org

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Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Jul 11

Thanks! The genre is important to me so care is definitely what it gets 😊

Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Jul 11

Foundation - the first book in the trilogy by Isaac Asimov.
This is the first of three bindings I'm creating to have on display at WorldCon (@seattlein2025.org) this year!

More pictures & the full design statement on my site: www.blackoakbindery.com/foundation

🪐📚💙
🧶
#Bookbinding #scifi #booktok

A blue leather-bound copy of the book Foundation standing upright with both corners open. There is a gold design that crosses both covers.

A book standing upright with both covers open to show the viewer the pale pink endpages.

The top edge of a handmade book. It shows an endband that is made of leather and decorated with iridescent foil.

A book standing upright and closed so only the spine is visible. There are 3 gold circles tooled in a vertical orientation on the book.

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Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Jul 8

Hey #portfolioday I'm creeping on your tag with some handmade books!
I create custom bindings of books with a focus on SFF work. I'd love to do more work for private commissions, small presses, or kickstarters.

www.blackoakbindery.com

#FantasyBooks #Scifi #BookTok #Reading #Art

🪐📚💙
🧶

A leather bound copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales. The book is open to show both covers. There are red panels inset in both covers and an outline of a tree going across the whole book.

A leather bound copy of the 4th book in the Dark Tower series. The book is open to show both covers. The phases of the moon are represented with the full moon being centered on the spine. There are gold and black curvy lines swirling around the moons.

A leather bound copy of Dune. The book is open to show both covers. There is gold tooling on the bottom of both covers in the form of dots and an hourglass shape of red dots going down the spine of the book.

A leather bound copy of the book Spinning Silver. It's standing upright and open to show both covers. There is a white tree on the front cover and both covers have a good and silver decorative edging.

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Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Jul 8

Thank you! I might need that luck. A large part of the design is going to rely on a leather dying technique called craquelle which can be unpredictable but yields lovely results when it works out.

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Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Jul 7

This book was a bit of a bear to break down. It was sewn but had a very thick layer of glue that was only moveable with heat.
The signatures will be pressed tonight and I'll move on to sewing tomorrow! Really hoping to have this one done for WorldCon.

💙📚

#scifinovel #hugoawards #booktok

A copy of the book "Alien Clay" that has been broken down to signatures. The signatures are spread out on a table.

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Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Jul 7

Can confirm. I used to work in an office and one day a dog randomly walked into my cubicle. It was the best thing ever.

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Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Jul 3

Very excited to be a vendor at WorldCon this year!
I'll have several fine bindings with me as well as lots of journals for sale.

A leather bound copy of the book Spinning Silver lying on a wooden table. The leather is blue and there is a white tree on the cover.

A brown, leather-bound journal lying on a wooden table surrounded by tarot cards. The journal has an ornate gold design on the cover.

Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Jun 27

I'm making another iteration of Spinning Silver for a client, so I figured I'd share some of the finished pictures from the first copy. I think this book is where I really started to prefer leather endbands.

#bookbinding #naominovik #rebinding #fantasybook

The top edge of a book. The page edges are painted silver and there is a white endband.

Black Oak Bindery @blackoakbindery.bsky.social · Jun 23

Dot..Dot...dot.dot..dotdotdotdotdotdotdot

Once you get into a rhythm with it, it can be calming work.

📚💙
🧶

#finebinding #bookbinding #isaacasimov #foundation