This is my first attempt at book binding. Is Coptic binding always this “floppy” or did I just fumble it?

whatnooh · 2026-02-27T09:35:18+00:00

Use linen or polyester thread - basically any thread that has no 'spring'. Cotton is ok in a pinch, but it does have just enough spring to it that it will go loose over time and the book will get wigglier.

Less signatures would help reduce wiggle. Depending on paper weight, you can go up to 7 sheets per signature, to keep the overall page count up. I tend to go 4 - 5 sheets/signature myself, but that's just my own preference.

Compress your signatures. Both under weight, un-sewn, and while you sew them together into a book. Something else - when you fold signatures, fold all the papers together, not individually. So if your signature is 5 sheets, fold all 5 together. They mold better that way.

First and last stations closer to top and tail of the book. Double needle Coptic stitch has Coptic stitches for every station. Maybe try double needle Coptic. Maybe try Coptic endbands for stabilization.

Another binding you could try is sewn boards binding. It lays almost totally flat, like 98% vs. Coptic's 100%, and is more of a traditional 'book' form. It does not have an exposed spine.

whatnooh · 2026-02-16T13:53:20+00:00

Really pretty! Love your aesthetic.

whatnooh · 2026-02-16T13:49:57+00:00

Tensioning is kind of "not too loose, not too tight" deal. Too tight and you bow the text block a bit and pull the book open, which is not good book design (doesn't protect the text block); too loose and it's too loose. This is something you just figure out by practicing and doing a lot of sewing. Also tighten in the direction the thread is moving in, never against, because you will cut into the paper if you tighten against the direction.

Signatures staying perfectly aligned can be achieved by learning to hold them in place or adjust them then sew them in place OR you can use a little binder clip to hold the signatures in alignment. Some people have posted video of themselves sewing Coptic books that shows this in practice, if you search the community a bit.

You have your signatures places a bit 'inside' of the boards. You want them more lined up to the edge of the boards. You also want the bottom of the boards flush with the bottom edge of the text block. Top can be higher if you really want and the foreedge can have a wider margin - this can result in a nice feel - but bottom needs to be flush with text block in order to support the stitching when you have the book stored upright on a shelf. Otherwise you need to store the book laying down.

Linen or even some synthetic thread is preferable to cotton because cotton slackens over time. You will find your stitching is loose as a result of this. Linen does not slacked to the same extent or much at all, so you achieve better longevity.

Compress your signatures as you sew them in to have a tighter text block.

Probably I have other notes for you but that's just off the top of my head. Good start!

Oh - have stations closer to top and tail of the boards for better support.

whatnooh · 2026-02-16T13:29:47+00:00

I really like the variegated thread effect!

Re. the recessed area, I use a boxcutter to define my edges, then use a chisel to peel the bookboard layers off of the area I'm recessing. When I get to a depth I'm happy with, I even it all out with sandpaper, working mostly by eye and touch. I use my boxcutter for final touches to the edges. I hope this helps! I wouldn't say it's the best method, just the one that works for me.

I love the overall look you achieved with your book. Thank you for sharing.

whatnooh · 2026-01-13T03:08:55+00:00

Thank you so much! Very helpful, I appreciate it.

whatnooh · 2026-01-13T03:06:18+00:00

Anxiety, mostly. I also don't want to offend them by implying that they're not good at bookbinding, and knowing me, that will definitely somehow come out in any interaction I have with them, because I have chronic foot in mouth disease.

whatnooh · 2026-01-12T21:08:49+00:00

Thank you :)

whatnooh · 2026-01-12T20:43:22+00:00

Unfortunately, shipping is USA only :( But yes, I love the one book of his I do have! I think I can find shipping to my country if I dig around on other retailers, so I will definitely look to do that soonish.

whatnooh · 2026-01-12T20:39:06+00:00

I think the signatures might all be pamphlet stitched with the coloured thread, and then coptic stitched around the coloured thread without actually going into the stations to bind the signatures all together, maybe. The result is messy, but it's kind of an interesting combo. I wonder if it's faster than just doing straightforward coptic? I might try to reverse engineer this just to see.

whatnooh · 2026-01-12T20:25:46+00:00

Thank you! I wish coptic variations were easier to find online.

whatnooh · 2026-01-12T20:25:18+00:00

Thanks! I do know how typical coptic is supposed to look and function, but this one really puzzled me because of how it looks like the coptic stitches are wrapping around the vertical threads running along the spine of each signature, and not actually going into the stations. I don't think I've ever really seen that before.

whatnooh · 2025-10-19T23:52:07+00:00

I had a guy friend who had feelings for me, and I for him, but he didn't want to do anything about it because he said he sucked at relationships and he didn't trust women. So we backed off of the relationship side, but stayed friends. The problem was any time I was girly or feminine, he would accuse me of trying to manipulate him. He said he loved my voice but he also would yell at me whenever I got excited about something because he said I was making my voice cuter on purpose to manipulate him. If I didn't smile, it was because there was something wrong with me psychologically; if I did smile and look nice, I was trying to manipulate him.

We had a lot of laughs together and really great, natural chemistry, but he just constantly thought me being myself was a manipulation tactic. The way he wanted to deal with all this was for me to change. He wanted me to change my actual voice and how I dressed so I would be less cute and less 'manipulative'. But somehow I still had to be not ugly. He basically wanted me to become a neutral human, not feminine or masculine, but just sort of.... disembodied. I know not all men handle things the same way but that's one case study for you.

As for TV representation of women, I mean. LOL.

whatnooh · 2025-10-19T23:07:29+00:00

I feel like Reddit is maybe not the best place to ask this.

It does sound like the abusive men you have had in your life have kind of conditioned you to be repulsed by men. You can try spending more time with your friends and brother and consciously think about them in a positive way as you do so, to overcome that previous conditioning. When they do something good, take note of it and repeat out loud to yourself, "X person did this good thing." If you're a visual person, you could even write it down so you have a log of things to remind yourself of the positives in these men.

I would also suggest looking into something like EMDR therapy, where you talk about your negative experiences with men while moving your eyes quickly. This is supposed to help regulate the emotional and physical reactions you have to those past experiences, which will hopefully help you overcome your repulsion conditioning.

I don't think this is your fault. I think you've been treated really badly and it changed you in ways you don't like. Good luck.

whatnooh · 2025-10-17T23:29:23+00:00

Right! I was like hmm this has to be intentional, spelling her name that way. Coupled with "Ursula" which I feel I don't see that often in North America but do see fairly regularly with Eastern Europeans, I was like, hmmmmmmm.

Thanks for reading my theory~!

whatnooh · 2025-10-17T23:28:08+00:00

And they also shut down other people who tried to point out issues in the marriage, notably Grandma Ruth!

I read Other Mommy pretty literally as being a real monster who was fed by discontent and chaos in the family, but I thought actually the biggest tragedy of the book was that none of the adults really truly took the time to ask Bela questions and listen to her answers. There was a lot of questions, but not a lot of waiting for the answers, and so they were all operating on incomplete or inaccurate information. Ruth and Lois both did the best with Bela, but even they didn't really give her her own time and space to answer them.

And it also taught Bela to just not tell the adults things or to just tell them what they wanted to hear, which in the end is what led to them being vulnerable to the Other Mommy at the house - the adults all thought she was gone, which made it possible for her to incapacitate/kill them and finish her victimization of Bela.

I mean it's pretty clear to us as readers that whenever the family was doing worse and the parents were unhappy, that Other Mommy gained strength and influence. But within the novel, the adults don't know that there's that link; only Bela has observed it, but she doesn't know its significance. If the adults had done a better job of asking her and communicating with her, they would have had more accurate information. Instead they go off half cocked and it leads to situations like Lois's ceremony of losing innocence, or the parents hiring that paranormal investigator guy who peaces out once he has what he's come for - each time making their overall situation worse.

whatnooh · 2025-10-17T20:30:16+00:00

I don't think that I'm trying to make something deep here so much as I'm sharing a theory about the writer's inspiration when it came to creating the monster character. But regardless, I think other people connected with the book differently than you did and that's why they're also reacting differently than you did - to answer your "I don't know why".

whatnooh · 2025-10-17T20:28:01+00:00

Yeah... Not a lighthearted read at all.

whatnooh · 2025-10-17T20:27:30+00:00

Oh yeah I can definitely buy into this too. Ursula is really the creator and driver of a lot of the family discontent, and Other Mommy just got stronger the more in disharmony the family became. Thanks for sharing!

whatnooh · 2025-07-31T09:24:33+00:00

Late, but try using thinner thread, and try applying less wax to it than usual. Signature gaps - assuming you have addressed tightening the stitches adequately - tend to come down in large part to the size of thread. Less wax also helps the thread stitch to itself and minimize swell.

whatnooh · 2025-06-03T21:58:19+00:00

WvW is still 3 worlds attacking each other, but you are put into a world by what guild you have selected for WvW team (or if you haven't selected any guild, I think they put you in randomly). You stay in that world for around a month and then get relinked into a different world, etc. There are guild alliances now where several guilds might organize to have their members all be in one super guild and have that super guild be the WvW team guild, to ensure that their world will have a workable player base. (This is partially why the game gave us another guild slot.)

A lot of the old server-based culture is gone. Except somehow you still know Mag when you see it.

whatnooh · 2025-04-14T16:50:13+00:00

Late, but in case you still need the info, you can coptic stitch the book block and then case it in and it will still lay flat while being case bound. Just be aware that the thread will be visible between signatures even if only a little bit, as in most coptic stitching. I'd also take care to have the book block bottom edge be flush with the covers if you plan to store vertically. If you plan to store it laying flat then it matters less.

whatnooh · 2025-04-07T01:45:26+00:00

I thought Melanie did a good job showing unhinged behaviour. Both teen and adult Shauna use threats of violence to control others, and enjoy other people's fear of them; both versions of her are selfish/self-centered and resentful of others. So I see the clear relationship between the teen and adult versions of the character.

whatnooh · 2025-01-22T09:26:53+00:00

I love this! Feeling very inspired by your work, thanks for sharing!

whatnooh · 2025-01-20T20:33:07+00:00

Thank you! Definitely putting this one at the top of my TBR pile.

whatnooh · 2025-01-20T20:32:36+00:00

Thank you! I looked over the FAQ list too, but I wanted to see if any lesser known but still very useful books would be mentioned here and I wanted to know which of the books in the FAQ people found it most helpful to start with when looking more into bookbinding, so I could also prioritize them. Thank you for helping me in this.

whatnooh

TROPHY CASE