Return Policy
If you are not completely satisfied with your purchase for any reason, you may return it to us for an exchange within 30 days of reciept.
To exchange an item, please email customer service at [email protected] to obtain a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) number and further instructions.
For defective or damaged products, please contact us at [email protected] to arrange a refund or exchange.
Shipping Information
Items are shipped domestically in the United States with USPS Ground Advantage shipping. Expect a shipping notification via email within 72 hours of your order. International orders are shipped with Pirate Ship Simple Export rate when possible to keep costs affordable.
Can I pre-order a starter pack?
I no longer accept pre-orders for Fanfic Bookbinding Starter Packs. There are so many items in the kit and supply chains can be unreliable, so I only sell what I have on hand. (I am constantly making more!)
I currently post every kit I have in-stock on the website on the 15th at midnight EST every month (9pm on the 14th for PST). Kits typically sell out within 48 hours.
What is the difference between linen and ramie tapes?
Sewing on tapes is optional, but can be very helpful for fan fic binders working on chonkers (especially those 500+ page books.)
Linen is more traditionally used in bookbinding, but ramie is getting popular as an alternative material. Ramie is thinner and easier to hide under endpapers, as it can be frayed to be near-invisible.
You really can't go wrong with either.
Can I order a starter pack without animal products?
Starter packs include a genuine bone folder made from cattle bone and a chunk of raw beeswax sourced from a local apiary. If you do not wish to receive these items, please leave a note with your order and I will remove them from your starter pack.
When available, I will endeavor to substitute the bone folder with a resin, plastic (ABS), or bamboo folder. I am still trying to figure out a viable substitute for beeswax (let me know if you have any ideas!)
My order says "Starblight Sons" on it. What does that mean?
I have progeny. Those progeny have hands. For reasons unclear to me, they have decided that they too would like to be involved in this enterprise. If your order was at any point handled by one of my progeny, it will be proudly stamped to indicate this.
Who puts this stuff together?
All starter packs are assembled in my home, sometimes by a rambunctious three year-old. I order the raw materials and measure and cut everything myself.
All 3D printed bits are printed in my home using home 3D printer.
What are the origins of the items in the Starter Pack?
- Tool Pouch: Custom printed in China
- Bone Folder: Uttar Pradesh, India or China
- Awl: China
- Punching Guide: My home printer (California, USA)
- Linen Thread: Poland
- Beeswax: Southern California, USA
- Linen Tape: Lithuania
- Mull: China
- Endbands: China
- Miter Tool: Filament manufacturered in Vancouver, Washington, USA. 3D printed in my living room (California, USA)
- Resource Guide: Printed in the USA
Your kit is sold out and I don't want to wait until next month. Can you recommend another one?
For starters, do not get a cheap kit on Amazon. (This entire endeavor started because I was tired of seeing people get ripped off by Amazon kits.)
Having done extensive research when creating these kits, here are the ones I would recommend as alternatives:
ThePapercraftPanda Starter Bookbinding Kit
Created and sold by one of my favorite bookbinding bloggers, this kit is the same price as mine. While it doesn't have the special fanfic binding things in my kit or some of the other supplies like mull and tape, this kit has some quality materials (including, I daresay, better quality linen thread than the stuff in my kits. 🫡)
CleverHands Complete Casebinding Kit
I personally know two fanfic binders who learned to bind from this kit! It contains everything you need to bind a 4x6 mini-journal. In terms of a comprehensive kit to pick up binding skills, this one is kinda the goal.
Learn Bookbinding Kits
Especially if you are based in the UK, I recommend this kit because it really has everything you need to make not one, but two journals. As with the CleverHands kit, you'll pick up foundational skills to help launch you into fanbinding.
Colophon Book Arts
Like so many bookbinders, I am a huge fan of this supply store, which provides quality supplies at fair prices. This store carries everything you need to start bookbinding in one place, but you'll have to build your own cart. Check out my instagram post on which supplies are most useful for fanfic binders.
Wait, seriously? Why shouldn't I just order a kit from Jeff Bezos?
As part of the planning process I researched pretty much every available bookbinding kit on the market and the Amazon kits, while more affordable, have some significant mass-produced downsides.
- ABS "Bone" Folder - Nicer kits will have a genuine bone folder with a sharp point, rather than the blunt point that comes with these kits. ABS folders also do not glide as smoothly as bone or teflon, so you won't get the benefits of a functional bone folder.
- Horrible Waxed Thread - These kits come with thick, greasy polyester thread that is useful for leathercrafting but heinous for fanfic binding. The thickness of the thread adds unecessary bulk that will make your book wedged shaped, and the wax could melt off into the paper.
- No Mull - Some of the things these kits are missing, you can do without, but one thing you can't do without for hardcover case fanfic binding is mull (aka super.) Buying mull separately will bring up the cost of your kit.
Conversely, here are items in my kit that I have smugly included to beef up my kit.
- Linen Thread - Linen is the bookbinding thread of choice, and I've thrown in real beeswax so you can wax it to your preference.
- Tapes- The majority of Amazon kits do not include binding tapes, and if they do, they are not made from ramie or linen and/or they tend to be the wrong width.
- 3D printed miter tool - Unique to this kit
- Fanfic Binding Resource brochure - Unique to this kit
- Spiffy Tool Pouch - The only fanfic bookbinding themed tool pouch in the world (?)
How did you decide what to put in the starter pack?
A lot of research and discussion went into the development of the kit. I knew I wanted to start with a cute supply pouch and work backwards to fit everything in there. I also wanted a kit that would be useful for complete newbies, or any fanfic binder interested in a supply restock, tool upgrade, or ficbinders' pouch.
A lot of bookbinding supplies can be scrounged up at home, so I didn't want to add items people might already have like rulers or pencils. Since the goal is to help new binders save on costs, I chose to include items that are expensive to buy individually and upfront, while keeping the kit small. These products were then shared with and tested by other fanbinders local to me for quality and usefulness.
So no, the kit does not include textblock paper or boards (you'll want to practice with cheap paper first, and you can upcycle boards from old textbooks or 3-ring binders.) But it does have the necessary tools to get going, and info on where to get what is missing (such as glue, which would be expensive and risky to ship since PVA cannot be exposed to inclement weather.)
Are the items in your store GPSR compliant?
...Maybe?"Animal by-products and animal-derived products" are exempt from GPSR, so the bone folder (cattle industry byproduct) and beeswax (derived from honeybees) are GPSR compliant.
The EU has yet to publish guidelines for micro-enterprises (such as this shop,) but when they do, the intention appears to be to "simplify and limit administrative burdens" for small businesses.
That being said, I do not have an economic operator in the EU, the only written instructions for the kit are a brochure in English, and the kit contains sharp objects (an awl, needles, the optional knife, etc.) that should not be operated by children without adult supervision. None of the items in this store are safe to swallow and ingest (aside from the beeswax.)
Because of this, I cannot guarentee that packages mailed to the EU will be admitted. If this is a concern, I recommend that EU customers go through a third-party forwarding service.