Black Oak Bindery
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blackoakbindery.bsky.social
Black Oak Bindery
@blackoakbindery.bsky.social
600 followers 80 following 190 posts
Bookbinder creating custom rebinds of sci-fi & fantasy books and magical journals inspired by D&D. She/her.

https://linktr.ee/BlackOakBindery
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blackoakbindery.bsky.social
Edge decoration for Red Rising! Blood splatters for the violence and rage of the story and a line for Darrow cutting his path through it all.

🧶
📚🪐💙

#redrising #scifibooks #piercebrown #sprayededges
December 8, 2025 at 7:31 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
Continuing on with the mockups for the binding of the Red Rising trilogy, here's the design for Golden Son.
Loyalty and betrayal is the main theme I'm working with, shown by the black lines running down the covers.

🪐📚💙
#bookbinding
A leather covered plaquette showing the design for a book. It has black leather with a red leather circle in the center and black lines running straight down.
December 5, 2025 at 6:59 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
Working on some titling today!

1. Almost final - there's a bit of clean up to do
2. Final pass of blind tooling
3. First pass of tooling
4. The setup of how I transfer the title

#bookbinder #handcraft #books #selfpublishedauthor #finebinding #foilquill #goldfoil
A hand bound copy of the book Patti 209 by K. G. Anderson being held upright. It is covered in black leather and has DNA strands going across the cover A close up of a hand bound copy of the book Patti 209 by K. G. Anderson showing the process of adding the book title. It is covered in black leather and has DNA strands going across the cover. A close up of a hand bound copy of the book Patti 209 by K. G. Anderson showing the process of adding the book title. It is covered in black leather and has DNA strands going across the cover. A copy of a hand bound copy of the book Patti 209 by K. G. Anderson showing the process of adding the book title. It is covered in black leather and has DNA strands going across the cover.
December 3, 2025 at 6:25 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
Work has begun on the Red Rising rebinds! I'll be creating 10 copies of these bindings. If you're interested in getting one when they're available, fill out the form in my bio so you can be notified.

#redrising #piercebrown #scifiandfantasy #rebinding #bookbinder
December 1, 2025 at 6:53 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
I'm working with different textures in the designs for the Red Rising bindings so I decided to make physical mockups to see how everything works together.
The title was added digitally.

#booksky #bookbinding #scifi
A leather covered plaquette standing against a wall. There is a red circle in the center and the title "red rising" written vertically down the center.
November 5, 2025 at 6:58 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
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.
September 29, 2025 at 7:30 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
Leather endbands are the best ✨

#bookbinding #handmade #booksky
The top edge of a book showing the leather endband.
September 16, 2025 at 9:47 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
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. 🫠

💙📚🪐
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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. 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. 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.
August 27, 2025 at 5:30 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
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.
August 13, 2025 at 5:14 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
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
July 28, 2025 at 7:31 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
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
July 24, 2025 at 6:19 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
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

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🧶
#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.
July 11, 2025 at 6:09 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
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

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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.
July 8, 2025 at 9:13 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
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.
July 7, 2025 at 8:54 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
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.
July 3, 2025 at 11:56 AM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
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.
June 27, 2025 at 6:10 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
Dot..Dot...dot.dot..dotdotdotdotdotdotdot

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

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🧶

#finebinding #bookbinding #isaacasimov #foundation
June 23, 2025 at 5:10 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
Finally finished up this commission of a box to house 2 ARCs of a Tim Powers book. It was fun to build a box with a drawer and I'm quite pleased with the result!

#boxmaking #handmade #bookcollector #clamshellbox #bookbinding
June 20, 2025 at 6:18 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
Aaaand we're titled! There will be more tooling around the title but I always do the title first because it's the most nerve-wracking part for me. Tooled lines can be easy to fix, but words that everyone's eyes go to first? Not as much.

📚💙

#Asimov #scifiandfantasy #foundation
A blue, leather-bound copy of the book "Foundation" being held in someone's hand. The title of the book is on the front cover in gold.
June 17, 2025 at 5:40 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
Did you know that sometimes binders sew in a signature only to rip it out later in the process?
This creates space for the leather that goes on the hinge.
It's bookbinding magic ✨

#bookbinding #handmade
#Craft
June 11, 2025 at 7:36 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
Two preciouses now complete!

#hobbit #bookbinding #journal #lordoftherings #handmade
June 10, 2025 at 6:31 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
Working on a commission this week for a clamshell that will hold two different ARCs of the same book. It's been fun figuring out how to build something with a drawer!

💙📚
🧶

#boxmaking #crafting #bookbinder #studio #bookcollector
June 4, 2025 at 7:04 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
Between design bindings, I've been working up a stock of journals for convention season. Right now I'm focusing on finishing up a few of the Hobbit designs. Next to be done is adding a working door that hides the painting.

#Handmade #journaling #Bookart #Bookbinding
A square, green leather journal that has a round painting of a forest in the center of the cover. Surrounding the painting is a drawing of gold vines.
June 2, 2025 at 6:08 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
Slowly getting there with Foundation!
This one has been a challenge in terms of design because the color scheme is quite different from what I normally gravitate to. I wanted to match the interior illustrations and have a mid-century modern feel so I'm going with teal & gold.

#bookbinding #scifi
The top edge of a book showing a handmade endband that is teal and gold.
May 30, 2025 at 6:50 PM
blackoakbindery.bsky.social
Sorting leather scraps with my supervisor 🐾

#bookbinding #doggie #studiolife
Several piles of small pieces of leather sit on the floor with a black and white dog looking on.
May 28, 2025 at 10:27 PM