Hello. Welcome to the First Post.
from Towns End Bindery - An Amateur Guerrilla Archivist
I am called de3pwater in some parts of the internet. Sometimes I am also called Towns End Bindery.
The origin story of my Bindery name is nothing remarkable. You might even have already guessed it. So I will not bother explaining it. However, the name de3pwater was created when I was twelve-years-old. I'm thirty-two now. I've never changed it. It originates from the phrase “still waters run deep”, which was a phrase my sixth grade teacher had used to describe me. He then gave a short little lesson about the old proverb to the class. While I don't have many fond memories of my elementary school days, that phrase stuck with me. I was moved that someone had even taken notice of me enough to think that something so poetic (or at least it seemed very poetic to my childhood brain at the time) could apply to a person like me. I had really low-self-esteem back then. As a result, I've held on to this thoughtfulness with me ever since. I would have named all my internet handles as “deepwater” if it were not for the fact that it was often already taken by someone else (thus the the inclusion of the “3” in the name).
If you are wondering what a bindery is, put simply it is the equivalent of an art studio, but specifically for making books. That is what I do. I don't actually have a proper studio. I make books from a little kitchen table in my overly expensive one-bedroom apartment. But unless you know me, or you're a reader of my blog, you wouldn't be able to guess that from the finished products. I post pictures of all the books I've bound across several platforms (links to them all can be found at the bottom of this post) and I'm quite proud to say they look quite professional. I'm very fond of my creations.
I've made rebinds (essentially removing the covers of paperback books and giving them a new custom hardcover), I've bound public domain stories, and I've also bound fanfiction. It was actually the fanfic binding (abbreviated as “fanbinding”) community who freely shared their knowledge and taught me many of the skills I've developed in this hobby. I wouldn't be the binder I am without this incredible community.
ꜱᴀᴠᴇ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴄᴀɴ ʙᴇ ꜱᴀᴠᴇᴅ
I recently read a post from a fellow amateur bookbinder who goes by the name Starblight Bindery. She wrote the following in an instagram post:
“Fanfiction binding is the creation of physical objects that otherwise would not exist—transformative works pulled into existence by fans' sheer force of will. Think about how revolutionary that is—we are ARCHIVISTS. Our generation is able to access the tools of this centuries-long craft from our own homes.
Paralleling what is to come, corporate-owned IPs are moving away from diversity (i.e. Star Wars) or outright embracing bigotry (i.e. Harry Potter). We can't count on IPs to tell stories important to minoritized fans. We've never been able to count on them, and it's become increasingly clear we don't need to. As home bookbinders, we are empowered to decide what can become a book.
Save what can be saved. Look around us, see what we can save in our immediate vicinity, and save it. Save it. Grieve what we cannot reach and protect what we can.
We already do that as archivist fanfiction bookbinders, and we can also do it in other aspects of our lives.”
—– Starblight Bindery —-
Being called an archivist was surprisingly meaningful to me. As a bookbinder, I had not considered myself as an archivist before reading her post. But there has been discourse online about the growing importance of physical media, and I could be convinced that this little hobby of mine is another form of resistance. Similar to those who are still keeping their old books, their cassette tapes, their CDs and DVDs, and printed photos, it's meant to serve as a way of preventing corporations or governments from taking it all away from us. I have my own collection of vinyl discs too.
Even more interesting was how Starblight calls for us bookbinders to “see what we can save in our immediate vicinity” and “do it in other aspects of our lives.” For fanbinders, the focus will always be on preserving the fan stories they love. Websites like Archive of Our Own or Fanfiction.net could disappear at any time. All those beloved stories could vanish into smoke, never to be recovered. So I can completely understand how fanbinders are archivists. But personally, while I have bound some fanfiction, it has never been my primary interest as a bookbinder. I usually just want to create beautiful things, and I typically choose whatever stories I love, fanfic or not, or stories that are meaningful to other people.
As a gift to my best friend, at his request, I bound a copy of the book Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent by Eduardo Galeano. Published in 1971, the book is an analysis of the impact of European settlement, imperialism, and slavery in Latin America. I have not read it. But I think that in this time in history, while books like these might not disappear easily, they are nonetheless unwelcome or even outright threatening in the eyes of the white colonial supremacist fascist powers that currently influence and control so many systems in our lives. Could I have considered it an act of resistance against these powers when I bound it? I will think on it more. For now, I feel galvanized by the idea, and it makes me eager to find more things that I could bring into physical existence. If you, reader, have any ideas for something that I could preserve that the Empire seeks to destroy, let me know. I'll see what I can do.