#erisenyo

[missmists]

First bookbinding project a success. I think that my cat approves because he would not stay out of my photos. Five months in the making, but I couldn't be more pleased with the results.

I started with @armoredsuperheavy's amazing fanbinding tutorial to create a typeset of each work in @erisenyo's Burning Bright AU published on Ao3. Then had to reread the works in the new format and edit as I went to make sure everything was formatted correctly, (combined word count somewhere around 1.3 million) that took over a month all by itself.

I picked up a copy of Introduction to Bookbinding & Custom Cases by Tom and Cindy Hollander from my local library, to look at some detailed how to images and get multiple perspectives on construction methods. Excellent book, I do recommend.

My hunt for materials included a trip to Detroit with a side stop at Blick to look at decorative papers in person. Blick and the fine people at Hollander’s ended up having everything I needed to make covers. So between my brother kindly 3d printing me a punch cradle, making a DIY sewing frame of my own invention (courtesy of scrap lumber and a trip to the Lowe's hardware department), and three reams of late night printing, I managed to amass all my supplies.

Folding three reams of paper into signatures (the little bundles you sew together) takes about five days if you don't want to lose your mind or your place, and longer if you discover you need to fix things because that definitely happened. Then you get to unfold them to stab holes in them which is as terrifying at first and therapeutic by the end as it sounds.

Next came weeks of sewing books together, a magical process. I learned three new knots, repeatedly stabbed myself (because all forms of creation forcibly demand blood sacrifice) , and felt like I was roleplaying a monastic librarian from the time of Gutenburg. That's 600 years ago, 24ish generations, over 8million ancestors since then (by geometric progression, which excludes the possibility that any of my peasant ancestry is from small towns which is you know likely but I digress) and here I sat sewing pages together in a basement because story is the most sacred of human arts as it binds communities together and shapes perceptions of the self and our brethren, of outsiders allies and enemies, of the world as we know it and as it may come to be. Did I mention sewing books felt magical.

Then came the glue. So much glue. Multiple types of glue. All sticky. all stuck to me. I smeared glue with my fingers like a child.

At last it was time for the covers. Choosing combinations of the decorative papers and bookcloth and making sure I could get enough out of each material for what I needed. Precise cutting so many thanks to the architecture school professors who showed me how to properly cut chipboard. Then measuring and gluing, and more measuring, and more gluing. At last press a little groove by the spine and repeat eleven times.

Then I get to impress all my people with my latest and possibly coolest maker skill unlock, I am a book binder.

Bottom to top in the stack or left to right at the bottom are: These Things Written  These Things Unsaid with Without Consent These Things Known with A Third Chance (or a First) Oh, The Way Your Makeup Stains My Pillowcase That Love You've Been Looking For  All I Need Is To Be Struck (By Your Electric Love) To Open Every Door to Night, To Meet Each Rising Sun (my favorite) Love Is In the Hair (fanart of this one originally lead me to read the series, thanks @ash-and-starlight) Lessons in Proper Asset Management Tangled Up With You  To Be Named, To Be Known (To Be Loved)

#fandom #fanbinding #book binding #book making #zukka #zukka nation #zukka fanfic #avatar #atla #atla azula #atla sokka #atla zuko #ao3 #ao3 fanfic #erisenyo

[callmesinpai]

@erisenyo and they're done!!

I plan on redoing them at some point but for now this is what I have. I did some things differently this time. I perfect bound it because I could not bring myself to sew again.

Have some more pictures.

Book three is definitely my best work, still flawed but my best work. I realized what is causing my spines to be wonky but it was too late for this bind.

Also we're not going to talk about the paint bleed.

#fanbinding #bookbinding #series done. #erisenyo

[bisexuallsokka]

"did i do good?" for the prompt game!!

"Did I do good?"

Sokka meets Zuko's eyes in the mirror where he is standing behind him, Sokka perched on a stool. He had looked so adorable while focused on the braid, and Sokka's heart melts even more as he sees the expectant, hopeful look on his face now. Sokka's eyes shift toward the new braid in his hair that Zuko is showing him, and Sokka reaches his fingers up to feel it.

"It's not terrible," Sokka admits, but Zuko's shoulders droop anyway. "Hey, stop that! It's not that bad."

Zuko groans. "But it's not good."

"It's not good yet," Sokka corrects, trying to pretend he isn't loving the adorable little pout on his husband's lips. "The tension isn't quite right. Here, I'll show you again."

Sokka watches his hands in the mirror, reaching up to grab some hair next to Zuko's attempt at the braid and dividing it into even sections. He starts braiding, the movements as natural to him as breathing, but he goes very slowly so Zuko can follow along. He glances at his husband's face to see a crease between his eyebrows as he watches Sokka work, and Sokka bites back a smile.

He gets to the end of the braid and ties it off, then holds the two of them to each other so Zuko can see the difference. "See? Yours really isn't that bad, you just have to make the braid tighter so it will last longer."

"Okay. I got it," Zuko says, a determined look on his face that is so fierce, Sokka can't hold back a laugh.

"Hey, don't make fun of me," he complains, giving Sokka's shoulder a small, teasing shove.

"I'm not!" Sokka says quickly. "Honestly, it's just so adorable. It really does mean a lot that you're trying to learn for Izumi."

"By the time her hair is long enough, I'll be a master at braiding," Zuko vows. "Okay, I'll just undo my first one and--"

"Nah, leave it in," Sokka says. "I like it."

Zuko meets his eyes in the mirror again and grins, kissing the top of his head before grabbing the comb.

#this was from a sad prompt list and i almost made it sad but i didnt youre fucking welcome everyone #zukka #erisenyo #ask me stuff #thanks for the prompt! i completely forgot about these until just now LOL so i will get through the ones in my inbox over the next week or #my writing #prompts

[dickpuncher420]

Ohhhhh "hate fucking" for the WIP ask game??

lmao i started writing this on a whim a few weeks back cause i desperately needed some zukka hate fucking in my life. atp it's kind of just a messy collection of half-finished snippets and lines, but i Do have some semblance of an outline and/or plot written out. bit of a low priority project atm tho, i'm trying to focus any writing energy i have left after school stuff on my pacrim au

Zuko shows up fifteen minutes late, just because he knows it’ll piss Sokka off. Sokka opens the door shirtless and with a scowl on his face. “You’re late,” he says, predictably. Zuko crosses his arms and scowls right back, to disguise the way his stomach swoops at the sight of Sokka’s bare skin. “You’re not the one who had to drag your ass halfway across the Middle Ring on a Thursday night,” he snipes back. “You could be a little more grateful.” “Don’t you have a car?” “Azula took it. Are you going to let me in or not?” Sokka rolls his eyes, but removes his arm from where he’s barring the doorway to let Zuko through. The second he’s crossed the threshold, the door slams shut behind him, and then Sokka’s hands are on his waist and he’s being backed into the nearest wall. Zuko grunts and knocks Sokka’s hands away, annoyance and arousal flaring up in his gut at the contact. “Can you at least give me a second to take my shoes off?” he snaps. “Who the fuck raised you?” “I texted you almost an hour ago,” Sokka says. He leans in again, bracing his hands against the wall to box Zuko in, his breath hot and stifling on Zuko’s cheek. “You’re the one who kept me waiting.” “You know, I don’t have to be here,” Zuko points out. “I can just leave.” Sokka draws back, his eyes narrowing. Zuko juts his chin out and holds his gaze, a clear challenge. They both know he won’t do that. It’s always just a matter of seeing who will break first.

#ask meme #dickpuncherwrites #erisenyo #ask

[lizardlicks]

Okay Azutoph though would be chaos. Like Toph teaching Azula the glorious fun of insurance fraud and property destruction and not caring about rules, and Azula’s extensive knowledge about how to do all those things in even more elaborate, scheming ways. Both of them together being so overpowered it isn't even fair. The sheer disregard for authority they don't agree with, and even those they do.

Amazing. Absolutely amazing. The world world not survive but what a way to go

AZUTOPH IS SO FUN also Zuko's affront at finding out toph is DATING his SISTER, Katara is pretty sure that this is a prank design specifically to spite her, and Sokka has peaced out, he is not moderating that mess, and the less he knows about it the better.

#erisenyo #toph beifong #azula #azutoph #tophzula

[spacecasehobbit]

Infinitely easier to come up with fake fic titles, I can do that all day. How about "I'll be your best kept secret and your biggest mistake" or "thunder and lightning (very very frightening)" lol

I am jealous of this skill! I even trip myself up coming up with fake titles, lol. But onto the fake fics for the fake titles!

--

"I'll be your best kept secret and your biggest mistake"

Angst! Angst seems like the obvious answer, here, haha.

There's lots of potential for a fic with this title in AtLA.... Zukka could go either way (or both ways :p). I could see a Tyzula option with lots of Ty Lee secretly pining for Azula and knowing it's a mistake every time she finds little ways to feed her crush and hope it won't end in the inevitable heartbreak that she knows is coming.

But the one I'm leaning towards most is an Iroh-introspective piece in which Iroh (one who is absolutely, 100% just as Dramatic as the rest of his family, even if he pretends to be quieter about it) finds all new ways to blame himself for both Lu Ten's death and Zuko's burning immediately after the Agni Kai with Ozai, all while desperately trying to keep up a mask of hope and cheer every time Zuko wakes up long enough to look his way.

The mistakes were too numerous to count, and every one is an impossible weight he must learn to bear anyway. The secret is that he's dying inside even when he's smiling.

--

"Thunder and lightning (very very frightening)"

This one immediately inspired, "lighthearted and cute," lol.

For AtLA: maybe a Zukka fic in which Sokka experiences his first thunderstorm in the Fire Nation's rainy season, after starting his new position as Ambassador for the SWT.

Sokka is merely trying to hunker down in his warm and cozy ambassador room with some warm and cozy stew, when who should appear, between one lightning flash and another, on a nearby hilltop visible from his window - outside, in the rain - but Mr. Crazy-Fire-Guy Zuko... who is, apparently, practicing getting hit by lightning in the middle of the storm.

Who does that?

Zuko. Of course, Zuko does that, because Zuko is a crazy Fire Nation royal - Fire Nation Fire Lord, even - who would stand around in a lightning storm, shirtless, redirecting giant bolts of energy from the sky with his bare hands, with no concern whatsoever for either getting fried or for frying poor Sokka's nerves. First with, "Oh no!" and then with, "Oh, no."

#ask game answers! #erisenyo #atla #my writing #zukka #iroh angst

[yeeiguess]

Thinking about them (Burning Bright Zukka)

#erisenyo #burning bright #they changed the way I see Zuko and Sokka btw #inspired a different way to write too #all hail fanfic writers

[haroldtea]

Could you take your pfp in a fight? Send to the last 5 people in your notifications. (you don’t have to send it out if you don’t want to)

no she would kill me in 3 seconds and i would say thank you 💓

#love u adora #ask #erisenyo

[ayo-edebiri]

This feels weird but I stumbled onto your blog as one does and your theme is so amazing. Truly just had so much fun with the interface over here!

Thank you, I love Sage's themes so much!

#erisenyo

[missmists]

My light version of Azula's Crest in To Open Every Door to Night, To Meet Each Rising Sun by @erisenyo after I reread it and realized its asymmetrical *facepalm* (because I definitely don't have a whole other version that is symmetrical)

The dark but color accented version described in Chapter 7 when Azula debuts her new look

.... And the less audacious dark tone on tone version that is described later

#avatar #atla azula #atla fanart #mandala #inspired by fanfiction #erisenyo #first fanart #missmists

[ponytailzuko]

5 and 28 and 29 for the ask game!

5. What work are you most proud of (regardless of likes/reblogs)?

[ID: A picture taken of a piggy bank made out of clay that is painted to look like Katara from Avatar: the Last Airbender. End ID]

omg... okay i think in terms of works that i’m most proud of... this is actually so silly because i’ve posted so much art on here, but i’m picking something i’ve never even posted. i think i’m most proud of this katara piggy bank i made in ceramics. requirements of the assignment was to make a piggy bank that looked like a fictional character. i painted her pretty messily but my parents really like her, so she’s been sitting on the kitchen table for the past 6 months having dinner with us. 

28. Did you learn anything about your art/process/style this year?

i have just been having fun with it! doing stuff i wanna do and not forcing myself to do art that i don’t like. i color sketches a lot without doing lineart. i redraw stuff 5000 times and quit when i don’t wanna do it anymore. i do a lot of watercolor doodles that i don’t particularly like enough to post but i liked the process of doing them... did a whiteboard drawing almost every day in high school, and i try to do them in college too if the professor lets me. i doodled a lot of comics on the back of school assignments and never polished them up. art is a hobby for me so i try not to get too wrapped up in it. i think it helps me grow more even if i can’t really post it for others to enjoy.

29. What are you excited for next year when it comes to your art?

ooh. so far college has actually given me more free time to draw so i’m excited for that. i want to try and paint on some canvases i got. i also think unless another family member decides last minute they want it, i’m supposed to inherit my great grandma’s sewing machine so hopefully i can branch out and try sewing for the first time. exciting stuff!

tysm for the questions aaa!!! i hope you have a good day :) 

#cal answers #ask #erisenyo

[callmesinpai]

Bookbinding Update

@erisenyo

So after getting everything printed folded and sewn together, I realized my text blocks were wrong. So wrong. (they would still actually work but I was displeased) So into a box they went where they stayed for... a time (months?).

So that brings me to now. I've redid the typesets because I didn't like them. Went through and fixed the other mistakes and now I'm back to printing.

#bookbinding #fanfic binding #Erisenyo

[bisexuallsokka]

If you're still in your mood -- “I thought you said no more dangerous stunts?” or “Poetry isn’t supposed to be good, it’s supposed to make you feel things!” from the prompt list for Zukka please?

83. “Poetry isn’t supposed to be good, it’s supposed to make you feel things!”

Zuko isn’t sure if Sokka is always like this, or if he just enjoys irritating Zuko in particular, but sometimes the things he says in the one class they have together make Zuko infuriated. Zuko had met him once or twice, Aang had been convinced they would immediately become best friends, but they must have not talked for very long if Zuko didn’t know Sokka was the kind of guy to be taking a 300 level literature course. Nevertheless, he saw a familiar face and decided to take the seat right next to his.

Worst mistake ever, Zuko thinks as the back of his thighs run into something behind him, and then he stops thinking for a moment when strong hands on his hips lift him up to sit on the desk.

It took a few lectures for him to get on Zuko’s nerves, then at that point, Zuko didn’t dare move and break the sacred system that is unassigned assigned seats. No, he’s stuck with Sokka’s commentary both under his breath and the things he chooses to share with the class. It’s maddening.

Because Sokka makes some really good points.

(Not that he’ll ever admit it.)

(His mouth is a bit occupied anyway.)

Zuko tries to keep an open mind with everything they discuss in that class, but then they got to talking about Imagism, and Zuko absolutely refused to consider the side of someone as strongly opinionated against Ezra Pound and H.D. as Sokka is.

“Poetry isn’t supposed to be good, it’s supposed to make you feel things!” Sokka had insisted during the class discussion, and then proceeded to quote Amy Lowell to Zuko in front of the whole class.

Zuko grabs a fistful of Sokka’s hair and tugs. Amy fucking Lowell.

The professor had cut them off before things could escalate, but Sokka had insisted on walking with Zuko after class to continue the debate, and then they were in the library and Zuko hissed at him to shut up and Sokka had said something like “make me” so Zuko had dragged him to one of the many alcoves in the basement where he had caught far too many couples during his time as a library aide last year and…well, now they’ve stopped arguing and Sokka’s hand is under Zuko’s shirt and how can he even breathe…

Zuko pulls away to gasp for air and Sokka immediately takes this as an opportunity to trail kisses down to Zuko’s neck. Zuko lets out an embarrassingly loud gasp and when Sokka doesn’t move, waiting for Zuko’s reaction, Zuko just tightens his hold in Sokka’s hair and that’s all the invitation he needs before Sokka is biting down, and shit, Zuko is going to have to find a way to cover that before—

“Shit,” Zuko says, eyes trained on the clock on the wall and trying to calculate how late he is going to be because the alternative is focusing on the movement of Sokka’s tongue over the brand-new hickey on his neck and that way madness lies. “Sokka, I’m…I’m going to be late for work.”

“If you’re already late, no point in showing up at all,” Sokka reasons, his voice low and his breath hot against the spot below Zuko’s ear and damn it, Zuko shivers. “I’ll make it worth your time.”

Zuko closes his eyes because fuck, if he thought Sokka running his mouth was going to be the death of him before, it’s nothing compared to the way it’s making him feel now. But no, he has to be strong, because this job is almost certainly going to help him get an internship, but not if he starts ditching it in favor of making out with infuriating classmates in the library basement like some freshman – god, that’s probably the worst thing about this entire situation.

Sokka seems to be under the impression that Zuko is trying to make up his mind and he needs help being convinced to miss work, because he is using his hands and his mouth to try and persuade him but fuck, Zuko needs to be strong, plus he can’t let Sokka win…

It takes every ounce of willpower to put his hands on Sokka’s chest and push him away, and then Sokka is giving him a look and Zuko has to roll his eyes to give him an excuse to break the eye contact, and they’re both catching their breath. Zuko is about to break the silence, but then Sokka is reaching for the pen in the pocket of his flannel, and Zuko watches as he uncaps it and starts to write on Zuko’s palm.

“There,” Sokka says, grinning at the number now scribbled on Zuko’s skin. “Now you can send me those poems you were talking about.”

Zuko blinks at him for a moment, then against his will his hand is reaching out to grab the front of Sokka’s shirt and pull him back in, Sokka smiling against his lips.

#in case u couldnt tell i have many thoughts on Imagism and i go back and forth on how i feel about it so i let them each take a side lmao #zuko is more interested in the technical aspects of poetry and as u can see sokka is more. hes all about the emotions of poetry #anyway i could go on and on about this but i digress. just trust me. #i also did NOT think this was going to go this way lmaooo #zukka #my writing #prompts #erisenyo #ask me stuff

[dickpuncher420]

8, 14, and/or 16?

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

already answered!

14. that one thing you see in fics all the time

already answered!

but yknow what i'm gonna add onto this and say that the "zuko is an awkward turtleduck" grinds my gears like nothing else. that boy is NOT an anxious awkward uwu boy

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

ok i won't lie i reaaally dislike the trope of zuko being "adopted" by the swt warriors. something about it just really rubs me the wrong way. i know its appeal stems from like, zuko finding a new and better father figure in hakoda after the trauma he was put through by ozai, but like. i don't know. i just don't think the swt warriors would adopt this tiny angry warmonger as their own, no matter how abused he was in the past. they have absolutely no incentive or reason to, and i don't think zuko would take particularly well to it either.

what i DO like however is how fics like war games by @lovelyelbowleech or ozymandias, king of kings handle zuko being taken in by the swt warriors. meaning: quite a lot of mistrust, misgivings, and wariness, with sokka acting as the mediator between the two sides. because i'm sorry, but i just really have a hard time believing that hakoda would fully adopt this fire nation kid as his own son, no matter how good of a father we imagine him to be.

choose violence ask game

#thank u!! sorry two of ur questions already got answered lol #ask meme #ask #erisenyo

[lovelyelbowleech]

Hello! I have finally gotten my act together to carve out the time to read your amazing series and it's been such a blast, amazing characterization and interpersonal dynamics and emotional arcs and wonderful OCs. But the thing that stands out most is your talent for ending chapters at SUCH emotional cliffhangers and dangling all these amazing exciting conversations and confrontations so that I keep telling myself one more chapter, one more chapter, and then I've stayed up egregiously late multiple days in a row. I'm so tired and its been so worth it!

THank you! ❤️❤️ I am glad you enjoyed reading it!

To be honest, with the exception of the literal cliffhanger of the Gaang reunion which was planned to be that dramatic, they just seem to write themselves 😂 I have no idea what i'm doing half the time 😬

Thank you for the lovely ask, and I hope you continue to enjoy!

#wargames #allsfair #ficasks #erisenyo

[sukiluvvs]

21 and 22 for the ask game!

TY FOR THE ASK!!

from this ask game

21: What I love most about myself

22: What I want to be when I get older

21: I love a lot abt myself, if I had to choose one thing it'd probably be how much better I've gotten at caring for myself within the past year

22: hmmm I have a lot of things I want to be eventually..... I would love to do art professionally someday, and I also want to be a car mechanic at some point

#ask game #asks #erisenyo #sukiluvvs