Macey
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macey.bsky.social
Macey
@macey.bsky.social
710 followers 140 following 670 posts
SRE by day, writer by night, tea-fueled queer forest cryptid at all hours. words at englishmace.com, rep'd by Kurestin Armada, writes as Macey Levington & Jennifer Mace. the cloud is, alas, my fault once again >:(
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macey.bsky.social
goodbye mountains; hello new york 💙
A photograph of two snow capped mountains from a plane A photograph of new york city from a plane
October 6, 2025 at 10:03 PM
macey.bsky.social
so I picked up a copy of the translated fin de siecle queer Czech fantasy novel Manfred Macmillan at WorldCon, and...

la plus ça change, huh?
A photograph of a text with the following sentence highlighted: "When Karásek was launching his literary career in the 1890s, juridical and medical discourses in Central and Eastern Europe were finding a powerful obsession with social degeneration and civilizational collapse, of which homosexuality was deemed a prime symptom"
September 7, 2025 at 3:31 PM
macey.bsky.social
is it possible to have TOO much Restrained Summer Fun 🤔

anyway yes I now own an Extremely Tiny copy of Alan Turing's original essay on machine intelligence, citing Ada Lovelace.

(because I made it, as one does)

once one learns to make things into books truly the Sky becomes the Limit
A photograph of an extremely small handmade book with a quarter balanced on top for scale. The book has a yellow book cloth spine and a dark painting of florals as the cover. It is not quite 3 in tall. A photograph of the inside of the tiny book, showing the first page of a section titled "The Imitation Game".
August 31, 2025 at 8:40 PM
macey.bsky.social
y'all I'm not @marissalingen.bsky.social I can't fit two 😅
A photograph of an old fashioned upright piano in dark wood. Above it is a picture wall covered in slightly Gothic artwork. Next to the piano is a set of shelves, the other side of the shelves is a harp.
August 26, 2025 at 3:13 AM
macey.bsky.social
so I had long decided what my Book present would be but, one cannot precisely just go out and Purchase One, so I have been waiting... and watching... ever vigilant...

and I have WON 😱😍 look how pretty it is! how large & strong!!

I'm gonna crush SO MANY books into good behaviour with this beauty 😈
A photograph of a heavy black cast iron book press. The base is decorated with golden paint, and this paint also outlines the curlicues on the arched bridge.
August 20, 2025 at 1:06 AM
macey.bsky.social
& front covers 'cause I'm proud of my designs for these:
A photograph of the front cover of the blue ocean-hearted booklet. It features a swirly title outline, the author name Macey Levington, and a bottom border of stylized waves. A photograph of the front cover of the yellow cityscapes booklet. It too has the author name as Macey Levington, it's title outline looks a little like a road sign, and the bottom border is skyscrapers.
August 13, 2025 at 3:13 PM
macey.bsky.social
just in time! I'll have three copies of each with me today, so if you're at #worldcon and like poetry (and flash!), come say hi!
The back cover of two zines, one ocean themed in blue, and the other City themed in yellow. Both list an author website: www.englishmace.com A photograph of a pile of three each of the same scenes from the front. One is titled Cityscapes, with a bottom border of skyscrapers. The other in blue is partially hidden, but the beginning of the word Oceanhearted can be seen, as can a wave pattern on the bottom.
August 13, 2025 at 3:09 PM
macey.bsky.social
soon... >:D
A photograph of several skeins of colorful thread sat on top of a blue pamphlet in the middle of construction. The pamphlet is titled Oceanhearted and the author name is Macey Levington. In the background, a similar but yellow pamphlet can be seen, titled Cityscapes.
August 12, 2025 at 7:10 PM
macey.bsky.social
sneak preview~ 😱

getting set for WorldCon - who's gonna be in town next week? say hi if you are!
A photograph of a set of collated pages laid out on a chopping board next to a bone folder and a craft knife. In the background, a completed pamphlet in yellow cardstock can be seen, and a ball of orange thread. The top page on the stack features a poem titled 'to ash' on one side, and a table of contents on the other.
August 9, 2025 at 2:12 AM
macey.bsky.social
aaa I forgot to repost! but! I made some little books!

these are the ones I was sewing at 4th Street and I'm in love, every book should be 4.25 inches tall, we can all just get bifocals it'll be FINE 😍
A photograph of three small cream-colored books, titled 'the wild geese'. They have been presented on a wooden board in front of a tiny vase of flowers. A photograph showing both the front and rear cover of the wild geese. The front cover is titled in gold with two large geese flying on either side. The rear cover has black mountains with a black author name, over which a tiny flock of golden geese fly. A photograph of the three books from the bottom. Each has a different colored ribbon, and each has slightly different variants of hand sewn end bands. A photograph of an open copy of the wild geese, displaying end papers covered in falling golden dandelion seeds.
August 3, 2025 at 4:29 PM
macey.bsky.social
love 2 squish a tiny book 😊
A low angled photograph peeking inside an improvised book press made of two chopping boards squeezed together by f-clamps. Inside the book press, a little green book can be seen. It is very compressed.
August 3, 2025 at 1:03 AM
macey.bsky.social
i have no idea 😂 second one wasn't quiiiiite as good 😅 at least it's on the bottom?

(but also I do go back and nudge the second core into place with my nail after the whole thing is done, which helps smooth it out if it got bumpy. can't help with wrap quality though 🤷🏻‍♀️)
Another photograph of an end band in the same color scheme. The small core wrap of the second yellow band is a bit uneven, and a little bit of the main core can be seen between threads sometimes.
July 21, 2025 at 1:18 AM
macey.bsky.social
okay I'm proud of this one 😁
A close-up photograph of a book in progress of being made. The photo displays a hand zone double core end band in deep blue and Royal purple with flashes of golden yellow separating the main two colors. The leather core is still visible and has not yet been cut away. The book has no covers.
July 20, 2025 at 12:42 AM
macey.bsky.social
hello mountain 💙
A photograph taken from a plane window; Mount Rainier can be seen through the clouds framed by the plane's wing.
June 17, 2025 at 1:19 AM
macey.bsky.social
family portrait: the four books bound at this year's @4thstreetfantasy.bsky.social , ready to pack away for the journey home 💙
A photograph of a pile of four handbound books. Two of them are tiny bound text blocks with French link stitch in exposed linen thread, in need of cases. The middle book is a Coptic stitch exposed spine bind with blue stitching and a blue and white flower cover. At the bottom of the pile, a full folio-sized text block bound in French link stitch over tapes. It, too, is in need of a case.
June 15, 2025 at 9:13 PM
macey.bsky.social
number four! this one's an exposed-spine Coptic, though, since I ran out of printed text blocks 😅 probably the last for now 😁
Photograph of a handmade notebook with blue and white floral covers.
June 15, 2025 at 8:16 PM
macey.bsky.social
and that makes three! I'll have to get a family portrait later, the tiny ones are back in my room 😅
Photograph of a freshly bound folio size book with tapes.
June 14, 2025 at 10:22 PM
macey.bsky.social
tiny book number two! pierced and sewn in panel one - these things knock out fast once you get the hang of it 😂
A photograph of two tiny books, with the sewn edges exposed.
June 14, 2025 at 3:37 PM
macey.bsky.social
managed to get my first @4thstreetfantasy.bsky.social tiny book bind done before midnight 😈
A side on photograph of a tiny book block, displaying stitches and many signatures.
June 14, 2025 at 4:49 AM
macey.bsky.social
prepping real flapjacks for 4th St Fantasy survival purposes - this time with raspberries!
A photograph of a baking tray full of flapjack mixture, a mix of oats, raspberries, butter, golden syrup, and sugar.
June 10, 2025 at 9:59 PM
macey.bsky.social
making kits >:D

at this point I have enough left for three more people, so think fast!
Photograph of a kitchen counter where Macey is preparing beginner bookbinding kits. It is covered in assorted tools and Ziploc bags, the tools include awls, needles, knives, etc.
June 6, 2025 at 8:06 PM
macey.bsky.social
thing I learned how to do this weekend: did you know those glued on endbands were meant to have a structural purpose?
A photograph of an uncovered text block. At the top of the picture, a hand sewn endband in alternating strands of pink, cream, and green silk thread. The tie downs are visible, tiny threads dipping into each signature of the book to hold everything in place.
June 3, 2025 at 4:16 AM
macey.bsky.social
good night, French link... I'm afraid it's time for glue...
A photograph of the same book several hours later. It has been placed in an improvised book press, and covered with mull which is glued in place. A bottle of PVA glue is also visible. The mull conceals and binds the previously visible stitching.
May 30, 2025 at 2:48 AM
macey.bsky.social
☺️
A photograph of a book in the process of being sown. Four packets of pages are shown, shown under three linen tapes with a Criss-Cross French link stitch. The book is held over a somewhat battered cutting mat. The same book is shown, this time with seven signatures. A close up of a needle being threaded through the previous stitches displays how the French link works. A photograph of the full text block, with more signatures soon, that also displays the kettle stitches at the end piercings. A photograph of the fully sewn text block. It has been neatly pressed, and is largely square at the edges.
May 29, 2025 at 10:14 PM
macey.bsky.social
I've been doing lots of notebooks for practice + one rebind so far, currently working on a from-scratch bind of Emma + learning to typeset fic in Affinity. Wow such font very graphics. (My sofa rn... is not so much for the sitting on 😅)
A photograph of the back of Macy's sofa with two improvised book presses, each made of a pair of chopping boards clamped together with hardware store clamps. A photograph of a blue and orange patterned notebook. It is bound using decorative tapes with green circles, and golden thread. A photograph of a custom rebind of good omens. It uses red patterned book cloth, and the cover features a black and white vinyl design reading "good omens by Terry Pratchett and some other dude". A photograph of the exposed spine of a neatly bound Coptic notebook, with green thread.
May 26, 2025 at 8:57 PM