I’ve been working on these books for quite some time. I think that because of all the time I spent they came out better than if I had just done them. I stayed with one of my initial ideas and ditched a few of the others. One of the ideas that I ditched was using the identical straps I used on the other renaissance journal I made. Instead I took one of the straps and split it down the middle changing it a little. Before I did any of this I picked out 2 covers, one distressed sheepskin and one lightly distressed chocolate brown deerskin. I then picked straps to match the covers. I glued them down and clamped them down for a night.

I toyed with several different stitching patterns to hold the straps to the covers. I knew that the glue would hold them well but I needed a little more security to know that they would stay there forever. So I picked a combination of two stitches, an upright and an X pattern. I like how tough it is and how simple it is.

For the stitching on the spine I knew I wanted a simple long stitch but with some linking. So I broke it up and did each journal with the same pattern but different linking on each book. This way they are related but different.

Each journal has 200 strathmore 24lb, 25% cotton pages in cream color. I used natural unbleached Irish linen to sew it and the inner paper is Thai marbled paper in blue and gold.

These were a custom order so they aren’t for sale.