I’m very excited to say that I figured out how to imprint the cover of a moleskine as well as any of my journals.

I had figured it o previously but I also purchased a chase to hold the type.

If one were doing this on a small scale one could do what I did the first time and scotch tape the letters together.

I’m getting ahead of myself. I have a set 20pt century gothic BOLD Letter Press type. I had hoped a year or 2 ago that I would buy a small Kelsey press and use that n combination with type to print card and what not. IN theory it was a good idea, only the small vintage presses I like are very over priced and I need to play with a good one t figure out how to fix a broken one and a broken one was all I could afford. Needless to say, I bought a heap of items with which to print, quions, keys and type. Which I have up until now never had chance to use.

To imprint the cover of a mole without a chase- simply select your letters, arrange them, mirror image, and then use tape to hold them together. After that you can then whack the backside with a hammer or apply pressure in a vise or press of some type.

I managed to find a hot foil chase for type holding purposes, in a size that fit my type perfectly. I’m thinking of adapting it for my use, but I’m having a hard time reconciling my need for adapting it, the price I paid for it and the fact that it’s an antique, and I could probably find a chase without the design if I looked hard enough.

That being said the results withe chase were very nice and the chase is exactly what I had beening thinking about when I first started monkeying around with the type.

I’ve decided that I’m going to offer this as a service on my website as soon a Kikkerland gets off their duffs and charges me and mail out my moleskines. I ordered them ages ago and haven’t seen or heard anything. humph.

I don’t know why I never filled this sketchbook, it has pages of all my favorite paper, arches, canson, stonehenge, copperplate, and others. I love them all, but for whatever reason this journal and I never became friends. I also tore an entire signature out of it…this was back when I lived in Maine (2002-2003) and I was selling a lot of pieces on eBay. It’s also from around the same time I started working on my website. It’s come a long way. Most of the pieces are quick watercolor sketches, done while sitting on the waters edge, usually between the hours of 7 and 9 for one beach I would then travel to the next waterfront location and work until 1 or 2pm. I’d then go to the local natural grocery store and pick up lunch. Or if I was being smart eat a bag lunch I would bring with me. These summers were great summers I worked a mere 20 hours a week and my bills were low. I was able to afford my meager lifestyle on those 20 hours a week and my eBay sales.

I tnk that because of the paper in this sketchbook I felt like I couldn’t use it, intimidated by the paper.

That is a point I would love to get to again. 20 hours on the DayJob and full time on art. That is the life. Not to say that art isn’t hard work, hell I used to put in a full 40 to 50 hours a week on art, stopping only for meals often those 2 summers I would stay up late and get up early.I was perhaps the hardest working artist out there. What I mean to say is that I would love to work on something I love again, rather than something I tolerate.

I just put the journal below up onto eBay. It has an integrated penslip. I like how it came out and I’ve figured out how it can be done without adding a whole addition strip of leather, I could simply turn over the leather and add some eyelets. Trial and error. I went with my gut on this one and I think it turned out well. It perfectly holds a pencil or two. It’s pretty sweet! 200 pages of Southworth linen textured paper in light gray. I used brht red linen to sew it up and cut a rough jagged edged red strap from a deer hide. Pretty good if I do say so myself.





I used this book as a way to experiment with a few things for a couple of custom orders I’ve got in the works. I’m pretty happy with both of the things I’m playing with here.

This journal details my experience volunteering at a festival. It was a headache and a weird experience. I won’t go more into it here, but I would suggest that if you get a chance to volunteer at a festival make sure that everything is well planned in advance. Make sure you get a firm commmitment from the people in charge of everything that they intend to provide, if they don’t’ you’ll be up a creek without a paddle.

I had to stay late at the DayJob, while it’s a consternation it’s a necessary evil for the time being. I really can’t wait for the holidays to be over. Not to be a scrooge but it’s a hard time of year to work in retail. I’m pretty exhausted.

I’ve been working on a few projects, one very cool project which includes adding secret compartments to a journal, I’m having fun with it, but I hit a major snag when it came to gluing up the journal. The glue I normally use fouled up a pocket, so I have to rethink what I’m going to use for the pockets….I’m getting lines printed at a local print shop, though, each time I have time to stop by they aren’t open!!! So hopefully Tuesday I’ll be able to get the lines printed.

I noticed this several days ago, but I thought that I would point it out before anyone else did that my user name on youtube was intended to be ComfortableShoesStudio. What I didn’t realize that e I hit enter my user name was 2 letters too long and thus YOuTube automatically cut off 2 letters, the last 2 letters.

So my user name ComfortableShoesStud. I’m hanging my head in shame that I didn’t notice this before I finalized everything. But this also explains why I’ve gotten several messages from users who have “invited” me to view the close up videos of their Brazilian wax job. Which seems like a horrifying prospect to me. So yeah, head over to YouTube and checkout ComfortableShoesStud, it’s not some hot oiled down hunk of manly muscle it’s just me, kind of soft and pudgy Leslie. I swear there will be no “studly” videos!

Another You Tube post

Not quite as personal as the last but it’s one of my first leather covered journals. I think I made it in 2002. I last wrote in it in 2005. It’s survived a lot- my backpack for 2 years, camping and many moves.

Since I’ve been working retail, and don’t get weekends off, its still a little weird for me in comparison to when I was teaching and when I did other things. I almost always had weekends off then. So, I’m still not used to having random days off int eh middle of the week, it still feels weird. So today I was off from the DayJob and I’m feeling wheezy d tired, so I took a long nap. Upon waking was still wheezy and tired. That being said I didn’t get much done in the studio. I’m prepared to press on through it for the evening. I have several projects going, the red edge journal, the secret compartment journal and several 400 page 6×9 journals.

What I did get done was listing these 2 journals on etsy:

The details are as follows: 200 pages of Southworth 24lb 25% cotton paper in a aid texture and an ivory color. On is a linked long stitch in black Irish linen thread and the other is an alternating long stitch in red Irish linen thread. Either one is $27.99 pus shipping on my etsy shop here:
ComfortableShoesStudio

At this point I’ve decided to try to create these videos in roughly chronological order. The moleskines I first uploaded are recent. This journal was created after the Maine vacation journal, started while I was in transition to Maine, moving my belongings to my new place after I spent several very difficult months with my life in complete transition. This is essentially my last month in Mass in 2001, probably February March.

I think that while the art in this journal is not my best, it has the most feeling.

Technically-wise this is one of my first multiple signature books and is mechanically terrible. It’sbound with a double thickness of dental floss, on a covered cardboard that’s covered with a metallic gift bag. The cord is a heavy cotton cord stripped from a pair of shorts. The paper is canson mein tents in bone or a similar color. I used mainly ink, watercolor crayons and collage. Shortly after making this journal I learned to make structurally sound books

This journal was made by me and it was the first multi signature journal that I made. It is a truly horrible structure and I’m surprised that it survives and has survived my former evil dog and the may moves since it was created and used.

IT chronicals the best vacaton that I’ve ever taken, the most relaxing vacation ever and thonly vacation C and I have ever taken that we still talk about. 7 days in Maine, on a lake, with no running water or electricity.

This sketchbook was created over the course of 2 years while working at a day program. It’s cheap paper- standard 20lb printer paper drawn on with crayon, pen, watercolor and ink. Mostly crayon. Have I mentioned that I really love crayon? It has a certain feel that I love for drawing, plus one can lay on layer after layer of color.

Anyway, many of the people pictured are dead. Sad but true. I’ve also lost touch with many of them. Also sad but true. THis is a sketchbook that makes me sad when I look at it. One of the guys I sketched had all of the money that his very rich father left him stole from him from his able bodied siblings and lawyers. Another was in Fernald State. I won’t talk about the atrocities that occurred there, but it’s sad. While the art contained in this sketchbook varies from bad to wonderful I feel that more than in any other body of work, these little sketches truly capture these people and the terribly difficult lives they endured.

I made hundreds of these drawings over the course of 2 years. I know that several of the residences had them framed and several pinned them to bedroom walls. So: