I finished this journal earlier today. It measuers 1.25inches whide by 1.5 inches high. It has all the same things as my regular journals- fun inner paper, acid free archival paper and a flap and thong. All in miniature, that is a quarter you see in the picture. It’s a single signature, 20 pages signed and numbered just like my full sized journals.

       

       

 

   

I Just finished these 2 journals, that makes 4 for today, I’m pretty happy with my productivity, I’ve don’e well. if i really buckled down I could have made 6 today. Instead I took a nap. It’s my sort of day off. ..

Though I love my time in the studio I do need time off to relax and refresh myself from the rigors of the day job as well as from the journals.

Anyway, the two journals are both alternating long stitch sewn to slots on the spine, they made great patterns and I’ve found the right length for the slots for 10 or 9 signatures. i’m in love with the black leather and plan on ordering another hide soon. I’m also planing on making a journal like this only larger- 6×9 inches. No lines though, that’s only going to be for special orders. Well, that and the printer was making some funky noises when I printed out my sales reports.

these will go up on ebay at some point, I think, they may be nice for the stock journal page for my website.

I plan on working on some ideas for my custom order page. I realise I need some helpful guidelines for people seeking a custom journal, price range etc. . . So i’m going to think about it and write it all down.

Here’s another of the eBay line with holes versus slots. I like the look of both slots and holes but really the black linen against the distressed leather is fantastic. This one took no time to sew, and it looks really great.

I’ve also put it up on eBay. It’s here:
Distressed Leather

I made this 4.25″ wide by 5.5″ high journal a little earlier today. It’s got a whole 200 pages of fox river warm gray paper sewn in a long stitch pattern, through holes rather than my usual eBay line in slots. Holes make the cover production take about 15 minutes extra- each hole is individually cut, unlike slots, which hold the same number of threads as the holes but I only have to cut a few of those versus 20 to 40 holes, fast and quicker. The sewing time takes the same length of time as if I cut it into slots.

this journal is here.

I used an unprinted washi for the inside, I’ve had a lot of requests for paper without patterns. Sadly, I think the patterns are fun, more fun I think if you are picking out your own journal rather than bidding on eBay. Many people don’t want the patterns, which are half the fun of making the books. Ah well, I’ll make some without patterns and I’ll look for great unpatterned paper. I’ve never thought of the inner paper as a distraction from the book, always as a attractive element.

Any thoughts on this?

I‘ve been thinking of getting an eBay store. I sell 80% of my journals from eBay and since I’ve started to sell at the buy-it-now price, I’m thinking it would be nice to have some fixed price auctions. The potential sales don’t necessarily outweigh the cost of the thing. Of course I would use the lowest cost tier but still that’s $17, and that’s almost a whole journal when I’m selling the eBay line at $19.99. I would sell more but how many more, and once I open the so the account I would feel like no matter what I’d have to keep it, so I’d be roped into $17 a month for expenses, and what if I don’t sell anything?

It’s something to consider.

So I’ve got to head to the day job sometimes soon and I’ve finished 2 of the journals I set up to finish. I had hoped to finish at least one more, but I did manage to list them both on eBay, so I guess that makes it worthwhile.

They are listed here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6963359579

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6963346244

There are pictures in the last two entries. They were pretty slick to sew. It took just a little time to punch the stations and sew the spine. So I’m pretty happy with that. I love the chocolate brown cover; it’s just so soft. It really is the softest leather I’ve ever bound a book in, like a baby’s bottom! The deer is soft too, just not as soft as that lamb hide.

In addition tot eh day job I need to pick up more glue, i always run out at teh least opportune moment.