I’ve got the leather distressed. I need to add a layer of varnish to protect it, but so far so good. I think it looks really great. I’m not letting much of the orginial color show through but the red colors I picked out match it really well. The pink was much lighter than I had imagined.

I didn’t realize that I don’t have my acrylic paints here. I just have a few here and there. No matter I had to simply drive out to michaels and pick up 2 containers of craft paint. Traffic was hellish but I came back within a half hour and had my paint.

I’ll post a picture up of the dried cover. I’m going to give it a good half hour to dry.

Today I start the pink journal. I expect to make great progress on it. I have the day off so I can’t ask for better timing. Today I will dot he following:

Cut the cover.

Distress the cover.

Back the cover.

Measure out and punch the spine.

Eyelets!

(Clean my table and desk.)

Hopefully I will be able to start the sewing tonight or work on it tomorrow.

I’ve officially been asked to leave the day job early on Monday (Double time!), so even if I can’t finish the sewing tonight I will be able to work on it Monday. The really great thing is that even if I’m not able to work on any one of these things today I have Tuesday off so I can get everything done and get it in the mail Tuesday or Wednesday!

I finished this journal early on Friday. I found the cute little alphabet eyelets at Michaels and they were perfect for this journal. The lettering was perfect- classic and the metal was not too shiny, which wouldn’t have gone with the theme or style.

So I finished it or so I had thought. When I emailed the buyer, I found that I had accidentally substituted an R for his real middle initial M. It was very easy to remedy and the journal still looks great. I’m really happy with the spine too. I love the 5 groups of thread across the spine. I think it looks fantastic. The light thread shows up so well too. I spent a little extra time and effort on this journal and I think it shows in the details.

It’s also the first time in a long time I used ¼ inch spacing in the sewing; usually I use a half-inch. I really think the quarter inch works really well and had the proper weight in comparison to the half-inch especially for the smaller sized journals.

You’ll also notice that the pages are lined. I think I’m officially going to offer this service, some people really want it and now that I have the lines on the computer it won’t be hard for me to make them in my standard sizes, 4.25”X5.5” and 5.5”X8.5” (making a roughly 6”X9” journal) I won’t be able to do other sizes because of the limitations of my printer. It is something for me to think about when this printer dies that I should get something that handles larger sizes of paper. This printer more than does what I need it to do now that I’ve got a computer with a little more oomph.

Anyway, I’m really really happy with how this journal came out, and I think that knowing a little bit about the man receiving it really helped the design.

I just put this journal up on eBay you can find it here:
Journal

I was checking out my eBay auctions and then searchingmy search words to see what came up and I realize I really need to pic my gallery pics much more carefully. I need to make sure that they aren’t too dark, unlike the gallery pic for the chocolate brown watercolor sketchbook

it’s here:Cocoa Sketchbook.

I’m pretty sure a dark gallery image disappears into nothingness when looking at those tiny little pics.

I’ve been working on the custom order this evening. I managed to get the pages sewn in and the thong attached now I’m just dealing with the matter of the initials. I initially toyed with the idea of “branding” them in with my soldering iron, but I did it on some samples and it just doesn’t work for me. While I’m thinking of this issue I have to remind myself that anything I attach to the front has to be as flexible as the cover. I could attach something stiff but it will mess with the fold and bend of the leather and I don’t really want that. It also has to fit with the feel of the book. Which won’t be a hard thing to do, but still, I wish I were able to use something I have on hand. Though a small “appliqué” of leather with the initials eyeleted down to the cover would work….

I’ve created the appliqué that will sit on the cover held with glue and eyelets. Tomorrow after work I’ll figure out how to get the initials on there in a way that will be super sturdy. I may head to the supply store and get supplies, I get out early so it should be good.

I’ll also upload some pics tomorrow.

I had an amazingly long day at the day job today. I won’t go into details but let’s just say that I was tired when I left work. I had a light meal and washed it all down with a coke, and sometimes I’m amazed by how much a soda is reviving. It’s that little shot of caffeine and sugar.

It also prepared me for a major set back on the custom journal I’ve been working on. I had noticed last night that the leather on the cover was acting a little odd. Today I noticed that this hide is starting to have the separation problem that the black hide was having. This is the 2^nd hide where I’ve had the issue. I’m not happy about it. I re-cut the hide from a different part of the hide and I noticed none of the issues. The other problem was that I had double reinforced the spine and hit it with too much heat and the tyvek melted. Really not good. Instead of a soft flexible but super strong spine I ended up with a hard stiff spine. Not good.

So I’ve re-cut and re-punched the new cover and I will sew it tomorrow. I also have some plans for advertising my work at the store. We have these little cards that we can post on the bulletin board and really the only time people see them is when they are waiting for the bathroom or for a class. I’m going to design a little book style advert that will hold my cards and let me post them easily at the store. It’s just an idea. I’m also thinking of spending some cash and advertising in some writing magazines. It could be worth it. Though I did notice that in some cases a tiny little classified ad could cost $150! Too rich for my blood but maybe someday. I think that branching off into handmade books of people’s first novels would be fantastic and great business.

Okay, so the day job was incredibly draining. I took a nap rather than working on anything productive.

I did however, get the stations on the spine laid out and punched, so all I have to do tomorrow is punch the stations along the signatures and sew. We’ll see how draining the job is though.

I forgot to mention that I have 3 journals up on eBay right now they are here:
ONE
TWO
THREE