So I dipped into my Strathmore 500 series paper stash and ripped down several sheets into pages for these covers. One is on eBay and one is on etsy. I stu with simple sewing patterns and I think they turned out well.

This little journal is 124 pages of Strathmore 500 series charcoal paper. Simple linking long stitch in black Irish linen. It’s on etsy here!

This also is Strathmore 500 series paper, 148 pages. It’s a alternating long stitch in natural unbleached Irish linen. It’s on eBay here!

The JOurnals blow are on eBay right now:
You can find them here.

The pictures below are pictures of the watercolor sketchbook that I made from my unknown stash of watercolor paper, unknown that I can’t remember the brand or type all I known is that it’s 100% rag, white, 140lb, and cold press. IT tore beautifully and made the most wonderful deckled edges ever. I covered it in blue cowhide, with an elastic, a pocket and I can’t wait to use it.




I did tell myself no more sketchbooks until I fill some of the many that I already have, but I just can’t resist, I’m in love with this little book.

I used my new press r this book and I’ve got to say- perfect covers!

I stitched up a couple of journals the day before last but haven’t had a lot of time to work on getting them uploaded, due to well, as you read below life commitments. So I have a huge laundry list of things to do for tomorrow, not much of which has to do with getting the electrical finally hooked up in the room upstairs and the majority of which has to do with bookmaking.

I plan on making a few larger format hedgehogs, probably in 5×8 or something similar and in that Fabriano or the Stonehenge I have stored up. I’d like to tear down sheets into sizes that leave me with no scraps. That would make me really happy. That being said I am on the verge of buying new leather.

So tomorrow you can expect to see books listed on etsy and eBay as well as a fe new announcements, about the shop for my brother.

Figured that this deserved a post all it’s own. After I bought my bookbinding press on eBay a year ago, I knew that I‘d need something with a little more. . . Oomph. So I gave it to my Dad and asked him to reverse engineer the thing and add strength to several specific points:
#1 the cross brace
#2 the uprights
#3 the base

I also asked him to make the things perform a little more smoothly, get rid of the nuts and bolts on the handle so it was more comfortable to use, hide some of the mechanical aspects of the top brace and in general class it up a bit. He did this and then turned the project over to my brother. I’m pleased to announce that he’s now able to produce them on a small scale- 2 or 3 per month. He can also produce them in other colors and we‘re going to come out with a chart so people can choose the color they would like.

For now we’re focusing on eBay but I’m going to make him an Etsy shop and let him stock it. Hopefully he’ll be able to take this and go with it. Right now I’m dealing with all the money issues for him and dealing with the fees associated with eBay. Pretty soon everyone will be able to buy directly form him. Exciting news.

That being said I’ve been using one of his presses for about a month now and I’ve got nothing but rave reviews. It’s been taking all the pressure I could ever use on a hedgehog and the quality of the hedgehogs I’ve been making has only gone up since using this press. My covers are tight and perfectly smooth, not a hint of curl. I’ve also found that I have far less swell in my spine. When the damp spine is pressed down with this it really flattens it out. I’m going to mess around with some hard cover books soon I’ll make some hard covers for so Coptic books I’ve been thinking of for a few months.

Anyway you can find my Brother’s press for sale on ebay here!

Here are a few pics to whet your appetite:

Phew. What a hellish amount of work. I just spent about 8 hours installing electrical wires into the upstairs bedroom. It was a ridiculous amount of work to lay in 20 feet of wire and put in 2 electrical outlets. There were several steps involved.

First I had to go around the room with the circular saw and cut 2 grooves one half inch in depth in the baseboard. That sucked but not as much as the next step; which was to chip the wood from between the 2 grooves using a chisel, and to make sure that the depth of the groove was one half inch or greater. That took the most time I am happy though that the builders used cheap pine as it made my job so much easier, I can’t imagine the pain I would be in if they had used oak or something harder.

After all that I had to decide where I wanted the electrical boxes. I should have picked where I wanted the inner one first as I knew I didn’t want it in a certain spot. It ended up there anyway as I started from the end box….. . I’m a little mad at myself for that one. The box ended up needing to be in a spot where there was and is a crack and because I didn’t just shift myself down a foot I now have some more plastering to do. After putting in the wire I now also see that I probably could have gotten by with a mere 50 feet of wire, instead of the sale I found on 250 feet. I put wire in the groove and then kept it in place with some insulated staples.

Attaching the outlets to the wire was the easiest part of the job, on the back of the box was a clear diagram of how to wire those up so that was a piece of cake. Those went in smooth.

Somehow I’m thinking that the job should have taken far less time than it did. I think that now that I know what I’m doing t will make it far easier for the next wall.

My lower back and thighs are killing me. I’m sure tomorrow will be painful. I’ll be calling the electrician to check my work and hook it all up to the circuit breaker.

NOtbook related but it’s what I’ve been doing all day.

I have 3 books on eBay ending tomorrow.

They are stil at super low prices.

I”ve been busy with work. I’ll hopefully post more tomorrow, though I’m learning how to wire a room tomorrow and Sunday. If I post again, you’ll know if it went well or not!

I dipped into my stash of Fabriano the other night, tore down a sheet into hedgehog sized sheets, folded them and got them ready. 1 sheet makes 1 hedgehog. Pretty sweet, considering I bought a fat stack of Fabriano Artistico quite some time ago and have used some of it for books but mostly its just sat there waiting. So it was nice to tear it down into pages. It made quite a sweet little hedgehog too. I also dipped intot he unknown watercolor paper and tore that down as well, pictures of that will follow in a bit. But I love the torn edges m the hand torn sheets.

It will be up on ebay here!

I put my book press up on eBay 6 days ago. It will end tomorrow around noon.

It’s a great little press. I used it recently to press my hedgehogs, and it worked wonderfully, giving just the right amount of pressure to perfectly press the covers to the block and kept everything flat.

I foresee that someone out there is going to get a press at a great price.

As a reminder here are a few pictures:

This is a journal that I made and used at the start of 2005. I recorded my thoughts for a few months in it. I used mainly Pitt Pens, Pigma Pens and watercolors as well as various and assorted emphemeria that I found along the way. IT’s colorful and documents some time of rage that I had as well as some very good times.

It has pages made from Strathmore watercolor paper 140lb, is stitched with irish linen and is made of dark chocolate brown sheep hide, super smooth ans soft with a unique pebble pattern. I love it.