Leather Notebook Cover and Pencil Case

I posted a few photos last week, of a leather Notebook Cover and Pencil Case set, that I had made.
I thought I'd just post a little more detailed description here, as I'm rather proud of them. 

The Notebook Cover and matching hand-stitched Pencil Case, in golden-buff coloured leather.  The stitching is in red linen thread, hand-sewn with a traditional cobblers' method, for strength and a good appearance.  Both the notebook cover and pencil case are lined with nice red bookcloth, to give a long-lasting, attractive finish. 

The notebooks are held in by elastic straps (these are black, but I have several other colours). 

The notebook cover will hold three notebooks, up to A5 size. 

There's a little page-minder too, to mark where you're currently working. 

It's obviously inspired by the currently popular "Midori" notebook covers.  Lots of people have these just now and, as notebook covers have been something I was "going to do" for ages, I really thought I should have a go.  

The nice thing about making them by hand, is that there is flexibility on size.  This one is A5 size - it measures 21.25 x 17cm / 8.5 x 6.5" approx - so it will hold notebooks of A5 size, but also 7"x 5", 6" x 4", or anything in between.  
However, there is no reason why I can't make a larger or smaller version, make it tall and thin, or shorter and fatter.  I'm only limited by the size of leather I can get!  

And, as I am in charge... I made a matching Pen / Pencil Case, that will hold up to six pens or pencils. 

I made one of these for my son's birthday last year.  He's still using it and likes it very much, so I thought it might be time to put them into my shop too.  

Again, I can make them in different sizes and adjust their shape and style to suit the new owner.  

I'm very pleased with them!  

Liberty Photo Albums

Three small concertina Photo Books, covered with Liberty prints!

The green and light pink fabrics are called "Capel" - one of my favourite designs.  The red and pink pansy pattern is "Ros" and it comes in other colourways too.

The albums measure 7.5" x 5.5", which means they will hold photos up to 7" x  5" in size. 

There are 28 pages, using both sides of the concertina (30 if you used the inside of each cover).

The pages are stiff white cartridge paper, which means photos can be fixed to both sides of each concertina page...

... but you can open the concertina like a "normal" book, by leaving the ribbons fastened at one end, or the other - or it can be opened out into a continuous strip, with photos both sides.

The books look really nice with a label on the front, which I can print with one or two lines of text...

...like these!

And look what arrived in the post today!  

 New Liberty Print fabrics!  I love them! 

 I already have plans for more small photo albums... 

A Rainbow Wedding Book

I have been working on a commission order, for a Wedding Guest Book.  The customer's wedding has a rainbow theme and she wanted a book that would fit this theme.  She liked the rainbow paper in some of my notebooks, but wanted a white or cream cover. 

After some discussion, we came up with a plan.  The book is now finished and this is it:

It's a hard-cover case-bound book (ie. a traditional "hard-back" style), with covers of white linen and silver-grey silk. 

Close-up of the silk & linen.

 

Rainbow pages and a hard cover, with a stiff spine.

 

Close-up view of the hand-stitched headband (that stripey bit at the top & bottom of the pages).

 

The end-papers are shiny silver. 

It's not exactly paper - more a shimmery thin plastic film, but it works really well.

The back of the end-papers has a matt finish. 

Red pages come first - each page has a punched, decorative edge.

Orange and yellow pages...

 

Turquoise and aqua - and you can see the other colours before & after these pages - there are ten colours in all, with a total of sixty pages.  

 

It's finished and the customer Loves it!

The only thing that I still have to do, is make and print a lino-cut label, with a rainbow and the Happy Couple's names & wedding date.  Work in progress...

Wednesday Worktable March 13th 2013 - Books Again!

A day late, but this is what was going on in LizzieMade's Studio yesterday!

I'm joining in with WOYWW at Julia's Stamping Ground - when you've read this, why not go and see what's going on there? 

* * *

Still working on Rachel's Rainbow Wedding Guest Book commission.

Since I last posted about this, I have hand-stitched the headbands, at top & bottom of the book block (the stitched pages).  Headbands are the stripey bits you see at the top & bottom of a hardback book, just inside the spine.  You can get ready made headbands from bookbinding suppliers, but it's much nicer to stitch my own - for starters, I could choose the colours - in this case, white and silver, to match the covers. 

 

Then I cut out the boards for the front & back covers, plus the stiffening piece for the spine of the book.  This is a traditional "Case Bound" hardback book, so the Case (covers) is assembled seperately to the Book Block (pages).  Once the book block has been strengthened, by applying some fabric & paper to the spine, it can be attached to the case, to make a book!

The white linen and silver-grey silk is also cut out, ready to be lined with fine paper, to make the bookcloth for the covers.  They will be assembled as a single unit - ie. front cover / spine/ back cover, then the book block is fixed inside and the silver endpapers glued down into the covers. 

 

The final step will be a label for the front cover.  It will be a hand-cut lino print, with a rainbow design - yet to be sorted out by me!  I need to make a few drawings and offer them to Rachel, for her approval.  I may colour the print by hand, to give it a real "rainbow feel" - it depends on how it looks when printed, I think.

It's going to be a lovely book! 

 

* * *

 

Pages and cover boards for a concertina-bound Wedding Guest Book.

Peacock paper and deep blue silk, for the front and back covers.

 

This will be a Guest Book, for Helen's wedding.  It will have 60 pages of lovely cream laid text paper, which will be stitched to a concertina spine, made from the same deep blue silk as the cover trim.  The stitching will be a variation on French Longstitch, which I used on this book:

It's a kind-of hybrid between a longstitch (the twisted thread pattern is known as French Stitch) and Coptic stitch.  The cover boards will be laced onto the book, as with Coptic Stitch, but the pages will also have the longstitch to fix them onto the concertina of fabric that makes the spine...

...like this.

The wedding book will be stitched in a coral-pink thread, to pick out the lovely flowers from the peacock paper.  Helen would also like coral paper, to line the covers on the inside of the book. 

 

She has decided against a label on the front cover - I think she doesn't want to spoil the effect of the lovely peacocks.  The jury is out, about whether there will be a bookplate on the first page of the book, with the bride & groom's names & the wedding date. 

* * *

 

Also on my worktable, waiting to be completed:

This is a ready-made guest book, which sold on Tuesday night.  I just need to print the name of the wedding couple and their wedding date onto the oval label, then attach it to the front of the book.  It will be ready to go in the post on Thursday.

 

I love this book - the peacock-feather patterned fabric is a Liberty Tana Lawn print, called "Isis".  I really like working with Liberty fabrics, especially Tana Lawn, which is a fine-weave cotton fabric, with a cool, smooth feel. Although it's a very light and fine fabric, the close weave makes it ideal for book covers - once lined with fine paper, it's very strong and can be used like a good quality paper. 

 

I'll be a bit sorry to see this book leave my stock - it's nice to open the box occasionally and look at the lovely books inside.  I won't be able to gloat over this one any more! But it's going to a good home, for a wedding this summer.  I wish this couple all the happiness in the world!

 

* * *

 

So, that's what was on my desk on Wednesday.  Ongoing projects, which I hope to complete very soon.  Then I can make more of these:

 

This is an art journal or sketchbook, with 40 pages of good sketch paper, which are made as a coptic-bound book with no covers.  The book slides inside the outer cover unit, so that it can be replaced when full of great sketches!

The covers are white artists' canvas, which is pre-primed, so the new owner can decorate their book however they wish.  It has a wrap-round case, with a buff leather trim on the left-hand spine and a matching little leather pencil/pen holder inside.  

I designed it to open out flat on your lap, to make an integral work surface.  This one is the prototype, though it turned out well enough to be offered for sale.  I plan on making a few more similar books, once I get some more canvas fabric. I may also make some in a portrait format - perhaps A4 size (11.5" x 8"), instead of A5 (8" x 5.75").  I could use different leather for the trim, or other materials for the covering too. 

 

So many plans... so little time!!

 

Wednesday Worktable - 11th July 2012

It's ages since I've posted on my blog! It's been a bit crazy-busy round here.  So, I thought I would join in with WOYWW #163, at Julia Dunnits' Stamping ground.

This has been my work table in the past week. 

Bits of a pair of books.  They're recipe books, A4 sized (letter size) and have matching cover papers, but the spines and insides are in contrast.  I've posted about them before (and on my Facebook Page too).

Basically they are in blue and yellow, but where one book has blue, the other has yellow.  Thus the separator pages for sections of the books are blue in one and yellow in the other; the bellows-type pockets in the folders at the front of the books are blue in one, with a yellow flap, but the other way round in the other book; the spine of one book is blue bookcloth, but yellow on the other. 

I've been sewing their bindings

...attaching ribbon bookmarks to each section

...and stitching in a ribbon which will keep each book closed.

It's still a Work In Progress, but I'm almost finished now.  Both books have been sewn/bound and I am now working on finishing off the covers and attaching these, along with the folder sections, onto the fronts of the bindings (the back pages are attached already and under weights).

I didn't actually work on these today - in fact, I've done nothing since last Thursday, as we were away at the weekend and I had "doing mummy jobs" to do on Monday/Tuesday (it was my mum's birthday on Monday, so we had a family lunch, then yesterday she had two appointments that I had to take her to).  And, just to make sure I got nothing done... I picked up a cold from James (he brought it home from his weekend course) and it started last night.  So, very little sleep and felt really and truly rotten all day today.  I think colds affect me more now, because of my asthma and the problems I still have with my upper back. What is "just a cold" to most people, can be a real problem for an asthma sufferer; and then I often have slightly gummy ears, so the cold has affected them today and made me feel a bit sick and giddy. 

I'm okay though and hope for a good night's sleep and to be able to get on with these tomorrow.  Hopefully, they will be finished by tomorrow night!

So, just a bit of catching up in Lizzieland! I hope to be back soon, posting regularly.  I still owe you all the final part of the Longstitch Journal Tutorials...

Happy Wednesday!

Blue and Yellow and Green and Lilac... A Book Rainbow?

Last Wednesday, I posted this photo of my desk, for the WOYWW post:

Several books in progress

There seemed to be a rather strong turquoise and yellow theme going on, but I did say I was working with other colours too (eg. the cream and lilac book covers at the bottom of that front pile!).

This is what I have completed in the past week:

Turquoise and Yellow Wedding Guest Book

 





A large Wedding Guest Book, for a lady in Hong Kong.  She chose the turquoise Indian paper and matching silk taffetta for the covers, with a turquoise Coptic style linen binding.  Inside, the covers are lined with a bright sunny yellow paper and she asked for a tassel to match.  There are twenty pages inside, of a medium/heavy artists paper, with hand-torn soft edges all round. 

Swedish Linen Guest Book

This book is one I made for my shop "stock", just because I loved the fabric and wanted to make it!  The bookcloth covers are made from a lovely Swedish Linen fabric, which I bought in "Nord", a shop that I explored, with Celia and Diane, on our day out in Cambridge. 

The fabric is designed by Eva Jemt and is part of a range called "Skimmer" (Shimmer). There are two sets - "Gryning" (Dawn), which has white warp threads and coloured weft and "Skymning" (Twilight), with black warp threads.  The weave is fairly loose, but the contrast of the warp and weft threads makes it a very attractive fabric.  It has self-coloured warp threads at each edge of the panel, to give a deeper coloured stripe, which I like very much. 

Although it was designed for making window blinds, or panel curtains, I could "see" books made with this; luckily, the lady was happy to sell me quarter metres, so I bought pieces in the green and also an equally zingy pink. 

So, here is Nord Swedish Linen Book Number 1, using the green fabric.  I loved the bright stripe on the edges, so I folded the bookcloth and halved it down the centre, giving me two pieces with a striped border, big enough for one large book. 

I wanted the whole of that green edge to show, so I used a matching lokta mulberry paper, to line the whole cover, wrapping over the bound edge.  This meant I could lay the fabric up close to the edge, but not have to wrap it over and lose my striped piece. I left the inside lining section loose, until I had trimmed and glued the fabric onto the back of the covers, then I trimmed it and laid it over the raw edges, to give a nice neat cover lining.  I'm pleased with how it came out. 

The binding is in an off-white hemp cord, which I waxed lightly with beeswax, to help avoid it going fluffy during binding.  The wax lets the thread slide through the binding holes, so it doesn't snag and get that nasty fuzzy, tatty appearance, which would then gather dust and look grubby. 

I made a decorative binding, combining a Coptic / chain stitch with Longstitch.  It looks quite good, though I still need to practice this type of binding, to make it 100% right.  Under the binding, I added a soft spine of the same linen (I thought of this before I cut up my linen piece, so I actually removed that strip from the centre of the panel, rather than cut right through the middle - just for once, I thought ahead!!).  The spine is not stiffened, but the stitching is all done with the one thread, as a unit, so although the binding is flexible, the book is strong. 

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this book.  I want to make the pink version next and may have to schedule a linen-shopping trip to Cambridge again soon... (any excuse eh?).

And Finally:

"Sparkly Trees" Extra-large Baby Album

I have just finished this huge album, for a customer's baby First Birthday party (you can see the covers at the bottom of the pile in the WOYWW photo above). 

The customer chose a creamy paper, with sparkly trees, for the front and back covers.  After a bit of thinking, she decided that she would like the gold and white floral paper for the cover linings.  I think, in a smaller book, it wouldn't look right, as the design is big and bold; but in this large book, it just seems to work out quite well.

  

The customer wanted a silk edging which picked out one of the colours from the trees.  She suggested lilac, with a yellow ribbon tied binding.  I was so lucky to find a piece of lilac / white dupioni shot silk, when I went to the fabric shop last week, to buy the yellow ribbon.  They had just had a delivery of "spring" colours (of course, I bought more than one colour - best to be prepared, eh?).

The ribbon binding is "sewn" through the covers.  I made a blue and white album, with a tied binding, a while ago:  

This had three holes for the binding, but the "Sparkly Trees" book is really big - it measures 15.5" / 39.5cm x 11.5" / 29cm, which is large - so I decided to make a five-hole binding and effectively sew the book together with the ribbon. 

It has worked out well, although it will loosen a bit over time - but then, all bindings do that. The advantage of the ribbon-tied binding, is that it can be undone, tightened and re-tied! You can also add or take away pages from the album, as it's not as permanent a fastening as a stitched binding.  The ribbon is woven from man-made fibres too, which are more rigid and less stretchy than cotton or silk; so I am confident that this will hold together well. 

I am just about to go and make some "trial runs" of a label for the inside first page. We tried out labels on the cover yesterday, but the customer feels that it spoils the look of the covers, so we are "going inside" for the next attempt.  I like that, as there's a lot more scope for a bit of fun and experimentation!  I also will be working on the pair of Recipe Books, which I've had on the binding table for a while now - I really want to finish those soon, as the customer is very patiently waiting!

Off to start enjoying myself - see you all later!