Moleskine journal cover

[Thijzzz]

Made this for a dear friend of me for an important step in her life.
The functional design was borrowed from internet, execution all mine, also added a penholder.

I used veg tanned 3 mm leather, thinned (skived?) it down to roughly 1.5 mm.
Waxed with renaissance wax and buffed. Kerne's stamp really finished it off!

Thanks for looking,

Thijs

 

[MrEd]

that is what i would call a fine piece of work!!

 

[Curious Cat]

Very nice, well done.

cj

 

[Toddy]

Thijs that's a lovely piece and a wonderful gift.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Thijzzz]

Thank you all! Making it was a challenge, but it turned out better than I hoped for.

 

[Biker]

Ditto with what MrEd said.

Very professional looking. The stamp on the front looks gorgeous! Give that few years of use and it'd look like something from the middle ages.

 

[Pandabean]

Nice work and if it was easy it wouldn't have been nearly as fun or challenging, well thats what I find anyway.

Ive been thinking of making a journal for my moleskines, but I only have 3mm thick leather. Hope you don't mind me asking but how did you manage to get it down to 1.5mm? Just scrape with a knife? I really dont want to buy another hide at the moment.

 

[SCOMAN]

Thijzzz that's a beautiful piece of work. I use Moleskine books would you think of doing another for a price?

 

[Biker]

At the risk of sounding like a total what's a moleskin book? I've heard of moleskin shirts and trousers but books???!

Maybe I should google it instead of asking, but having googled spitroast while reading another thread here you'll understand my hesitation

Ahaaaaaaaa Nevermind I just bit the bullet and googled it (without images) I understand now Moleskine is not moleskin subtle difference I failed to notice.

Still a great looking cover Thijzz, hope she'll treasure that in her "important step in life" Hope it wasn't anything too painful.

 

[Shewie]

Very nice Thijs

 

[g4ghb]

Very tidy mate! - I like the way you have cunningly used the elastic on the moleskine to hold it shut.

Any chance of a close-up of how you have cut the leather to enable this?

 

[BigM]

Lovely, lovely, lovely. As a Moleskine user I'd also appreciate a few close-up shots or even a short description of the process you went through to make. I'd love to try this myself.

Thanks for showing,

M

 

[Thijzzz]

Wow, thanks for all the cheers!

As said, I borrowed the functional design and enhanced it a bit from here:
http://www.engraveyourbook.com/pages/about-covers. I 'm not very good at coming up with new designs, but I am very good at copying and enhancing existing designs.

I used this picture as an example:

The enhancements were:

- Adding a cut-out circle so you can reach the elastic band easier. Especially for my friend who is visibly impaired, I thought it would be handy to have a big hole to poke your finger in to find the elastic. Turns out it's much easier all around.

- Added a elastic band to hold a pen. This band was sandwiched between the 2 layers of leather, glued and then stitched. I put more strain on the left side of the band before glueing, so it naturally flips toward the book, even with a pen in it. So it won't dangle under the cover.

- Made the holes on upper and lower side a bit bigger and more rounded, so the elastic band flips out and in easier when changing notebooks.

Here's some detail pics:

PS: in the picture underneath the small hole is still quite sharply angled to the long slit, I rounded this more afterwards to help the elastic band flip in and out better.

@Pandabean: For thinning the leather down, I used a special tool that has an interchangeable razorblade. Leprevo has these too, called a "safety beveller", see here: http://www.leprevo.co.uk/skivers.htm

@Biker: The step in her life was that she was ordaned a (Zen)Buddhist Monk. Nothing painful.....although she had to have her head shaven clean but that shouldn't scare you.
Pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tussenpozen/sets/72157622267056981/

@SCOMAN: Sorry, but not at the moment. I want to keep it a hobby and do it when I feel like it.

@BigM: Short description:

- Skive the leather down to 1-1,5 mm. Not easy to do this evenly! Next time I'll by a thinner hide.

- Cut out leather to fit well around the notebook. Take care to measure that it enfolds the notebook opened and closed, and allow a good space for glueing and stitching. The glued sides were 1,5 cm wide, the stitching is only 5 mm from the edge of the book. I needed a well glued edge to make stitching easier, cutting of the excess later.

- Insides: cut out to fit the cover-part, but add a few mm in height.
I wetformed the insides on a thin plastic board that has the same thickness as the notebook cover, so it would slide into the preformed area easily. Because that means a part of the leather will be raised slightly, you need the extra mm.

- Wetformed the outer cover around a wood plank the same thickness as the notebook. Stamped the outer cover. Left all parts to dry.

- Next day: cut out the long slit, small round slots on top and bottom and the circle for the elastic band of the notebook.
Glued everything together, (and put in the elastic band for the pen), stitched it, cut of the excess edged and waxed it.

Thanks for looking again!