This book is an anniversary journal where the couple writes in it each year on their anniversary.  My customer wanted a nature theme with a touch of Celtic design.  The blind stamped leaves "blow" across the front cover, the spine, and  onto the back cover. The dragonfly on the front is stamped in pale blue foil.  A Celtic knot on the spine provides the Celtic influence.  All of the elements my customer wanted were incorporated here without the cover looking too busy.

blowing leaves journal with light blue dragonfly

- page size 7" wide by 8 and 1/2" tall

- 180 pages (360 page sides to write on)

- pages are off-white, acid-free, lined paper with light gray lines and college ruled spacing

- dark brown satin ribbon page marker

- cover is dark brown goatskin leather over binder's board

- decoration on cover added using custom metal dies, hot foil stamping, blind stamping technique, and light blue foil

- raised cords on spine

- blind stamped lines around spine cords

 - celtic knot on spine added using a custom metal die, hot foil stamping, and pewter stamping foil

- approximately $285

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 This sketchbook was created for a professional artist who likes to sketch from specimens.  The insect on the front is a progressive tiger bee fly.  I started with a photograph of the fly as well as one of the artist's sketches and created the fly as a raised design on the cover of the sketchbook using carved binder's board and tag board covered with various types of goatskin leather and set into a recess in a pigskin leather cover.  This book also has a custom clamshell box that holds the book as well as two insect specimen boxes.  The title on the box, done in large raised lettering under the burgundy pigskin leather, is the name of this artist's business.

custom sketchbook for artist

with custom clamshell box to hold two specimen boxes*

- page size roughly 9" square

- pages are acid-free sketch paper

- pages are hand sewn in signatures with 100% cotton thread

- endpaper is a lovely Claire Guillot French marbled endpaper in a bark design

- cover is predominantly black pigskin leather

- fly on cover created with hand-pared goatskin leather over carved binder's board, then set into a recess in the large cover

- white kangaroo leather onlay for the wings

- fly legs are accented with silver pigment

- custom clamshell box made to hold the book as well as two insect speciment boxes

- box cover is black and burgundy pigskin leather

- edges of box are covered in charcoal linen book cloth

- box is lined with arches cover paper in white and black

- all archival adhesives

- book approximately $550

- box approximately $390

*the pigskin leather used for the cover of this book and box is no longer manufactured or avialable, but a softer look can be achieved with currently-available book leathers

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I can never predict what my customers will request.  This journal was a Mother's Day gift to my customer's wife who loved collecting sand dollars and also loved the color purple.  I carved this sand dollar from binder's board and covered it with hand pared purple goatskin leather before attaching it to the book cloth cover in a very slightly recessed area.  More purple accents were added with purple endpapers and purple lettering on the front cover and spine.

purple sand dollar journal

- page size 9 and 1/2" wide by 10" tall

- 22 pages (44 page sides to write on)

- purple endpapers

- printed title page

- cover is purple vellum book cloth over binder's board

- sand dollar on front carved from a separate piece of binder's board and covered with hand pared purple goatskin leather

- leather sand dollar inset into a very slightly recessed area on the front cover

- lettering added using moveable metal type, hot foil stamping, and purple stamping pigment

- approximately $210

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variety of cloth-covered hardcover books with dragonflies

and celtic knots

- variety of page sizes ranging from 6" wide by 4" tall to 3 and 1/2" wide by 10" tall

- variety of numbers of pages (mostly 50 - 100 pages or 100 - 200 page SIDES to write on)

- page are archival, unlined paper

- covers in a variety of linen and vellum book cloth materials over binder's board

- cover decorations added using cusotm metal dies and hot foil stamping in a variety of colors

 - covers laid out in a variety of asymmetrical designs with a solid-color back cover and a two-tone front cover

- approximately $60 - $90

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My customer sent me black and white artwork of this hummingbird so that I could have it made into a metal die to stamp the image on the front cover in gold foil.  I had the die for the redbud leaves already and those were blind stamped "blowing" across the front cover, spine, an, back cover.  I liked having the hummingbird as the only gold element.

hummingbird and redbud leaf album

- page size 9" square

- 32 pages (this book only had spacing to allow mounting photos on one side of every page, so my customer had 32 pages to mount photos on)

- page are acid-free off-white Arches cover 

- natural uneven deckled paper edge left on the outer edge of every page

- cover is dark brown goatskin leather over binder's board

- leaf decorations on cover added using a custom metal die, hot foil stamping, and blind stamping technique

- hummingbird on cover added using a custom metal die, hot foil stamping, and gold stamping foil

- approximately $270

 - plus the cost of the hummingbird die (ordered for this project from my customer's artwork) approximately $120

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 Created for a customer who liked quail eggs, the only other request for this cover was that it be done in light colors.  Light-colored book leather can be difficult to find, a challenge to work with, and expensive, so this cover was done in eggshell linen book cloth.  I had some pricey British calfskin in a "sprinkled" pattern which perfectly suited the quail egg.  I carved the egg from a separate piece of binder's board and carefully rounded the edges before covering it with leather and attaching it to a slightly recessed area on the front cover.

quail egg journal with feathers

- page size 5 and 1/2" wide by 8 and 1/2" tall

- 150 pages (300 page sides to write on)

- white satin ribbon page marker

- cover is eggshell linen over binder's board

- quail egg on cover carved from a separate piece of binder's board and covered with hand pared sprinkled calf book leather

- feathers added to cover using a custom metal die, hot foil stamping, and white stamping pigment

- lettering added to spine using moveable metal type, hot foil stamping, and light blue stamping foil

- approximately $180

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 This album was created for a couple's anniversary.  The album and box set needed to reflect their love of nature as well as the crane which had symbolic importance for them.  This cover has a wrap-around design with blowing leaves going from the front cover, across the spine, to the back cover.  The crane is stamped on the front cover using a custom metal die (ordered for this project) and pewter stamping foil.  The wide spine is accented with raised cords and stamped with a date in Roman numerals and silver foil.  The crescent moon and lettering on the back are done in silver foil.  This album also has gorgeous marbled endpapers in shades of green.  I made a custom clamshell box for this album.  The box fits the album perfectly.  The box reflects the colors on the album; shades of green and brown with more brown leaves "blowing" across the box cover to reflect the leaves on the album.

crane album and clamshell box

- page size 10" square

- 50 pages (100 page sides to mount photos on)

- page are acid-free off-white Arches cover 

- printed title page

- marbled paper endpapers

- cover is dark brown goatskin leather over binder's board

- raised cords on spine

- spine cords outlined in pewter foil

- decoration on cover and spine added using custom metal dies, hot foil stamping, pewter stamping foil, silver stamping foil, and blind stamping technique

- lettering on spine (roman numerals) and back cover added using moveable metal type, hot foil stamping, and silver stamping foil

- custom clamshell box covered with green linen book cloth and brown linen book cloth

- box lined with acid-free Arches cover paper

- leaf design on box added using a custom metal die, hot foil stamping, and dark brown stamping pigment

- approximately $295 (album) and $175 (box)

- plus the cost of the custom die for the crane (created for this project) which would be approximately $130

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