Book 129 - Black Leather Mini-Fat Journal - Blank Book

Here's a pretty little mini-journal, a fat book, made from a nice quality black leather. This little thing only measures about 2 1/2" x 2 3/4" x 1" thick--a real pocket book. It feels great in the hand. The paper is just yummy--96 pages (192 both sides) of thick, creamy Arches Text Wove paper, hand torn for a deckled look.

The liner paper is just for fun--rows of dangling skeletons, white on black. This mini journal closes with a thong that wraps vertically around from the back and then wraps around an antler button at the front. The binding is a longstitch binding sewn in a pair of "x" crossings. A very nice, nicely finished hand-made book.

Book 122 - De La Luna Loteria Coptic Bound Journal

Here's a couple more cards from the fantastic "loteria" set I found with calavera art by Mexican artist Erik de la Luna. This time, I've used larger postcards of a couple of the images. I glued them to the stiff cover of a notebook for extra strength and I've let the decorative pattern of the notebook cover serve as a design element on the inside, like an end sheet.

The cover image is a skeleton angel with flowing curly hair and holding a flaming sword. The back is a skeleton version of Sor Juana, a very famous Mexican writer and poet from the 17th century.

There are nine signatures of five folded sheets each, alternating red recycled paper with white text-weight bond paper. That gives this hand-made blank journal a total of 90 leaves and 180 pages (both sides). The book is hand bound with a single-needle coptic stitch (chain stitch binding) in white waxed linen thread. Since the coptic binding method leaves an exposed spine, the alternating red and white signatures makes a pretty design element on the spine.

Thanks to the gluing of the covers, this journal needs to go under weights now to flatten it out completely.

I do love this "loteria" set. I've got to find more fun stuff to do with these great images.