So... I've been working on my super novice leatherworking skills and trying to get the whole leatherbound journal sizing and finishing thing just right. I made this book that's just all the stories from the Amensol's Shadow series under the Fan Fiction section put altogether. Shout out to Therek for putting them all in one document and adding chapter layers. it made it really easy to fine tune and edit, so thanks bud! I'm making two and this was my practice copy so i could take some lessons learned.
It's 240 pages.
Vegetable tanned leather, but the cheap stuff. If you look at the edges, the stain did NOT soak into some artifacts around the edges. Not sure why it did that, but it actually came out alright. It makes the book look naturally worn somehow. I didn't finish the inside of the cover of this one, but i did try to smooth out the back and had some marginal success with this one chemical and a very finely sanded rounded block of wood that you rub over the surface with the chemical and it binds the fibers together. It didn't turn out awesome, but it was decent for first try.
It's got some 60 weight off white paper I ordered that is a little grainier looking that copy paper, but it wasn't as grainy as I was looking for. The first book I did I ripped all the pages out of a 9x12 sketchbook that was slightly fuzzy that I actually preferred to this paper, but it does look good. Was bound in books of 10 pages folded in half, so 40 pages per book and 6 books.
I developed a special stitching pattern for binding the pages.that looked better on paper than in real life, but it's ok enough. And the stitching could have been a little straighter but I shortcutted a step.
Overall, what do yall think? Suggestions? Any other leatherworkers out there with tips for me?
Super cool. I hope you share more of this type of thing in the future.
I like the looks of that. Reminds me of my old EQ binder with loot locs and printed out maps (from work cuz ink and printers were expensive back in the day). I used to use a parchment weight "antiquated" paper for caligraphy. I'll see if I can find brand and type for you would look great in a leather bound tome.