Journals: Revisited

I decided to retry my hand at doing another journal cover.  I ran out and purchased two journal refills from Barnes and Noble that were slightly different in size.  One was 5x7 and the other was 6x8.  I wanted to try out the thinner leather.  I'm glad I did.

First I made my measurements and cut out the pieces of leather.  Next I cut out the lining for the pockets.  This time I decided to only use the lining for the pockets and leave the flesh side of the leather unlined.  On the larger journal I folded the pockets edge and, using the sewing awl, sewed the fold shut so the edge would be nice and clean.  The smaller journal was a bit too small for that treatment.

Onto the punching of the holes.  I clipped the pocket lining to the leather and using the four prong hole punch I punched all around the edge eyeballing it all the way.

Now it was time to tool something into the leather.  I was going to put the tree design that put on the notebook onto the larger journal but the transfer didn't go very well.  I decided to pull out some old designs to see if I was inspired by anything and I came across an old cross design I used to put on my wallets.

I decided to tool that design into the front of the journal.  The smaller journal was given a mushroom from the Mario Brothers Video Game.

Next it was just a matter of staining and stitching.  I used a dark stain for the cross journal and lighter stain for the mushroom journal.

 I stitched them using a double loop stitch and that was that.  One thing I do want to note, in my haste (apparently I have to learn lessons over and over again for it to sink in) I forgot to wet form the leather to the book.  The good news was that the leather was so thin that it didn't matter.  It would have helped slightly but the journals still look very nice.  Another thing I want to point out: I misjudged the measurements a tad.  I should have left a little more room around the edges as I had to trim the cover of the journals themselves so they would fit in the leather covers.  I only had to trim a quarter of an inch on the front and back of each but next time I was leave a little more room.

That's about all for this project.  I'm really pleased with the outcome.  My next project I'm really excited about.  I stumbled upon some really great leather artists on Etsy and they gave me some good ideas that I'm going to try in my own work.  So watch out for that.

Until then, Happy Crafting!