Handbound Leather Longstitch Journal with Watercolor Details

I'm so excited to share my most recent handmade book with you today! It was a custom order for a Mother's Day gift and I dare say that it turned out even better than I imagined. This journal was created for my friend's mom, who is a painter. This piece was fun because I don't actually know my friend's mother and I pretty much had free reign.

After a short Q & A session with my friend, I had a vision and just went for it. I started with a rich light brown leather cover. Bonus points because the cover is completely upcycled from *drumroll please* . . . a secondhand leather skirt!

The strap is actually the old waistband of the skirt— CAN YOU TELL??

This binding is called "longstitch" and allows a beautiful contrast of thread on the spine. The spine has an additional strip of leather sewn on for aesthetics, stability, and if we're being honest— because I totally messed up the original holes I punched and needed to cover them up. WHOOPS. Happy accident though, no? I kind of love it.

The leather is so soft and buttery— the perfect texture. It's also very thin, so it was challenging to sew. There are some wrinkles and a bit of bulging on parts of the spine, which is not ideal to the perfectionist in me, but the artist part of me appreciates that you can tell it wasn't made by a machine. And secondhand leather— come on! I totally saved some poor unfortunate soul from wearing this mid-shin length leather travesty.

The inside contains 160 hand-torn pages that create a lovely deckled edge. I am a complete and total sucker for a book with feathered edges. The cover sheet and signature protectors are all made from paper that I watercolored myself. I am so proud of that watercolor, too! It is a "technique" that I "mastered" a few weeks ago when I created my first wedding guestbook (oops-- secret's out!!).

I can't wait to share that guestbook, but it's totally one of those annoying "top secret projects" that I can't talk about yet [GROAN]. But I will tell you that it was in collaboration with Stockroom Vintage— so you should expect lots of dreamy goodness. If you're sleuth enough, you can lurk my instagram and find a sneak peak of it.

ANYWAY. Secondhand leather. Watercolor. Hand-torn edges. This book is very "Kitty Cat Stevens." It's a huge amalgamation of pretty much everything I've learned about bookmaking. Like when you think about it, this book took me 6 years to make. I'll just let that sink in . . .

Lastly, I would be much remiss if I didn't mention a few more things. Although this is the first time I have done this particular longstitch sewing pattern, it is actually the second time I've made a leather longstitch journal. The first time was in a class taught by Katie Gonzalez, a local bookbinder and owner of Linen Laid & Felt bindery. She's also the one who taught me a slightly easier version of how I was tearing down paper, too.

I never posted pictures of the journal I made in Katie's workshop because it didn't feel 100% like mine, ya know? I mean,  it was essentially me learning how to make her signature book. But that's the thing I love about bookbinding— you can teach a room of 20 people the same binding and still get 20 different books at the end. So that class gave me the confidence to go ahead and experiment with leather and really take what I learned and make it my own.

That's why I love learning. I can already see how my work has progressed from book to book. Like if I hadn't made this embroidered book (which I still haven't shared the final pics of, OOPS) then I wouldn't have the knowledge to make the guestbook I mentioned above. And then I couldn't have made THIS book. (Insert circle of life metaphor because it's getting too late for me to think straight anymore). And maybe it's just me being cheesy. It just feels like so much in my life is aligning and like everything I've ever done has been leading up to this moment. (Okay, I'm getting sentimental— time to wrap this up!)

(Also, here's the obligatory cat lady picture. Hundreds of places to sit in our new house and she decides to plop down on my photo setup— classic Olive!)

Whew. I think that's everything I wanted to say. Well, besides a few "housekeeping" things. As I mentioned in my last post, I'm doing my first handmade market next month— eeeeep! Which means even though I'll be making lots of things, I will be allotting nearly all of my free time to finishing up May commissions and creating inventory, so things might get quieter around here BECAUSE PRIORITIES. So if you'd like to see me more than once a week, let's hangout on Instagram.

Although I won't be on the blog as often, I swear I am so fired up about everything to come! Once the market's done, I'll be focusing on my new website/shop. So if you're reading this through Google Friend Connect then I recommend going ahead and following on Bloglovin instead. That's all the blog talk I have. I have more books to share but I'm still trying to find a balance so I don't overwhelm y'all with ME ME ME books books books.

Okay that's all I have to say— I hope you are doing wonderful! When my friend saw his mom's book he said, "That's so beautiful I want to cry." So basically I hope your life is so good you want to cry. But not really because then you'd be crying . . . but you know, I really hope you are doing well. Y'all are great for reading all the silly things I say and I am beyond lucky to have your support. OKAY TOO MANY FEELINGS, BYE NOW.

A Sparkly Custom Journal for the Glitter Lover's Soul

Hello, everyone— and thank you for your wonderful comments and emails regarding my big 'ole life changes. Since the last post wasn't all glitter and sunshine, I thought today it would be fun to share something that is literally only glitter and sparkles— my most recent handmade book! For those curious, this is called a "buttonhole binding" and yes, it was extremely fun to make :-)

This custom glitter journal was a birthday present for my close friend, Haley. She's a really amazing person and feels very much like a sister to me. She is extremely talented and tons of fun to be around. She has amazing handwriting, makes really wonderful watercolor drawings, and is almost always writing a list of some sort. She had a Whoopi GOLDberg themed birthday party and is also obsessed with mermaids, so I used those facts as jumping off points to create the perfect surprise journal for her.

I found this awesome heavyweight sparkly paper that is perfect for creating softcover books. It's thick enough to protect but light enough to keep the book from weighing your purse or bag down. I had a vision of a glittery gold book with a detailed exposed spine, but I wasn't sure what other color I wanted (or what would "work" with the almost over the top gold). But then I found this dreamy teal paper with it's own, more subtle sparkle and just ran with the whole thing.

I had actually picked out some awesome jewel purple thread with sparkly accents to bind the book, but somewhere between the thread aisle and my house it completely disappeared. I didn't have time to go back to the store, so I just thought, "If you were making this for you, what color would you choose?" and then obviously decided to bind it with some peachy pink instead.

Since I know Haley likes to use watercolor, write with fun pens and markers, and make collages, I went with a nice and thick multimedia paper. It's not quite as heavy as watercolor paper, but it's hefty enough to really span a lot of different mediums. And as a fellow list-maker, I had my heart set on something high-quality because it's a huge bummer dealing with ghosting while you write. The paper is also hand-torn to size, which gives the book that dreamy deckled edge that I love so much. . . Anyway, I'm going to move along now because I could drone on about paper for far too long!

The last small detail I added was the heart button that helps keep the whole thing closed. Haley actually bought that little button while she lived in Africa, and she gave it to me months ago after deciding she didn't know what to make with it. I could just tell that it was special to her though, so as soon as I found out her birthday was coming up, I knew whatever I created had to incorporate it. I think I made the right call because there may have been a few happy tears shed over while receiving this book.

So there you have it— the goldest, most glitteriest book I have ever made. I hate to sound obnoxious by swooning over my own work, but honestly, I am in serious love with how this book turned out! It's something I never would have created for myself but now that it exists I kind of want one in every color, ya know? This glitter is just so much fun— I couldn't stop smiling the entire time I was making this book.

Ps. Here's a super secret I'm gonna let you in on: Haley and I have decided to collaborate on a zine together! I've always wanted to write one, and this random idea finally popped into my head that would be perfect, so we are gonna go with it and see where it takes us— I'm super excited! I've also finally convinced her to start a blog (coming soon) so can she share all the awesome lists she makes, so hopefully y'all will be able to meet her soon!

Custom Rainbow Journal with Duct Tape Covers

Hello, everyone! I've noticed a lot of my friends (both online and off) have been feeling less than inspired lately so today I thought I'd try to combat the winter blues by sharing this borderline nauseatingly bright & cheery book that I made for a friend. I've had a less than ideal couple of months but just thinking about how I felt holding this book after finishing it is warming me up a bit— I couldn't stop smiling!

But let me back up so you get the whole story. I have a pretty amazing friend group and we organized our huge second annual Secret Santa event in December. There must of been at least. . .  30 of us?! and I got to be Santa for my good friend, Neil. In order to describe Neil to you, I think I need to tell you about the first time we met.

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In December of 2009, I went on a two-week winter tour with my friends' band, Blastoids. This was my second stint with them, (you can read about the first one— a 45 day long summer trip— here). That winter, still filled with wanderlust, they bought a school bus, gutted it, filled it with over a dozen friends, and drove it up the east coast on tour. We played a show in a different city every night and it was amazing.

During that journey, we met up with another band on a similar journey: Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt. And that's how I met Neil (and a half dozen of my now best friends). Neil writes music about how amazing life and friends are and then travels the world with an array of people, costumes, lights, and instruments— spreading happiness everywhere he goes.

All 20+ of us spent our days on a bus playing games and getting to know each other and our nights singing songs and dancing together. By the end, it was clear that when we said goodbye it was just the beginning. Now, five years later, I still keep in touch with everyone and consider them my closest friends even though we are all across the country now.



Neil is a lot of things— funny, eccentric, encouraging, smart. He is an inextinguishable spark of positive energy and fun. Neil is also always, always, always, on tour—I can hardly keep up with where he is. Since he is always traveling, I wanted to give him something portable and practical, which is how the book you see here was born.

Neil's music equipment and gear is covered in neon duct tape, so I immediately knew his book would be, too. And there was no way that clean white pages would work (if you don't believe me, just look at his website) so I gave him a rainbow to choose from. I finished it up with purple stitching and even though I sometimes felt blinded by it's power, that's also how I knew it would be a great fit.

I didn't even know if he would use a journal when I made it, but the process of creating the perfect book for someone is where all the fun comes from. I thought maybe he could at least use it for lyrics, but he told me he plans on making it a gratitude book, which is an idea I love for a book so vibrant.



So that's the story of the brightest book I've ever made. When I sat down to write this I actually had no idea what I was going to say, but after talking about friendship and memories I'm all warm and fuzzy on this nasty winter day. I mean, it was a fun book to make, but I think I love the reason that I made it even more. I like making things for other people so much, and with each book I create I've realized that my greatest ambition is to do it for a living— and the thought of making that a reality is what I'm using to keep the winter blues away. Until next time, Jenna 

Custom: Coptic Bound "Do-si-Do" Book (Photo Heavy)

The Dos-á-dos binding, more often called the "Do-si-do" book here in America (yes— like the square dance!), is basically a way to create one book from two. The "two books" share a back cover so when you look at it from the top, the covers form the letter "N" (as pictured above). The translation is from French which literally means "back-to-back." You would open the front cover and begin writing in it as usual. Then, when you get to the end, you close the book and voilá — it's another blank book waiting for you to fill it up again. Pretty cool, huh?

Sidenote: There is a similar book form called the "Tête-bêche" where two texts are bound head-to-tail. This means that one of the books would actually be upside-down in relation to the other. BUT Tête-bêche bound books only have two covers so they look like a normal book except when you finish the text of the first book, the next page would be the upside-down last page of the second book.

If you think of Do-si-do books as "conjoined" and Tête-bêche as "two in one" then it helps to keep them straight and understandable. These two book forms were often created for complementary works such as the Bible's New and Old Testament.

So, now that the history lesson is over, the photos I'm sharing today are of a custom book that I was commissioned to make. I'm a problem solver by nature, and so making custom books that fit someone's specific needs is literally my favorite thing. My client* wanted me to create a blank book that she could give to a friend for her birthday. Her friend's husband had passed away and my client wanted the family to have a place to capture and record not only wonderful memories of previous birthdays and holidays, but also their future celebrations together. I suggested a do-si-do book and she loved the idea.

The other problem I had to solve was that my client already had a very specific idea for the covers. This is only a problem because if someone already has an idea of what they want in their head before you start the project then they have already created their own set of expectations for you. So the risk is that if you don't deliver exactly what they want then they will be disappointed with the end product no matter what it is.

Luckily, I realized this beforehand and was able to work it into the design of the book. So I used papers that she chose for the end pages (end pages are the papers that are glued onto the inside of the covers) and I created neutral covers that she could later adhere her own design onto.

The last design decision I made was the coptic style binding. This binding style is perfect not only because it's a very pretty exposed stitching, but it allows the book to lie flat when open so it's really convenient and pleasant to write in.

So after I addressed all those problems, this is the book I came up with. I'm so happy with the way this book turned out! I only broke two needles while sewing it together but at least I got lots of practice ;-) This book is unlike any other I've made before since it addresses some things I've never had to think about before. I learned so much from it and I love the fact that no one else in the world has this book besides one family. It's completely unique to my client's friend, just like her husband.

*I use the term client throughout this post but for the purpose of full disclosure I don't mind that anyone knows that this book was commissioned by my boss! I just didn't feel like saying "boss" or "friend" was quite right for this situation (though she is both to me!), so in the name of professionalism, I chose "client." She knows I'm preparing myself to open a bookmaking business so I'm so excited to have this opportunity to work through a real-life client situation and figure out some of the hiccups along the way now instead of when dealing with strangers. Also, I normally wouldn't create a book so minimal on the covers, but since I got to talk with her at great length about what she wanted, I was super comfortable and happy to accommodate her wish to create her own covers. I actually really like that it will end up being a collaboration between the two of us!

So there you have it— a little peek at my process and what goes into creating a custom handbound book for somebody. I also got to play around with potential packaging and product photography, though I'm not 100% satisfied with either of those yet.

Do y'all think these pictures are acceptable for product shots on a website/Etsy store?

I can't decide what I want to do. My heart wants something "real" like these indoor photos that I just snapped at my desk. But sometimes my brain wants "classic" photos taken on a plain white background. . .  Ugh, I don't know y'all! Do you find yourself drawn to one or the other when shopping online? Give me all your feedback because I am really indecisive and when I start to over-think things I get really anxious.

Thanks for taking the time to read all this and letting me share my passion with you! There's nothing quite like watching someone's eyes light up when you give them a handmade item. Honestly, it makes my spinster heart grow a size and lets me know I'm definitely on the right path to doing what I love for a living. Until next time, j.