Book of the Week: The Sleeping Beauty Coptic Stitched Journal

About a month ago, I found a poor little coverless book in the free bin at the Friends of the Library room, and GUESS WHAT!

It had about six absolutely stunning vintage prints of classic fairy tales like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty, The Snow Queen, Snow White and Red Rose, the Bremen Town Musicians, and The Prince and the Princess.

So I used each illustration to cover the front of an Upcycled Journal. I found matching patterned paper to cover the backs, and used different coloured threads for the stitching. One day, I promise, I'll put up a picture tutorial for how to make one, but for right now, I'm keeping it close.

The first two mentioned have sold, the second two are available, and the last two are in production. So look for them soon!

The best thing about these pictures, though, are that they are dark and mysterious, just like the old-school fairy tales were. No Disney cartoons here! (Not that I don't like Disney.)

Book of the Week: King Arthur Journal

After a pretty long hiatus, I'm back, with a bajillion more books. Including this wee-beastie called the King Arthur Journal.

After seeing a exhibition of illuminated manuscripts last year, I've been wanting to make a journal with vellum, and after picking some up at the Lobby I've done it!

It's a quarter leather sewn on cords with a rounded spine. On the cover I used red and metallic gold decorative paper and textured tan leather, while on the inside I've used recycled parchment endpages and vegetable vellum.

I'm hopeful someone will appreciate it's uniqueness and history. Vellum's not that commonly used as an art medium anymore, but it's semi-transparency causes an awesome effect that gives the contents dimension. Being able to see through the page means that each page's art plays on the next and that one on the next, and so on forever.

I will be honest and say that this book was difficult to make. Unlike ordinary paper, vellum is more adverse to being stitched up and it took a lot of care to round the spine. But I'm pretty satisfied with the end results.

In other news: I've ordered more marbled paper from MyMarbledPapers which I'm looking forward to getting in the mail soon. One's a full sized sheet but I also got two sets of samples in a smaller size. Also, I've been stocking up on Strathmore Drawing and Sketching paper, for my new listings and this week I've posted about 8 new books to my shop.

A long while ago I got a discarded children's book from the Library that was a fairy tale treasury missing it's cover. But inside there were so many wonderful vintage illustrations that I knew I could use in some capacity. So now, I've been making each into a beautiful coptic-stitched journal with corresponding printed scrapbook paper back covers. Find them here.

I'll also be featuring one of them as next week's pick, so look for that. In the mean time, check out my new listings.

ALSO: I've hit 22 sales!