I challenged myself to expand my crafting skills by bidding on an Alchemy item on Etsy. Someone wanted to have a brand-new book re-bound into something from the Dark Ages. I had never attempted anything like this, so I practiced by making myself a journal while waiting for the book to arrive. I have since made a number of journals (of which you have seen in swaps, or will see as I complete them), having become a true addict!
Here is a pic of the completed project:
Here is what the book looked after I removed the factory wrap:
Here is the cover deconstructed:
Here is the spine detail (I cut and glued a heavy cardboard star to the spine before covering it):
Here was the mock-up they sent:
I think it turned out pretty much as they had requested. The only details you don't see in the photos are re-stitched pages, the new fly-sheets made of a handmade paper ordered from the same place I ordered the paper for the cover, and a very cool book-mark made from a piece of cord I had laying around that perfectly matched the shade of purple on the cover paper. The cord had several strands of black cord, the purple cord, and some gold lame threads all twisted together. I attached one end to the inside of the spine and made a tassel of the extra cording all unraveled. I didn't take a shot of it because I wanted it to be a surprise extra for the client.
This project has inspired me to do a couple of journals with handpainted covers as well as one I will post here as a work-in-progress that will have a dimensional cover a la Army of Darkness style.
