The Forest Fair

A blog for my handmade leather-bound books https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/TheForestFair

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Finished! Silver wax completed the look.

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WIP I finally got some new book binding tools (YAY), but it took quite a few months to get them, and so I’ve only just gotten back into making books.  I’ve had this idea for quite a long time, but wanted to wait until I was confident I could do it justice. I’m hoping the end result will be as good as what I pictured in my head *nervous laughter* Everything has been hand cut with my (now blunt) stanley knife, and oh my goodness, it took ages. It’s been a thoroughly enjoyable project so far though.

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Size comparison :) 

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Nearly finished :). I’m still deciding if I should outline the sun/star in gold. Thoughts? 

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Another WIP

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WIP photos. 

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Possibly my favourite creation so far. This was made from upcyled blue leather, gold leafing pen, bronze decorations, and a mermaid pendant that I found at an op-shop. I made the shell out of cardboard and made several layers to create a 3D effect, and I had to cut the mermaid shape out so that she nestled in nicely. This was one of my most challenging books, but I just love how it’s turned out. It’s also smaller than the others. The pages are a5, whereas the others are a4.

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Handmade, leather-bound book

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A simple black and silver book with a fairy in the middle that I made for a friend. Materials used: Black leather, silver leafing pen, cardboard, MDF, acid free paper, wooden swirls, glue (so much), linen, silver fairy and corner protectors.

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I was really happy with how the silver leafing pen turned out on this black leather. Sticking the leather down and trying to get those swirls to show up proved to be a challenge again, but once finished and the silver was on, it turned out really nicely. I’m still deciding which centrepiece to use :/ It’s a problem when I have too many beautiful centrepieces, haha.

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This book was made from upcycled green leather, a wooden tree cutout, Malaysian Jade cabochons, and an 18k gold leafing pen. This one was a bit of an experiment and quite difficult. Because the tree cutout had some fairly thin branches and was quite delicate, getting the leather to stick down and having the symbol pop proved to be quite a challenge. It was then just as hard to try and put the gold leafing on and not go over the edges. It’s now one of my favourite pieces I’ve created, but I won’t be doing another one like it any time soon.

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This is one of the first handmade, leather-bound books that I have created. It was made using traditional medieval cord-binding techniques which is where the ridges on the spine come from. A lot of modern books with ridges on the spine are actually fake and only for decoration, but both methods have their pros and cons. Black, upcycled leather was used for covering it, with wooden swirls underneath to create an embossed look. I then used an 18k gold leafing pen to colour the swirls, and the centre gem is a lapis lazuli. This book has a latch on the side.