Leather Diary Sketchbook Journal - Flower Garden design

in Handtooled Buffalo Hide

The cover of this journal has been embossed by hand with a charming floral design, which has in turn been highlighted in enamel. This journal would make a lovely present to a keen gardener - or anyone who is fond of flowers.

The journal contains a high quality plain handmade paper* suitable for writing, drawing and sketching, in a rugged but attractive binding of water-buffalo leather. It can also serve as a photo album or scrapbook. If you wish to write with water-based inks or use water colour, I would recommend you choose one of my books with cartridge paper or with okra rag paper as an alternative.

*I supply books with a variety of paper for different purposes. For advice on choosing a book which has the right kind of paper for your needs please see my notes on paper: Notes on Paper

The listing is for one journal.

Size: 8.75 inches x 6 inches (actual page size)

Contains 30 leaves/60pages (in a single stitched signature)

Weight: 400 grams (approximately 1 lb)

Quality: - Paper is a high quality handmade paper, made from rags (NOT recycled print!).

The paper is bound in an individually stitched sheaf (NOT glued!)

The paper has been selected for sketching and drawing in a variety of media, including pencil, inks, crayon, charcoal. It will NOT yellow with age! It is also suitable for writing with pencil, biro, gel pens etc - but is not so suitable for water-based inks. If you wish to use the book principally for painting in a wet medium (such as water colour) I would recommend that you choose instead one of my journals with cartridge paper.

Binding: is 100% genuine water-buffalo hide, stained with a natural dye. The leather is of a heavy quality, and is thick but supple.The binding will NOT crack, tear, or disintegrate (as glued bindings do!). The book will lie flat and remain open at any page you select.

I designed these journals because I could not find the kind of journal I wanted to use - which needs to be beautiful, practical, and durable.

I have similar journals in a wide range of sizes and colours - please see my eBay store. I am always open to new ideas and designs.

All my journals are entirely handmade, and each piece is unique.

Postage:

I calculate postage costs with reference to UK Royal Mail prices, which you can check online via the following link: http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm 

RETURNS POLICY

I hope you like the quality of my books. If not, you are welcome to return them to me in as-new condition within 14 days of receipt. I will refund the purchase price, less postage.

My Ethical Production Policy

It is my policy to produce books from natural and renewable materials that will have a minimum impact on the environment.

I use exclusively water-buffalo hides, cow hides, and goatskins from mature animals that have come to the end of their working life. No animals are bred and slaughtered solely for the purpose of producing leather for my books.

To tan leather I use a natural tannin wash as an alternative to the highly toxic chromium salts commonly used in tanning. This natural tannin dye occasionally leaves a small residue on the surface of the leather, and some dye may appear on your hands on first handling of a new book. This is entirely harmless, and will cease altogether on further handling when the dye stabilizes. I hope you will agree with me that this is a small price to pay for a method of production that avoids poisoning our environment.

My handmade paper is produced without the use of bleaches and other toxic chemicals commonly associated with paper production.

It is my aim to produce books that meet the needs and wishes of the artists, art students, travelers and writers and poets who commonly purchase my books. For that reason I am always interested to hear your comments, and any suggestions you have for improvements or for new products.