Leather Covers - Customize Your Sketchbook

I have use sketchbook for a year. I have captured my ideas and plans on the paper. My sketchbook is cheap with very poor and thin covers and few pages seems to ripped badly. Condition…well, not that great.

I thought that my ideas deserve better sketchbook to be captured. I like leather very much and recycling is also natural to me. In this project I use Finnish army´s old and thick leather with great patina.

Materials

- Sketchbook

- Leather

- Rivets and snap

- Waxed thread

I didnt´ use any finishing products, except wax on the edges

Tools

- cutting board

- leather punch tool

- rivet setter

- knife

- glue

- ruler

- coin

- needle

- vise

- toothpicks

- edge burnisher

- Stamping tool

- Torch

Step 1: Remove Old Covers

Remove old covers (and ripped pages)carefully. Use old cover as a template. Draw outlines and mark place for holes at the same time.

Use ruler to make straight cuts. Use coin etc. round object to make good looking corners.

Punch holes and burnish edges. I put wax on the edges and burnished with my drill powered tool

Step 2: Rivets and Snap

Glue leather strap on the backcover and make holes for the rivets.

Hole for snap is better to make later

Assembly rivets with rivet setter

Step 3: Glue and Sewing

Sketchbook has holes already. To line up covers correctly i used toothpicks. Use glue to attach covers and clamp with vise.

Ir´s book binding time. Style I use is called Japanese Stab binding 4 holes (could have different names) I think this is easy way to do nice looking book.

Start inside of the book and leave approximately 4 cm of thread on the inside of the book. This tail is for a knot at the end. Length of the thread is four times page height

Instructions on the web tells you to start in the middle but I started on the top of the book. First I made a loop on the top of the book (remember to start inside the book) and after every long stich loop around the back of the book.

Sew the book and make loop on the bottom of the book. Come back and finish with knot(s)