DIY -- Book cover
 

Pic 01 -- I took a lovely section of oil tanned cowhide and traced the outline of the brown paper template I'd made to determine the size.

Pic 02 -- I then took a nice red piece that was to be the lining.

Next step: cut.

Pic 01 -- Here's the brown paper wrapper with a book in it for size.

Pic 02 -- Here's the same wrapper "closed".

Pic 01 -- This is a concho. It is a common decoration in western saddlery. I use it here as a post to wrap the thongs around as a closure. I *love* this concho.

Pic 02 -- Here is the cocho "in context".

Pic 01 -- Now I cut out the outside cover. I use a spear point scalpel to cut it. I had to make several passes and I had to apply CONSIDERABLE pressure. I think next time I will change blades sooner.

Pic 02 -- Lining too...

Pic 01 -- Now the notch for the concho (notcho?) is transferred from the template to workpiece.

Pic 02 -- Seriously. This is some very strong leather. Your book will be protected up to DefCon 2.

Pic 01 -- Now for personalization. I struggled with this for a LONG time. This picture shows just a *few* of the attempts I made at the design.

Pic 02 -- After all that pencil and paper struggling, I went with a freehand pencil and leather design. Turns out the pencil makes a nice mark on the leather. It was important to pay careful attention to the positive and negative space for this "stencil" to make sure the design doesn't fall apart!

Pic 01 -- Cut!

Pic 02 -- Cutted. *whew* By the way, tha's a lot of cutting.

Pic 01 -- Now that the cutting is done for the time being, let's glue it up! Step one, add glue.

Pic 02 -- Step two. Add the other piece of leather. Pretty easy!

Pic 01-- For the first time, we can now see the lining through the stencil of the cover. It looks good! I like it!

Pic 02 -- ... except...

I made a mistake. I used too much glue. Some of the glue spread out onto the flesh (suede-y) side of the lining. This made a helluva mess, cleaning and teasing the glue out of the fibers of the leather... I cried like a little girl. :(

Pic 01 -- Now for the straps to hold the covers of the book (any book, really. I included a blank notebook, but you could use the cover for any book.) I decided to rivet them in place. My first idea was to lace them in place. Rivets are better, and faster, and match the rest of the silver accoutrement.

I came up with the idea of holding the rivets and caps in place with the scotch tape. It worked quite well, and I'll use it again. You can see the corner of my anvil here too.

Pic 02 -- Here are both cover holders in place.

Pic 01 -- Prone.

Pic 02 -- Supine.

Pic 01 -- Ta Da!!!! The finished product.

Pic 02 -- My hallmark.

Merry Christmas Jaydaan!

very nicely done!

Well that is just cool as hell! Good job.

awesome

How long did all that take?

Very nice.

Yor new day planner cover is unstoppable

Thanks everyone!

My secret santa victim indicated "...loves handmade, personal gifts"". When I read that I thought, *I'm your guy!*. I took a couple weeks thinking, deciding, planning and gathering the materials. I had most of the leather already, but my stock of conchos was... zero. Once I had all the parts and pieces (including some new tools, you can't do a project without getting some new tools), I took about three nights after work to put it together. Deciding and designing the cutouts took awhile, but if I had to make another one, I could create it in one night, say, four hours.

I'm always looking for ways to improve my work. Next time, I might use lighter leather, and cut relief grooves, like hinges, for where it folds. And I might consider lighter leather for the cover holding flaps. If I were to build one for an e-reader like a kindle or a nook, I would make different attachment designs, like corner pockets since there are no covers to hold.

I had a very good time making it, I hope you have as much enjoyment using it.

Well done V !!!
Verry cool !!!!

Fantastic V! Brilliant idea and execution.

It is going to be my wedding planner. It will hold all my finance info, plans, schemes, dates, ideas etc... Then next Christmas, after I am married.. I will find another use for it. :)

Thanks for the presentation. Great gift idea!

sweet!

I saw this and wondered if this was The Gift.

Outstanding!:thumb:

Heheh, victim.:D

That is more than beautiful it's craft and artistry at its best. A gift to treasure at so many levels, gorgeous!

Oh and PS to that, I don't know if it is commonplace there (the U.S)but I have never seen anything like it and imagine people here would bite your hand off to get one. Well thought out and executed.

Will it fit a Kindle?

For you, xoB, I will make one to fit a Kindle. I have a template for the Kindle already.

What colors, what design? Post here or pm.

No kindle for me. :headshake

Wow, that is amazing! I love it!