Youtube Channel

I'd like to share with you my youtube channel. 

Meanwhile I have three videos: 
Making a handmade journal
Autumn Sale
Tucan Journal with Gilded Fleur de Lis

I hope you enjoy my videos!!

Thanks for watching!!

Martha Stewart Weddings: FEATURE!

Last year, when June was coming to an end, I got an email by one of the administrations of Etsy. Apparently, they wanted one of my journals to use in one of their "Real Weddings". I didn't know what to think. They told me seven days after that convo, the journal had to be in New York. Only seven days. 

I asked whether it was sure that my journal would be used, or if they had several options. The admin didn't know. 

You may say, why was she doubting? It was such a great opportunity. The reason is I would have to ship using FedEx, which would cost me about 60€, and I wasn't even sure whether they would feature it or not. It was not a good moment for my economy. 

I don't know why I finally jumped in the pool. I made much more than they requested: I made the journal bigger to be used as a guestbook, I bought a cloth of a better quality and I added a case for it. Finally I shipped. And I never heard back. 

The guestbook had to be featured on August-September, so I checked. But, have you ever been on that website? There are so many different weddings. Also, they had told me I would probably receive many visits and orders once the journal was featured. None of this happened, so I assumed it was never used. And, yes, I felt disappointed.

But some weeks ago, someone wrote to me asking for the journal she had seen featured. And then I saw. It had been used. It had. I couldn't believe it. Actually, they added a wood frame and it looked amazing, but it was MY JOURNAL. 

All of this is just to share with you the feature Martha Stewart made of my journal: 

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/361462/diy-vineyard-wedding-napa-valley/@center/272446/real-weddings#358167

Thanks for looking!!!

PS: According to Etsy, during the last 12 months only 12 people came to my shop from Martha Stewart's website. 

Journal Review

Joe from Seattle bought a journal from me this August from Fountain Pen Network and he made a review in his wife's blog. You can read it here: http://penfatness.blogspot.mx/2014/09/i-didnt-need-it-but-then-i-did.html

Making a Linsktitch Journal

Hello everybody!

Today I will show you how I make a linkstitch journal.

First, I have cut the papers into a size that suits me. The leather is cut allowing a 2 mm margin. I used my hot stamping machine to make some gilding on the leather. Also, you can see the pattern for the holes.

Then we have to make the holes in the leather using an awl...

... and, with the same awl, we make the holes in the signatures.

Everything is ready for the sewing.

Finally, I attached the closing strap.

And a little collage with the final work.

Thanks for reading!!!

Celtic Braid Journal

Hi!!

As a bookbinder I realize there are so many different styles out there in the world. For this reason, I introduced Creative Friday. In these Fridays I try things I have never done before.

Today I'd like to show you the results of last weeks Creative Friday: Celtic braid journal. I used a tutorial by Manuel Valero which can be found here: http://reinoartesanal.blogspot.com.es/2014/02/variacion-del-trenzado-celta.html . I only made a braid, unlike Manuel, who made two. The tutorial is in Spanish, however, Manuel takes many, many pictures so even if you don't know Spanish I am sure you can follow with just the photos.

First, the signatures with the covers I made. I blind printed an arabesc on the cover. Also, you can see my book of tutorials. I printed all of Valero's tutorials and bound them to check them every now and then, since I don't have my computer on my workshop and it would be very annoying to go upstairs-downstairs everytime I wanted to check the next step.

Then you can see the covers with the papers and the holes. Everything ready to sew! I went fast for all the cover making process, because it is the same everytime and the interesting part, for me, was the sewing.

First step of sewing.

Half sewing.

And the final results.

I am not entirely happy with the results. The binding is quite weak, specially in the last signature, but I think it can be solved in the future. I also think the braid might have looked better if there had been a longer separation between the points, noted reference for the future.

Thanks for reading!!

Anna J. Bach

Ethiopian Journal in Leather

Hi!

I'd like to share with you an Ethiopian journal I made. First, a work in progress photo of the journal before the leather:

And now, the results:

The nerves are marked in the spine:

For the inside covers I used some marbled paper that I made some time ago:

And the best part is that it opens extremely well!!

I am quite happy with the results :D.

Journal in Red Leather with Case

In this post I want to show you a journal I made this year.
First, some images of the journal in its making off. In this one, you can see the journal with its covers and its spine, waiting for the fake nerves to be put on.

In this one, the nerves are on, and the leather is ready to be glued on the journal.

Here, the box is being covered by the red cloth. Actually, I used two different systems. Here I am showing one, even though I prefer the second one I used, and is the one I am currently using in similar boxes.

And the two boxes, showing the different systems used.

These are all the photos I have of the work in progress. Now, the next photos show the characteristics of the journal and the box:

Here is the box as it looks shut. Below, a close up of the handmade headbands I made for the box, to make it look as it was a book:

The box open, showing  the journal it keeps. If it looks weird it's because the spine is rounded. 

Below, the spine of the journal and its nerves:

And a close-up of the blind tooling I made in the center of the cover. 

And the journal opens. You can see the marbled paper that I made some time ago on the endpapers:

A close-up on the handmade headbands of the journal:

And, finally, a close-up on the marbled paper:

Wow, so many pictures! But I hope you get a good idea on how the journal looks like. I wanted it to be a simple yet detailed in the making process work, and I am pretty happy with the results. Plus, I love those endpaper hehe.

I hope you enjoyed and have a great day!!