Painted leather Traveler's Notebook covers, on the outside....

Or...why I don't paint the inside of my covers with the same acrylics based leather dyes I use on the smooth outside.

I've gotten a few questions from people asking me if I could paint the inside of the leather Traveler's Notebook covers. The answer to that would have to be yes, of course I can paint the inside of the covers, however I choose not to do it. For a reason, a very good reason in my mind. =)

I do dye the insides of the covers with alcohol or oil based leather dyes. So there's plenty of color to be had ...

for instance, the above Nebula Traveler's Notebook, has a purple inside =)

To explain why I choose not to paint the inside, I would first have to explain something about the vegetable tanned leather I use.

A6, Fieldnotes/Pocket or Passport booklet making tutorial

Just a quick post today, with a video tutorial I made about printing and making A6, Fieldnotes (Pocket), Passport sized booklets when you onlu have A4 sized paper.

I don't think this will work with letter sized paper, because the dimensions and proportions are not completely comparable to A4 paper. However, the templates for FN and PP booklets might work.

If you do get it to work, please let me know =)

I also have a few pictures of the little passport I made.

The making of a leather "Journey" Travelers's Notebook...

And the mess it creates.

A while back I got a request for an A5 Traveler's Notebook by a lovely lady. Who made the mistake of giving me free reign in making it. Luckily she loves to create art as well. With that in mind and the fact that she planned on using it as an art journal I figured I could play a little.

I first tested the idea on a Traveler's Notebook I felt I ruined with some wrong stamping... I couldn't make it worse, right.

It turned out great, better even then expected.... and it left my whole Kitchen counter looking like a disaster area. I don't have a special art room and since I, obviously, was to enthusiastic and eager to try it, I didn't take any precautions. Which I should have, because I sprayed the leather dye... and I have sprayed inks before, so I should have known.

I did take some pictures while making this, so I'll try and explain what I did, should you want to try this at home.

Please remember the leather dyes I use (and are suitable to do this) are permanent inks. It will create a mess, so please protect the surroundings of your project... thoroughly!

Double threading elastic for your Traveler's Notebook

Since I started making Traveler's Notebooks I have tried out several different ways to thread the elastic through the spine to keep the notebooks inside.

Obviously I started with the normal method, which is one thread, this is realy plenty to keep the notebooks in place.

However I got so many requests to put two elastics in the spine, that I started trying out different ways to thread the elastic. I looked around for ways other people were threading their Traveler's Notebooks and found several, but none of them really appealed to me. 

The first and easiest way I found would be the sideways threading, as opposed to the regular vertical threading. This seems very nice in the beginning, but has a tendency to deform the spine, so that wasn't going to work for me.

How to add extra booklets to a Traveler's Notebook

I received several questions about how to add extra booklets to your traveler's notebook and since this is rather difficult to explain with just words, I thought I'd make a blogpost about it with pictures to make it easier to see.

As an example I used my Fieldnotes/Pocket sized Traveler's Notebook, with just one elastic (1 long and 1 short)

I took it completely apart, to show you how I add the notebooks to my TN and took lots of pictures...

Mir Ardhon helped me make a file folder

I promised a long time ago I would make a video about how to make a file folder for your Traveler's Notebook. Since the video isn't realy coming along I thought a photo tutorial would be just as helpful.

So I set out make a file folder with the Traveling Dori, Mir Arhon watching my every move.

I'll do my best to keep the instructions short and clear.