Making a Faux Leather Tome (Easy Bookbinding!) 

I like that too, and would have done it if I wasn't going to use this for drawing!

some small burns on the edges or so would be good too

That would look cool, but coffee and tea are kinda acidic and can weaken your paper after a while. It would probably be safer to use watered-down distressing inks.

You can bake paper at very low temperatures to brown it

I've never thought of that before..

Awe, Oh you do. I want something to leave behind that will last and people could remember me with.

Cindy Jencks People don't remember you by how you saw you and never would. And who's to say that book would last a situation where you didn't? Not worth betting on, I'm just going to live the best I can now and if people can't remember that's probably because their life matters more than my death.

Then why not document nuance things that most people don't bother recording? Many historical documents tell of how grand the food and clothing is at a wedding, but they very rarely go through the ceremony, step by step. Or describe cellphones, with the intention of describing what they are, how they're used, and why people disapprove of their use at certain times.

CheffBryan Those things won't help anyone in the future live their life, don't think that would be worth it (personally)

NathanBrutal A spellbook

Surprisingly tiresome to stitch it, yeah. And thank you! Appreciate it a lot 😄

from looking at the "magic" tome it would be earth type magic, correct?

WayfindersDestiny *randomly reads comments only to find a wild rylz*

Kaer Morhen Hello! Ever inspired by craft, we should make this. All the things! ❤️

WayfindersDestiny there is no word to describe this progect that's how awesome it is amazing incredible

Bailey Judd art

"3 years ago"

@@ZirahPastel ok?

Just a question, I know that vinyl cloth is not cheap in its own right, but say you were to make the same sized tome here, what would be the price difference between a leather-bound book and a vinyl-bound? Just wondering! Thanks!

Well, Umbrix Barlowe, that's going to depend a little bit on exactly how and where you go about getting either of them... (so be aware this is estimated, and there's a lot of "ish")... Let's start with WalMart, or a similar operation, because I don't have a Hobby Lobby or a "Sew Happy" store right down the road I'm sorry to say... You can usually find Vinyl as a "higher-middle-of-the-road" cloth... Either in a "fresh roll" at something around $5 a yard ( 1 should be plenty for this project) BUT... You can occasionally find "ends and pieces" in bins for serious mark-downs. If you're on a tight budget that's the place to occasionally find the last two or three yards (2-3yd) for as low as $3 and some change!!! It takes patience, but ANY store that sells cloth in stock or rolls ends up with little bits left over that just aren't worth trying to keep the "full market retail" price on them... SO watching for those, you can get bargains... The Leather market works kind of the same way... There's some extra knowledge to go into buying leather, by type, weight, and colors are even known to change the price... SO it takes some plain old personal experience to "get good at it"... However, there are a few good tips to get you started... Pig-skin/hide is lightweight, and tougher than you'd expect. It's thin (relatively) so it tools easier than saddle grade cowhide (1/8" thk or more)... A whole "side of leather" means basically all the hide that came from half the animal skinned... And some like pigs and cows are fairly large for no more of a project than this... BUT you can also buy it by the square foot, usually between $3 and $6 per... Of course, here it's going to pay to "read the fine print", to make sure YOU KNOW whether you're buying individual 1ft x 1ft squares of the stuff, or how big a single continual (or contiguous) piece of leather you CAN get. A goat, for example won't have NEARLY as much hide as a grown pig... Conclusion (because that wall of text has some confusion?)... Basically, you can get leather by the foot, for about the same as Vinyl by the YARD... depending on where or how you go about shopping for it... The tightly budgeted (or those of us who can't justify a fortune in a hobby) can find "sale bins" or "ends and pieces" to satisfy even a project like this for CONSIDERABLY cheaper if you're patient enough to look and wait... Tandy Leather Company is a decent middle of the road and reliable source for natural leather (in my experience) but Ebay host a fair number of shops online, and there are quite a few competitive brand stores online as well. Always happy to help, and I hope this helps you out some. Feel free to ask if anything came out weirder than I intended. (lolz) ;o)

Wow what a lovely and detailed reply...thank you for taking the time to explain it to me! I'm more versed with fabric textiles as opposed to leather, but I can see that being knowledgeable, smart and patient is the same in both worlds. You were very clear, so thank you again for the explanation.

You are very welcome, Umbrix... I rather hated the short version "you can get this project done in about twice as much money with a lot less 'left-over' in leather..." (lolz) One other little note (maybe forgot in original reply)... Thickness of leather is often in "pounds" or a #number format... The bigger that number, the thicker the leather, up to something like #14 which is the heavy saddle stuff at around 1/8"... For books, especially to fit around the cardboard (like the vid') you might be well advised to consider topping out around #5-7, and you'll want some sort of "creasing" tool, to help shape the leather around the edges (folding for gluing)... This can be done with a thin pallet knife (or butter knife from the kitchen) but the "technical" tool is a "creasing wheel", and you just press it down and roll over the markings where you want the folds. It compresses the leather to make folding SO much easier... and gluing and clamping is much more convenient that way. ;o)

Jun Lanrete You can also get vegetable tanned and oil tanned leather, which will make the cost vary as well.

It took me about 6 hours. Not too bad actually, I had expected it to be more work than it turned out to be.

Wow I would have expected it to take longer after seeing this I really want to try it out on my own

Nerdforge just a random comment passing by... When I read her comment I answered 6 hours then when I saw your reply I was shocked because I was right 😄

LOLMAO

Conner McKnight abuse

Same

Conner McKnight omg same

Hahaha same

Yeaah, i'm kinda peeved that everything looks neeeat but then the spine is sloppy. The tome itself is pretty rad though!

See I like the shown stitching, but I pref the rows to be side too side, nit long ways with the spine.

Actually for a leather book like this I would prefer the stitches to be seen

Okay, some like to see stitching, and some don't... AND there's more decorative stitching styles and cords (string/thread) to be sure... Covering it isn't that tough though... I'd recommend "real" or "natural" leather if that's the choice... AND an extra fine punch (about $20 US) to tool those seams really tiny around the "edge" of the spine. You CAN use glue (of course) but it's just my experience that the spine's regular flexing wears glue out, so stitches are a great back-up. ;o)

Cool can you come to 383 ceder creek.

I'm working on one

Alex CherryMonster depends on how much you're sketching, doesn't it? Serious sketching related to an art job like animation or illustration would have it filled in a month. Casual doodles or sketching for fun on occasion might stretch it to a few years, but I'm doubtful for 20.

A good method but the holes can be to large if this is maked from beginners..

Hmm, that's a good idea. Writing it down

Nerdforge Cant wait to see it :)

Didnt they already make a holder for all the games already? Yea. Hell, the holders outsold the games a million to one. Find them with all the other trash cans down at the local family dollar.

TheDeDecker ITS GONNA BE YUGEE

Ok then YUGGEEEEE

I think that there's nothing more beautiful than an a Handcrafted Leather bound Journal! The talent it takes to get everything rightly measured, cut, craved & All put together. I would classifie as VERY, VERY talented!. " That's all from the book of James"!

This is actually a traditional book binding stitch called the long stitch. The book binding you are talking about is called perfect binding or coptic binding if you sew the signatures around cording.

Wrong that’s just a different method. This is how the Viking used to do it !

The first two replies are right, but I feel you. For me, to have an epic tome it needs a strong spine and feel like it'll last ages, this just came across as flimsy and impermanent (partially due to the cardboard and pleather though).

I would not worry about it. Considering the short lifespan of vegan leather, it will decompose before any of that is an issue.

Gary XD tell me about it XD

Gonna use this for drawing, if not I would have!

Nerdforge Yea I figured, would look so cool as a random prop if you didnt want to write in it tho

If you want them tattered my dog will volunteer her services..

You can just do the edges as its closed, if you wanted.. maybe after its full you can give it some age without affecting your drawings much.

Not if you plan to use it for drawing. But it is watercolor paper so it would take it quite well.

You could use parchment paper then, the tan one perhaps

Along with coffee, tea is also used for dying paper so it looks like old, vintage parchment.

Oooh! Just make sure if you use the tea dying method you place the paper under a heavy textbook or something as it will curl and be harder to uncurl after. We had this problem with poster board and it cracked along the back.

bo i setting the tome in a window pages first would work too..

Domonkos Horváth it still IS a big thing ...

Not where I live.

Domonkos Horváth than its time to move... Guess you are somewhere near Hungary /Austria?

Sure, give me a minute to pack my bags, as it happens I'm fluent in german too ... :P

Domonkos Horváth perfect! Lets Play an good Round of dsa, Midgard, cthulhu or whatever else!

Thanks for the nice comment! Most items are in the description, so you can check the price for yourself :) For leather, there's always second hand stores that sell leather clothing cheap, or faux leather should be quite cheap online

You can make pretty nice coptic-bound books with pretty low expenditure. Since the spine isn't reinforced it doesn't work so well for huge, heavy books like this with 10+ signatures, but I've done small 3-6 signature A5 books with printed text on copy paper, 2 pieces of cardboard, 2 sheets of decorative paper, an awl, glue, needle and embroidery thread. It's a great way to get into the hobby without embarking on a bigger project like this one.

But its so easy to make, I'm sure you anyone can do it! :)

I tried binding my own book a few times and suprising its not that hard! Go see some sea lemon tutorial

if your awful at sewing like me cheating and using a binder would work too. just glue the leather on the binder, n just get a differnt version of the brass nubs. you can get those " sticker" half balls meant for scrap booking

She's using it for sketching, so the natural gaps between signatures offers the advantage of letting the paper rest flatter than if it was affixed to a rigid spine.

Fyrhp Hi, Fyrhp! I enjoyed watching this video tremendously; all the same, I am getting the impression from you that you may have some education & experience in creating & binding books by hand, and I would absolutely love to see how you learned to do it. Please tell me that you have a tutorial (preferably a detailed one) or there somewhere that I could take in! That would be a real gift!

But the volume is the fun part... The volume makes it look witchy and like a spell book I think 😊