A Passion For Handmade Books

We don't usually like to brag, but...

We are pretty proud of ourselves this week at JBB. Last Monday, we started a pretty intense project: 300 custom handmade leather journals. The steps of this project looked a little something like this:

1. Tear and fold almost 15,000 sheets of paper into neat 12 page signatures.

2. Cut 300 pieces of leather, from full cowhides to sheets about 7"x18", as well as 300 strap closures.

3. Hole Punch each sheet of leather for binding sticthes.

4. Stitch every book together.

5. Affix each strap, complete with color coordinated stone embellishment.

6. Individually wrap & package each book.

This may not seem like that big of a deal, but did I mention the six of us made all 300 journals in the span of three days, while maintaining our regular business duties? Like I said, we're very proud. Here are some photos of the final products:

Interested in some custom handmade leather journals, or possibly a One of a Kind Leather Journal? Drop us a line about your idea - we love new creative projects!

 

And speaking of book artists..

Every once in awhile, a project comes along that sounds like too much fun to pass up. When a recent customer contacted our art department with the challenge of creating custom distressed leather hand bound books entitled "It Only Takes One,"  for the clothing company Cult of Individuality, we jumped at the chance to produce something beautiful.

You may not know that leather can be naturally distressed (i.e. if a cow had a scar, chances are the scar shows on the leather hide), or it can be distressed by hand. We honestly didn't know how difficult distressing leather would be! We started with this rich and supple charcoal leather.

In order to achieve the right look, our art director Alison went through some rough and tumble with the leather in our gravel parking lot.

This might not be the traditional leather distressing method, but the results were stellar:

Throw in a drill press, hand sewn binding, and French folded pages, and Voilà!

Needless to say, we were all very proud of the art department when the books were finished.

If you are in need of a custom leather book, or you're looking for some other examples of Distressed Leather Journals or Photo Albums, give us a buzz. We can't take on every custom project, but we're happy to listen and as always, happy to help!

Once upon a bulk order

You may not realize that when we're not making beautiful one of a kind journals and albums, we're almost certainly customizing large quantities of books for company events, giveaways, gifts and more. Today, 450 books came downstairs to be shipped for PubMatic, a company devoted to empowering publishers with regards to competitive advertising sales online. Chances are if you've seen ads on Huffington Post, eBay, or TV Guide Online, PubMatic was responsible. If you're lucky enough to be involved with PubMatic, be on the lookout for one of these guys:

Logo embossed and ready for their close up!

We're at it again...

Today, we received an order for 33 of our custom Santa Fe Journals - one of Jenni's most popular designs - Exciting! 

It's a good thing we just got a shipment of new leather! 

...Yes, this happens every time. We like to make sure the leather is versatile.

Logo Embossing on the Ecosystem Flexi Recycled Notebook

Embossing a large order of Ecosystem Flexi Notebooks, we can do it for your organization too! 

Read more about logo embossing here

our contribution to the Royal Wedding!

The British Consulate of Orlando, FL chose our white leather wedding guest book for HRH Prince William and Catherine Middleton's upcoming wedding. We were happy to oblige!

Will you be up early to watch the wedding? Some of us just won't be able to resist!