Work in Progress

The last two days I’ve dedicated to working on the new faerie journal/book of spells that I’ll be putting up for sale on my Etsy boutique soon (hopefully).

It actually took longer than usual for me to make this book because I hand painted 22-pound sheets of paper in two different styles using acrylic paint, hand ripped the sheets to the right size, and then hand ripped the edges.  This gives the pages a softness that, on some of the more heavily worked pages, has the tactile feel of felted cloth.  I created the color specifically for this project and incorporated a subtle but lovely twinkly sheen.  Hand making paper from scratch is actually quicker because the edges are already naturally soft and don’t need any treatment.  Hand ripping edges is exhausting and isn’t easy on arthritic hands.

There are six stacks of 12 sheets each, which when folded in half gives us 24 pages per stack and a grand total page count of 144 for the book block.  Counting both back and front of each page increases the total to 288 pages.  It’s 1″ thick, 5 1/4″ tall and 4 1/4″ wide.

The suede binding is the same suede I used to make the faerie pouch that is already up for sale.  This suede is so soft, I decided to double the thickness by sewing two layers together.

I handmade a charm to hold the book closed; it’s my interpretation of a seven pointed faerie star wand.  The book mark has a darling little hummingbird charm.

I’m really pleased with my progress so far.  These are the “faerie scribes” I am thinking of inking on the front covers (one will be on the flap under the top cover) and I will probably add swirls or vines, too: