Robert Frost Journal and Baseball Journal

I've been busy lately adding more things to my Etsy store. It takes some time to make each journal, so I have to start early to be ready for the Christmas season. Mostly, I've been making journals that have a quote on the first page, like this one with a quote by Robert Frost:

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost journal at Etsy.com

I try to use a range of quotes in my journals -- some on travel, others on love, inspiration, writing, and reading. Because I'm a bookworm myself, I also have journals with quotes by famous writers, including Charlotte Bronte, Jack Kerouac, Henry David Thoreau, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jane Austen and many others. 

When I started making journals with quotes back in 2004, I used to sell little notebooks with quotes at a local craft market. My first book had quotes by women, some serious, some funny. It was always fun to see women come by, pick up one of the quote books to read, and start laughing at one of the more amusing quotes.

In addition to the quote journals, I've recently added another baseball glove journal to my Etsy store. The covers are made from a well-loved and used Rawlings baseball glove:

Baseball journal at Etsy.com

I acquired the fabulous remains of an old leather document case a while back. It was one of those moments where I turned a corner in the store, and there it was, beckoning me from the recesses of a shelf.  There isn't much of it, so I've been hording it, but finally made my first journal with it.  It's deep, dark brown, but wonderfully worn, so it has loads of reddish scuff marks. Just listed in my Etsy store:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/274429568/rustic-leather-journal-one-of-a-kind?ref=shop_home_active_1

Moons and Moons

Around the time of the recent full moon, I got busy making some journals that have a moon theme. I named my shop Moon and Hare partly in honor of my great-grandfather, Quintilious V. Moon, who was a most excellent journal-keeper, and I like to have some moon themed journals in my shop as a nod to him. And also, just generally because I love looking at the moon, especially on full-moon nights.

This one is a reproduction of a 19th-century etching of a "man in the moon", surrounded by a verdigris filigree metal charm. I've always loved this etching, it has such a benevolent gaze. Surely, that's how the man in the moon would gaze upon us, if he were really up there, no?

Paper Moon

(Sold)

My second man in the moon journal also has a face inside a verdigris metal charm.  This one made me smile a bit while I was making it.  The face in the moon is a 19th century photograph of a young man who, from what I could make out from the writing on the back of the photo, was a young missionary who had set out to conquer London. Oh, the doors that must have been slammed in this fellow's face, and yet, he had the gaze of someone who would not be easily deterred. You, my man, I thought, shall be a man in the moon! A man in the moon should be one not easily deterred -- after all, it must be awfully cold up there.

Man in the Moon

Baseball Glove Journal

Whilst trolling through one of my favorite junktique stores, I found the remains of a vintage Carlton Fisk catcher's mitt in a dusty corner and knew it had to come home with me. After hours of unpicking stitches, I had the elements for the covers of this journal. I named it "Home Base":

Home Base
(sold)

I really love this little creature (I know, I say that about all my journals, but it's true!). Here is the back cover, and the inside -- it has a photo of early baseball player Jim Conway printed on the first page:

Now,Voyager, sail thou forth

 After much thinking and pondering and a bit of mumbling, the vintage passport wallet I showed you in my last post has been transformed into a journal that I am really quite in love with. I added a bit of a wonderfully worn reclaimed leather to create the spine, and some hand-marbled end papers I discovered a while back in the smallest imaginable book shop on the Rialto bridge in Venice, Italy. Here is the finished book:

Now, Voyager, sail thou forth

(sold)

I named this journal "Now, Voyager, sail thou forth"

The title comes from a Walt Whitman poem:

"The untold want, by life and land ne'er granted,

Now, Voyager, sail thou forth to seek and find."

A Bit of Inspiration

Whilst I was doing my outing and abouting at some of the local antique stores and thrift shops, I added a few more things to my horde of book-building materials. The thrift shop owners must think I'm completely mad at times. Whereas a normal customer would pick up a leather purse and check to see if the zipper works, there am I, muttering to myself, myopically squinting at every inch of the thing, mentally transforming it into a book or two. But I did come away with some very nice things.

Including this wonderful patchwork piece. An apron  made up of little bits of leftover material, all of it looking to be early 20th century vintage.  So now this apron, made up of recycled things, will have its pieces become part of my books. And so it goes.

New City, New Studio

After living a somewhat gypsy-like life for the past while, I'm finally all settled in a beautiful old neighborhood. My new studio is light and airy, and I have all my lovely book making things about me again, including my stash of antique linen thread.

And some of the trunks I store my bits and bobs in.

The all-important inspiration corner.

And even more thread for sewing books.

It feels so good to be settled again. Even better, I now live near the quaint old Hyde Park area of Boise, which has many antique shops full of lovely old fabrics and things which are giving me some interesting ideas....but more on that, later, dear reader.