Leather stamping on a budget

Hey all, I'm back.  It's been a slow couple of weeks since my last post due to visiting relatives, a new workout schedule, and this thing where I need to get a real job.

I thought I'd write a post about how I did the leather stamping on my Tome project, since I think this info could be useful for many others starting out with leather work.

Traditionally, stamping is done with a wide array of specially designed, well, stamps: long metal rods with an inverted design cast on the end.  These range from simple alphabet stamps, to small images and maker's marks, to elaborate filigrees such as those proudly displayed on the site of this professional binder.  There are also tools made in basic shapes like circles, arcs, lines, and polygons for putting together a custom pattern; you can see some in use in this great belt-making video.  You get the idea that, to be able to tool leather the way you want, you're going to need to invest in a lot of specifically designed tools.

Unless you're very clever and patient.

Step 1: Stamp pattern

First we need to create a pattern which will be pounded into the leather to leave an imprint.  All you need for this is a cutout with well-defined edges in a material sturdy enough to withstand a bit of compressive force.  It also needs to be thick enough to sink into the leather. A couple millimeters of thickness is enough, though more is better.

Such a material is not hard to find; shockingly, even paper products will do.  My olive branch stamp was cut out of a piece of collage board.  Here's a list of possible materials and how best to use them:

• Tagboard / matboard / collage board / layered cardstock:  Anything you can cut out of a piece of cardboard, you can turn into a stamp; it just won't last long. Use this for very customized, one-off patterns; in my case, the olive branches and the volume number "I".
  
  Be sure, when you cut the pattern, to keep your knife blade perpendicular to the paper; the edges of the pattern must be crisp and square for the best impression.
  
  Unfortunately, no matter how clean your edges are, they won't survive more than a few uses; even one test use will start to flatten them down.


• Wire:  For lettering, knotwork designs, curlicues, or maybe even a simple filigree—so long as no strands overlap—use wire.  I used this to make the letters in "VOLUME".
  
  I'd recommend a thin-gauge craft wire such as the artistic wire available from Hobby Lobby, or any copper-core wire.  (Copper is best because it's soft and easy to shape.)  Square wire may be even better to get a nicer edge shape, though it is harder to find and usually available only in costly silver.


• Wood:  If you've got a whittling bent, why not use it?  A small block of wood can be carved into any shape, with varying degrees of relief for interior detail.  However, this is likely to suffer the same problem as the paper stamp, in that the edges will lose their crispness over a few uses.


• Metal sheet:  This would provide the best approximation of a professionally-made stamp and would last quite a long time.  However, it also requires the most special equipment: a jeweler's saw or maybe a band-saw to cut the edges, since a thin, easily cut sheet may not stamp deeply enough.  It might be possible to carve detail in the interior of the stamp, but I don't know what a metal-carving tool is and have no doubt it would make an awful sound.  Maybe a Dremel?


• Other? I'm sure more possibilities exist...stone, perhaps?  A smattering of sand or small pebbles could produce an interesting texture, though large stones may be too brittle to endure the hammer blows.  Plastic?  Bone?   Coins?  Look around your house and see what you can find already containing an interesting shape or texture -- but be sure it can stand the impact before you test it!

Step 2: Stamping rod

Leather stamps usually come on the end of a long rod, as you recall, but there's no need for the long rod to actually be connected to the stamp.  So all you need to apply the stamp is a thick metal rod a few inches long and a hammer to hit it with.  I sawed off the end of a 1/2"-diameter steel rod that I'd gotten from ACE Hardware, then filed one end flat to lie against the stamp.  Easy.

You may think there's no need at all for the rod part of this setup—you could hit the stamp directly with the hammer—and you're not entirely wrong.  However, the rod gives you a great deal more control over where pressure is being applied, and it keeps stray hammer strokes away from the delicate leather surface (not to mention your fingers).

Step 3: Applying the stamp

Position your stamp carefully.  If it's much larger than the rod, you may want to secure it with tape.  Now, place the rod over an edge and give the top of it a firm smack or two with the hammer, taking care not to let the stamp slip.  Proceed all the way around the edge of the stamp.  Make very sure the stamp doesn't slip at all out of place, or you will kick yourself, I guarantee it.

Be sure that the rod doesn't tilt over the edge of the stamp and leave its own crescent-shaped imprint in the leather, because that will also cause you to kick yourself.  Once an imprint is in, it pretty much doesn't come out.

Most tutorials I watched recommend that you dampen the leather with a sponge before tooling.  My personal experience was that this made no difference, except maybe to dull the leather surface, and I'm not sure why.  Perhaps it varies with leather type; I was using dyed calf leather.  A thicker, stiffer leather, or a raw, untreated leather, may stand in more need of the dampening treatment.

Pros, cons, and cautionary tales

This is a great setup if you're willing to put in a bit of time making the stamps, and have a lot of these materials around or can get them easily.  Custom stamps made in this manner may well be more versatile and easier to use.  Where was I going to find an olive-leaf stamp in exactly the shape I needed?  I could use a shape-elements set like in that video I linked, but that takes a great deal of planning and care; this was quick and easy.

However, if you have to go out to buy every single one of these things—the metal rod, the saw to cut it, the file to smooth it, the wire and pliers, all these various things—then you may be better off just buying a stamp set.  It will last longer and probably look more professional.  Furthermore, this method is not much good for custom tooling, where the tool needs to slide along the surface of the leather; there, you genuinely do need your shape to be attached to the rod.

Last but not least, this method is no good at all for gold leafing.  For that technique the stamp needs to be heated and pressed down with a rocking motion (not hammered), and unfortunately no paper stamp could stand the heat.  However, if all you want is a nice blind tooling, this will do.  Alternatively, you can always apply leather paint afterward for color, which can produce amazing results, too.

I hope others will find this information as useful as I did. If you have advice or suggestions, words to scold me for my cheap, lazy ways, or remonstrations that everyone does this and I'm an unoriginal hack, I'd love to hear them in the comments. Cheers!

Interested in more cheap, clever bookbinding alternatives? Mrs. Dethe at Cursed Cauldron Creations has created a handy list. She, too, is a young bookbinder just finding her way in the craft. Go show her some love!

The Tome, part VI: Completion

(Enter BINDER, who clears throat.)

BINDER: Allow me to present to you...the Tome, a hand-bound book in its final state.

(Enter BOOK.)

BINDER: It seems to be a little shy, but we'll soon fix that.  For the moment, you can see more here than you might think: the dapper red ribbon, the hand-stitched headband, a bit of Brian's handwriting, the pattern on the endpapers.  A book has a lot to say in its edges and corners.

Still, if you'll bear with me, perhaps I can convince it to show its cover.

(aside, whispering) Only a corner?  All right, that's fine, but you must get it together soon, promise? (addresses audience) We're still getting over our nerves, but here's a detail of the leather.  The headcap was shaped with a piece of yarn and the leather was pressed down around a knotwork relief on the front.  Now let's see if...

Aha!  So, it's not entirely spineless after all!  I think it may be ready.  Ladies and gentlemen...the leatherbound cover of Brian's Tome!

Here you see featured in relief the writer's coat of arms: a sword, two olive branches, and a shield.  Parts of the branches were stamped onto the leather; the rest was pressed down around those cardboard forms I so painstakingly carved.  Beneath you'll find the volume number.  That's correct, Volume I; for I don't expect this man to soon stop writing.  Perhaps next year I'll make Volume II and see how far my craft has come.

Lifting the cover, we get a look at the handsomely marbled endpapers. (As usual, you may click for a larger view of the image.)

Though not hand-marbled, these papers are a step above printed papers and no two are quite the same.  This picture lets you see how the endpapers, ribbon, and headbands have been coordinated in a red-black-yellow scheme.

Now, turning the page...

...we find that the book has been given a title—a nod to the Doctor's own Journal of Impossible Things.

The writer has already begun his work in this volume, but I'm afraid that's not yet ready for display.  We can hope that someday, perhaps, something written in this volume will be lucky enough to catch some publisher's eye; when that happens, I will most certainly show you the manuscript.

(BINDER gives a bow.  Exeunt BINDER and BOOK.)

Thanks for watching.

Go to: Part V | Retrospect

In retrospect...

Of course my first two book projects featured a lot of mistakes. (Finished pictures of the second one are coming, I promise. It's just...there's this thing my camera does where it sucks...)

Anyway, I thought it would be good to go over the things I screwed up and will try to fix for next time. Learning curve, go!

The LotR Poetry Book

Find new cords for the spine.  The hemp yarn I used felt like the right strength and thickness, but its lumpy, tangled fibers were frustrating to fray out for pasting onto the cover boards.  The yarn was also dyed, so wet glue picked up the color and became a vessel for blue stains all over my pages.  I need to find undyed cord with straight, uniform fibers.

Stitch on handmade headbands.  The book looks unfinished without a headband, and no place near me sells the pre-made strips.  I did put a headband on the journal project, but see my comments there; it still needs work.

Allow room for a French groove.  Like headbands, the French groove and raised shoulders next to the spine, which seem to result from a combination of text block backing and careful cover board placement, add a touch of finish and class to the book.  Next time, I'll place the cover boards a little further from the spine to leave room for the groove; but see also this post explaining how to achieve the groove with a split coverboard.

Find an appropriate cloth for the spine.  The red paper I found for the covers is absolutely perfect, both in its vibrant crimson hue and its impressed cloth texture, but the black jeans material on the spine drops the ball.  It's too thick, for one thing, so the unshapely headcap looks even worse with cloth puckering at the corners.  For another, the dense weave picks up whatever dandruff and fluff comes its way.  Lesson learned; just get proper book cloth, available from places like Hollander's, or at least use something thin.

Be glue-conscious.  As careful as I was, it wasn't enough...I got a huge smudge all over the spine cloth, and a few flecks on the title page.  Wax paper and EXTREME caution are required when handling glue.

Embellish the content. The published LotR books universally feature a rich tradition of illustrations and accents from Tolkien's hand. Mine uses only his monogram on the cover, and a very simple three-circle motif on the section headers. Normally I espouse minimalism, BUT the title page, bland as it is, would benefit from an ornament like this Eye of Sauron motif.  Basically, don't under-decorate; the book needs some complexity, especially to fit into a wider tradition.

Learn to hot-stamp gold leaf.  The monogram is already getting scratched, so the adhesive in the kit I bought is under suspicion.  I may have to saw an aluminum stamp and try the advice in this wonderful, illustrated tutorial.

The Tome

Pay attention to paper grain.  This didn't occur to me until I found admonitions published in various tutorials.  Apparently the book goes together much better when the paper grain—of the pages, the cover board, covering material, endpapers, everything—runs vertically.  With this project, I didn't have much wiggle room; to use the full extent of my ledger-size paper, I had no choice but to fold my paper a certain way.  In the future, I'll tend to prefer square or oversize sheets which can be oriented as necessary to suit grain.

Sewing thread is no good for headbands.  Well, unless maybe it's really thick.  Waxed thread is also preferable, else the fibers will start to fray out and look messy.

Use low relief for raising a design under leather.  Even the edge of my kraft-paper hinge was visible through the leather, whereas too high of a relief makes it VERY difficult to mold the leather properly around the design.  A thin applique (only a few paper-widths) is quite sufficient to raise a design under leather; consider this journal, where the edges of the applique seem also to be tapered.  (A higher relief for bands on the spine is fine, as no detail is at risk.)

Not really a mistake, but something I learned on this one: Flour paste is basically awesome.  I still used a lot of PVA glue, which sets more quickly, but flour paste is nice when pasting paper to paper.  It's also ridiculous and fun to see how food becomes a useful structural component of a book.

So, that's all for now.  I'm not really sure what my next project will be, but I've got a lot of materials on hand now.  I'll probably make a journal or a rebound trade paperback, as those are the most marketable options.

The Tome: a quick update

Let's start with good news, then proceed to bad news with a positive spin.

The good news is, I've finished applying the leather and endpapers on Brian's journal. It looks gorgeous and the leather is wonderful to touch; I'm very pleased. So was he.

Now, the bad news: I already gave it to him. More to the point, I don't have pictures yet. Yet. But now he's already started writing it and so, when I do get pictures, they'll be pictures of the book in use. See? Positive spin. Bam.

The Tome, part V: Right, so this part is nervewracking

I'm applying the leather. Like, right this second. I ran upstairs to do a post while waiting for a section to dry.

Scary! But so far, it's going okay; in fact, it's more beautiful than I could ever have hoped. Look how the structure of the cords shows through on the front. I'm surprised that's visible, but I think it looks awesome.

Go to: Part IV | Part VI

The Tome, part IV: Preparing the cover

Remember how I said this book was going to have to be leatherbound? Well, it is, and now I have the leather. For this, I went to Ann Arbor last Saturday to pay homage to Hollander's Store of All Things Bookish and Beautiful. Seriously, they have everything. Try not to drool on the very expensive papers. (There, now you have my birthday wish list.)

They did have some of the best bookbinding leather, which is morocco goatskin, but it was prohibitively expensive and I don't think I'm exactly worthy of it yet. Instead, I brought home a small hide of calf leather in black, along with a sheet of French marbled paper for the endpapers.

To practice working the leather, I overlaid a scrap onto a carved block of wood, producing the J. R. R. Tolkien monogram in the photo. At this point, I started feeling a little overwhelmed by the magnitude of my first leather project. I very nearly chickened out and revised my plan to a quarter-bound book, using leather only on the spine and that marbled paper as the cover material. However, while that would still be good-looking and no doubt wiser, I don't think it would satisfy what I hoped to achieve with this journal. Remember, it has to be

• of an epic scale and
• ornate,

and furthermore, as per Brian's hints and nudges, it should ideally incorporate

• some Celtic knotwork,
• his 40k coat of arms, and
• a volume number (he'll have more birthdays).

If tooling, stamping, and/or gold leafing can be worked into that arrangement, all the better.

So, I reconsidered and came up with a feasible design. The main feature will be a raised insignia; I expect that such dimensionality will add an extra sense of weight to the tome, and besides, it's easier than tooling. The design is intentionally massive and not terribly detailed—or, as I like to think of it, uncluttered—which will be easier on my novice hands. However, I still find it aesthetically pleasing.

The olive branches and volume number will be tooled. Whether this will involve more or less work than cutting out the cardboard for the raised areas, I couldn't say, because that was an absolute pain.

Have a look at the spine, which will feature raised bands, and at the ribbon marker poking out from under the headband:

Right, so, the next step is to cover it all with leather. Wish me luck!

Go to: Part III | Part V

The Tome, part III: Structure

Chairete! (That's Attic Greek for "Hello, everyone!) How about a view of the top of my head while I'm working?

I've been making progress on the journal. I've gotten the spine stitched, glued, rounded, and backed. I've stitched in headbands -- making them myself was easier than trying to find a place nearby that sells them pre-made. Here's a picture of the book with all these things accomplished, except the rounding and backing:

Sewing thread isn't quite thick enough for a headband, which needs more of a heavy floss to look good, but that was all I had. Rather than go out and buy something thicker, I decided to make a project of twisting the thread I had, four-ply, into a thicker strand. This would have been absolutely pointless if it weren't an excuse to use Grandpa Parker's hand-drill, but it was, so as a matter of fact it was a complete win.

With the spine all set, I cut cover boards and laced them onto the cords. May I now present to you... structure!

From the inside, the book looks pretty nearly finished -- it just needs a cover on the spine.

The next step is to find leather and start covering the...covers. Cover boards. Decorating them. There.

That means the prettiest pictures are yet to come, so stay tuned for part IV!

Go to: Part II | Part IV

The Tome, Part II

Where to begin the new journal project? The cover materials and design will be vital to the final effect, but the structure of a book starts with its paper. In any book, that's what you spend most of your time looking at, at least as a background to the ink of its words; but with a journal, all there is at first is paper.

So, a good start means good paper, which means this time I can't just use normal printer paper. It's too plain and familiar, for one thing, but also too bright white, too flimsy, and just not at all suitable for a proper tome. So, I want paper that's at least off-white and of a decent weight, if not even luxurious. It also has to come in a large size. Most importantly, since this is a tome and I know its owner will do right by it, I fully expect ink and quill to be in regular usage, so it has to accept India ink without bleeding or spreading in weird ways. I found a few candidates:

• Manila drawing paper, 40# 12" x 18". Plenty heavy and inkable, the sheet size would allow for 9" x 12" pages, very respectable. However, it's maybe a little too heavy and too far from white.
• Strathmore 400 series drawing paper, 80# 12" x 18". Same size as the previous, it's off-white and should take ink just fine, but it's a bit dear and holy cow does it only come in that cardstock weight?
• Southworth ivory parchment paper, 24# 11" x 17". This stuff looks nice. It's the right weight, it's off-white, and should be thick enough to prevent bleeding. I'm a little apprehensive about the variegated color, which could affect legibility, but hey, it'll look more like an actual old manuscript, which is great.
• Color copy paper, 28# 11" x 17". Just included as a last resort; it's bright white printer paper, so ew, but it comes in appropriately large ledger-size sheets and has a respectable, not-too-heavy weight. Also it's cheap and so would allow for a very high page count.

In the end, I ordered the parchment paper. This was a good choice. Here's my test page, once I got it in person, being subjected to every writing utensil I could think to use -- ball-point pen, pencil, calligraphy ink in various colors, and finally Sharpie:

The calligraphy ink was completely invisible on the reverse, and it took a thick Sharpie to produce even mild bleedthrough. The pencil lines weren't even as hard to read as I'd feared. Pretty much any journal I've ever written in can go suck it.

So, I proceeded to fold twelve signatures of four sheets each, making for a book of 96 leaves or 192 pages. Final dimensions of each page: 8.5" x 11". That's larger than all but the big art books on my shelves, so I think my scale condition is satisfied -- and with what style! I'm having an affair with this paper.

Don't give me that look, I'll NEVER apologize for love.

TO BE CONTINUED! Next up, I'll show you the stitching and gluing of the spine, maybe more if I get a lot achieved.

Go to: Part I | Part III

Onward: The Tome, part I

In my previous post, I had mentioned a journal I wanted to make for my friend Brian. It's in the works now, and I'll be discussing it next.

First, a bit of backstory. I may not always say much about backstory, but in this case it means talking about Rome. I was there for the weekend of November 11th last year -- and if you're familiar with the 11/11/2011 craze, you'll understand why that was especially exciting. Wish granted! I flew there from Budapest, where I was studying for the semester, and Brian flew down from his study abroad program in Reading, England.

I'm not religious, but also not anti-religious, and since he's Catholic it was a given that we'd be spending Sunday in the Vatican.

There I am on the cupola of St. Peter's Basilica. As in, we were standing on top of it. Mega-awesome, you say? You're so right.

We took the metro from our hotel that morning and got off at a stop a few blocks from St. Peter's Basilica. On our walk there down the shop-lined streets, we happened to spot a side courtyard with -- we couldn't believe our eyes -- a full suit of armor standing by the wall. Both of us being rather rennie-headed, we had to check this out. Opening onto the courtyard was a little shop of everything geeky, nerdy, and medieval our hearts could ever desire: swords, armor, costume pieces, replicas of Sting and Glamdring, of the rings of power, and of Harry Potter's wand, and a hundred other things, cloaks, books, tapestries, statues and statuettes, all we could dream of and more. I wish I'd gotten a picture of this, but it was too overwhelming and my shutter hand short-circuited. One room was full of books, orbs, crystals, and dragons. Brian found wax seal kits and, being Brian, needed to have a kit with his initials, BH.

This was also where he found the leather tome that began all this: big, black, ornately tooled, it was the journal to end all journals -- but we couldn't feasibly expect it to fit in our luggage, and he'd already found one good thing to bring home. Besides, with my well-begun bookbinding project in mind, I piped up that "I could totally do that for you." I wasn't completely sure I could, but hey, it'd be a good challenge.

Normally an offhand remark like that would never lead to follow-through, but you don't know this man. He holds himself to promises and so expects others to do the same. That, or he just really wanted this journal.

So this is it, my half-serious comment now blossoming as an attempt at making something just as cool as that leather journal we found outside the Vatican. What will make it "just as cool"? Well, it'll have to be big, for one thing. I'm picturing pages that make the end of a line of text feel like an accomplishment. I'm picturing epic scale, something big enough for Brian's ego, actually, which would probably mean a book like this, a meter tall:

(Source: Barefootliam-stock on DeviantArt.) Well, maybe not quite that big, but this won't be any piddly little diary you can find in any Barnes and Noble on the planet. Furthermore, it's gonna have to be extravagant. I'll have to figure out how to use leather, for one thing: how to tool it, maybe even gild it, maybe add a clasp or a bit of metalworking. This has to be worthy of the Warhammer 40k universe my dear Brian loves so much, something a bit like this Tome of Daemonic Knowledge.

The posts to follow will document my planning and creation of this work. Until next time, be crafty!

Go to: Part II