How to Make Roseann's Leather Journal

This is my faithful companion for over 25 years, over five continents, exploring tens of thousands of miles.

The beauty is its simplicity: It's a one-piece unstructured cover cut from simple 4.5–5.5-ounce vegetable-tanned leather, which was finished with olive oil (and finished over many years with patina from hand-oil, dirt, spilled wine, water, mushroom spoors, blueberry juice . . .).

I incorporated the natural edge of the hide into the front cover. (I used un-dyed leather, as noted above finished with a coat of olive oil) but it will take a year or more for it to get the natural patina; here’s a source for Sedgwick English bridle leather in “London Tan” color, which is very close to the patina I developed naturally: https://www.buckleguy.com/sedgwick-english-bridle-leather-side-4-5-5-5oz-london-tan available in half-hides only so it’s pricey, but you can look around for similar weight leathers). I prefer the stiffer leathers so the book stays open and supports the pages while I’m standing up and journaling (see image below).

Using inexpensive leather shoelacing, I lace in 9x6-inch paper that is drilled with a standard hole punch pattern to fit widely available three-ring binders for archiving (see image at bottom). Paper can be anything—watercolor, usually 90-pound cold-press, or toned, or hand-made khadi or a combination; I also usually lace in plain copier paper at the back for scribbles and practice, and a set of reference printouts and an envelope to hold viewfinders, waxed paper, and small flat plastic bags for specimens in the front.

As you can see, after many years of use it gets a nice patina but holds up well. It has many stories to tell!

Download PDF With Dimensions

To shape the journal: 1) Find a book about the size you want your journal to be (width, length, and thickness) and cover the book with plastic; 2) get the leather wet by dunking it in sink of clean water, and shape it to the book and let dry, weighted with more books (put a plastic barrier between the leather and books).

Showing the scoring to help make the journal more square; see image to the left showing the journal next to a new one getting ready to score, wet, and shape.