Oh, the smell of leather! It summons me back to endless days in childhood, riding my horse through wooded trails and along back country roads. The clip-clop of her hooves, birdsong and the creak of saddle leather filled many joyous days. These days frequently come to mind with rolls of leather in my studio. I wish you could be here to enjoy it with me. These are delightful days in my basement studio with wintery winds blowing outside and a toasty fire in the little fireplace. The crafting of an Israel Journal begins with premium Horween cowhides. Yes, entire sides of hides. Since they are from an actual animal, there are occasional scrapes, scratches, and holes to work around as I make the cuts. In my case I measure multiple times and say a prayer before a rotary blade touches this leather. So far, so good....
After carefully measuring and cutting to cover size I end up with a stack like this. I then will strategically punch holes along the spine area for sewing and other holes to keep the journal safely enclosed when not in use.
Each page of text and watercolor has been individually torn to size, folded, stacked in 3 page signature groups, the spines of each pierced with carefully measured holes so that the signatures can be hand sewn to the leather covers. Here I am applying the endsheets to the fist and last signatures. The endsheets host the names of random locations we visited while in The Land.
Following this, it is time to sew the text block (the folded and stacked signature pages) to the leather cover.
I love this stage! A few are nearing completion. Just a few more steps in the process....
...and then I must build piles!!
As the stash increases, I will update concerning the finishing touches on the journal and a way for you to purchase, should you desire. Thank you so much for your interest in this project. Many of you send encouraging emails and phone calls. My prayer has always been that this will be used to the Lord's glory and to honor His holy name. May it be a sweet smelling sacrifice. I would love to hear from you, please feel free to leave a comment in the comment section of this blog.
Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving and may your
Christmas season be blessed with family, friends, laughter and most of all with the One whom it is all about.
"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,
And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of David His servant --
......To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days....
Luke 2:67-69, 74-75
Blessings to you all,
Colleen
3 comments:
They look lovely! Can't wait to dive in and read about your adventure!
Colleen, I am so very happy to see the progress on this wonderful ministry project of yours! I called it "ministry" project, because I know that is just what it will do when we each receive ours .... minister to our hearts and spirit like when we walked THE LAND together in 2012! I hope I'm still on your list to purchase one! So looking forward to it
Yes, Deb you are, as I recall, very near the "top of the list"! :) Thank you, my prayer has always been that this project indeed bring glory to God, in whatever way He may choose.
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