One piece of red leather, a paper pattern, a knife and a lot of patience: this is a traveler's notebook cover made entirely by hand, from the first cut to the gold charm on the spine. Hand stitched, edges painted red, a gold stamp pressed in with heat, a red cord and a white elastic to hold it closed.
Every step of the process:
• Cutting the cover and its small parts from one red hide
• Skiving the edges thin on a sheet of glass
• Creasing every edge with a hot creaser, folding and rolling the cover flat
• Punching the stitch holes with a chisel and mallet
• Waxing the thread and saddle stitching by hand
• Painting the edges red
• Punching the spine for the cord
• Pressing a gold stamp with heat
• Tying the white elastic, sliding in the kraft notebooks, hanging the gold charm
CHAPTERS
0:00 A paper pattern on the red hide
0:50 Cutting the small parts
1:22 Skiving on glass
1:37 Creasing the edges
1:58 Hot creaser, folding and rolling
2:20 Chisel and mallet: the stitch holes
3:36 Waxing and threading
4:01 Saddle stitching by hand
5:19 The last knot
5:24 Painting the edges red
5:41 Pressing the stitches, punching the spine
6:04 Red cord and white elastic
6:50 The gold stamp
7:22 Tying the elastic
7:34 Kraft notebooks and the gold charm
8:14 The finished notebook cover
How do you make a leather notebook cover by hand? How do you saddle stitch leather, skive an edge, paint leather edges or set a gold stamp with heat? This is the whole process, with the real sound of every tool.
#leathercraft #leatherworking #handmade #travelersnotebook #notebookcover #slowcraft
THE ARTISAN
Artist: Kai
Kai works leather entirely by hand — no machinery, no shortcuts, one piece at a time.
website: https://bykai.es/en
Instagram: www.instagram.com/barceleather
Thank you for supporting handmade work 💙
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Tools & Materials Used in This Video
Leather & Materials
• Chevre Crispe Leather
https://www.fineleatherworking.com/chevre-crispe-leather-hides/?ref=slowcraftworks
• Krispel Box Calf Leather
https://www.fineleatherworking.com/box-calf-leather/?ref=slowcraftworks
• Fjord Shrunken Calf Leather
https://www.fineleatherworking.com/shrunken-calf/?ref=slowcraftworks
• Alpine Full Grain Calf Leather
https://www.fineleatherworking.com/full-grain-calf/?ref=slowcraftworks
• Shell Cordovan Leather
https://www.fineleatherworking.com/shell-cordovan/?ref=slowcraftworks
• English Leather Collection
https://www.fineleatherworking.com/english-leather/?ref=slowcraftworks
Thread & Stitching
• Leather Sewing Needles
https://www.fineleatherworking.com/leather-sewing-harness-needles/?ref=slowcraftworks
• Polyester Thread
https://www.fineleatherworking.com/polyester-thread/?ref=slowcraftworks
• Polycotton Sewing Machine Thread
https://www.fineleatherworking.com/polycotton-leather-sewing-machine-thread/?ref=slowcraftworks
Some of the links above are affiliate links that help support the channel at no extra cost to you.
