Christmas Custom Orders in Progress

Christmas is supposed to be the busiest time of year for pretty much anyone in the "sales" business. It is so for me as well , as long as we are all agreed that "busy" is a very relative term. I have 2 custom orders right now, and 2 more of my ready-made journals that I need to personalize and ship out.

I think I've made over 50% of this year's sales in this past month!

The first custom order is a very small lined book that I am covering in a full leather style with a black lambskin. The unique part of this will be the gold embossing, instead of the usual blind. I have been intending to add gold as an option for a while now, but I don't have any gold, and wasn't willing to invest that much money before I had made quite a few sales. Now I just need to figure out where I can buy gold, and get it shipped to me in time for me to finish the book and have it shipped before Christmas.



The other is a large book, 7" by 9". I will be binding it also in a full leather style, in a two-tone brown lambskin, and olive-green marbled endpapers. I am also doing this with a pre-sewn text block, since they want a lined book. The real custom"ness" of this book will be the embossing on the front cover. I am embossing a border, a double-straight-line frame, if you can picture that! I will also be doing the usual raised cord effect on the spine, and hand sewn headbands, as well.

I will post more pictures when I have finished them.

I've been thinking recently how amazing it is that I have made any sales at all online. Think about it: of all the people in the world, I need someone who wants to spend money; of all the things to spend money on, they have to decide on a book; of all the books to buy, they have to decide on a journal; of all the journals, on a hand bound one; of all the hand bound ones, one of the ones I've bound. And then of course, you have to consider visibility. I can't find myself when I google 'leather handbound journals' (only if I use 'hannahshandwork' as my keyword) and I know what I'm looking for!

When I think about that, I am thankful I have made as many sales as I have!