large colour-blocked softcover journals

These journals with semi-soft covers are a steady favourite - both in my shop and for myself to make. I use this sewn boards structure a lot but I try to never repeat a design and keep my books as unique as they should be. The books I sell are not just fantastic blank books, they’re one of a kind books. I believe when you spend a significant amount of money on a notebook, you really should get something you can never find at the office supply section of your local whatever store. And I believe in extra special, too, which means a) never finding another book like yours in the world, b) being able to find another gorgeous unique high quality book once you’ve fallen in love with the first one and find yourself in need of a new one. So, while I vary the styles, I stick to structures and materials I know work really well, and you can always find in my shop these soft cover books as well as Coptic bound journals, basic hardcover books (that aren’t really basic - they’re really, really nice) and some long stitch books with visible sewing patterns on the book spine.

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You can now find these in the Paperiaarre Etsy shop, where there’s also more info re: measurements & such. I think at the moment these two are the only large ones in this binding style that have blank pages, the other larger ones have dotted grid pages, which are perfect for bullet journaling and writing, but I’m pointing this out as I know many prefer to have pristine pages. If you’re one of those people and love a larger notebook/journal, now’s your time to make one of these two yours. Or both, if you want to stock up!

My cold has finally subsided and I’m back in the game. I just finished an artists’ book that could well be my January entry for the monthly #areyoubookenough challenge, but I’m keeping it to myself for a while, as there are other, competing, ideas, too. In the post there’s a small pile of vintage kimono silk fabric on its way to me, so, there’ll be more kimono books coming this winter or spring. Right now I’ve got a large pile of folded signatures in various sizes waiting to be sewn and it’s surprisingly difficult to decide where to start. Somehow having four different go-to binding structures seems like three too many. I’ll thank myself later, though.