The cover of this journal is hand-tooled with the Doors of Durin, which I copied from J R Tolkien's original drawing in Lord of the Rings.
The cover is made of vintage cow hide and has been coloured with a natural organic wash of 'Mahogany Brown'.
Readers of Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' will remember the Doors of Durin, which were the western entrance to the mines of Moria.
They were built in the Second Age of Middle Earth, probably before Year 1000, at the time when the friendship between the Elves of Eregion and the Dwarves of Khazad-dom was greatest there has ever been between the two peoples.
They stood until that day in the Third Age, when Gandalf opened the doors with the magic password and the Fellowship of the Ring passed through them, narrowly escaping the Watcher in the Water, which slammed the Doors shut and buried them.
So the Doors of Durin are magical doors into a magical world. A fitting cover to a journal in which to explore your own thoughts and dreams and imagination. Some of my customers have also used the design for the cover of a guest book in connection with Tolkien-themed and Medieval-themed weddings.
Specifications:
Size: Slip cover to fit insert book of size A5 (21x15cm - approx 9x6 inches)
Weight: 450 grams (approximately 1lb)
The slip cover is made of vintage cow hide and is coloured mahogany brown with an organic dye.
The cover is supplied with a separate replaceable insert book. The open cover measures 34x24cm and the insert books measure 22x15cm, which is close to A5 size. For the insert book there is a choice of:
1) lined milled paper (100 pages/200 sides)
2) unlined 170gsm cartridge drawing paper (46 pages/92 sides)
You can re-use the cover year after year with a new insert.
If you wish to use one of these covers with a book of your own, please remember that A5 is a standard page size, not a cover size, and that many books sold as 'A5' differ significantly in the size of the cover and thickness of the spine. You can check whether my covers will fit your book by measuring your book as follows:
1) Open the book and lay it open-face down on a flat surface 2) Measure the long diagonal across the back of the open book, and the short vertical side If the diagonal is not more than 37.5cm and the vertical not more than 22cm your book should fit comfortably.
I love working with leather, but for ethical reasons I only use vintage leather for my books- ie leather from working animals that have come to the end of their lives.