This journal is embossed with the WELSH DRAGON (Y Ddraig Goch or 'Red Dragon' in Welsh), which was once the battle ensign of King Arthur and other ancient Celtic warriors. The journal has a rugged cover of vintage buffalo hide and contains pages of 150gsm cartridge drawing paper.
After I had finished making the embossing plate for this design, a Welsh friend kindly pointed out that I had made a mistake. Perhaps only Welsh people would notice: a genuine Welsh Dragon always looks to the left, whereas my Dragon looks to the right. I hope Welsh people won't be offended by my error.
Size: 6 inches x 5 inches
Contains 100 pages/200 writable sides (in 5 individually sewn folios)
Weight: 300 grams (approximately 3/4lb)
Quality: - Paper is 150gsm ivory cartridge paper.
The paper is bound in individually stitched folios, which is a much tougher style of binding than conventional glued bindings.
The paper has been selected for sketching and drawing in a variety of media. It will NOT yellow with age.
Binding: is water-buffalo hide, coloured with a natural dye. The leather is of a heavy quality, and is thick but supple.The binding will NOT crack, tear, or disintegrate (as glued bindings do!). The book will lie flat and remain open at any page you select. There is a protective inner flap of leather to protect pages from crushing.
Fastening: is a traditional wrap-around leather tie-strap that doubles as a bookmark.
I designed these journals I could not find the kind of journal I wanted to use - which needs to be beautiful, practical, and durable.
I have similar journals in a wide range of sizes and colours - please see my eBay store. I am always open to new ideas and designs.
All my journals are entirely handmade, and each piece is unique.
I love working with leather, but for ethical reasons I use only vintage leather for my books - leather from working animals that have come to the end of their lives.