Hand Made "Moleskine" Journals
Dear Gents,
Being a poor grad student, and handy with my hands, I have learned the medieval art of bookbinding as a hobby and a way to provide myself with Moleskine type journals without the absurd cost ($9.60 for a 3x5? And people complain of their quality!). As I'm currently in a transitional period between grad school and employment, I was thinking I might extend this hobby to profit in order to help pay the rent for a few months until I do find employment. As some here have in the past discussed our interest the Moleskine idea, I thought I might offer my services to you all first.
What I am offering would be a 100% hand made journal --all sewing, gluing and cutting done by hand-- of archival materials (acid free, etc.) offered to AoM members at less the cost of a name-brand Moleskine. The cover would be traditional starched linen (more wear resistant than imitation leather) and could be softbound (better for the pocket) or hardbound (for a briefcase). As each book would be essentially a custom one-off, one could expect a certain amount of customization at no cost
My intention is to gauge interest in this venture before I make the large purchase of materials. If a dozen or so people are interested, I will go ahead. An expression of interest here will not be regarded as a commitment to buy later, but please be honest, it would totally suck for me to buy all the materials and for no one to actually want one.
Being a poor grad student, and handy with my hands, I have learned the medieval art of bookbinding as a hobby and a way to provide myself with Moleskine type journals without the absurd cost ($9.60 for a 3x5? And people complain of their quality!). As I'm currently in a transitional period between grad school and employment, I was thinking I might extend this hobby to profit in order to help pay the rent for a few months until I do find employment. As some here have in the past discussed our interest the Moleskine idea, I thought I might offer my services to you all first.
What I am offering would be a 100% hand made journal --all sewing, gluing and cutting done by hand-- of archival materials (acid free, etc.) offered to AoM members at less the cost of a name-brand Moleskine. The cover would be traditional starched linen (more wear resistant than imitation leather) and could be softbound (better for the pocket) or hardbound (for a briefcase). As each book would be essentially a custom one-off, one could expect a certain amount of customization at no cost
My intention is to gauge interest in this venture before I make the large purchase of materials. If a dozen or so people are interested, I will go ahead. An expression of interest here will not be regarded as a commitment to buy later, but please be honest, it would totally suck for me to buy all the materials and for no one to actually want one.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Daniel aka dascamel on -
I know I would buy at least 4 from you, one for me then my daughters and one for reserve.
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Permalink Reply by Col. Joseph Adams on -
Id buy a few
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Permalink Reply by NolanBryanLynch on -
How much do you think you would charge?
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Permalink Reply by Christatos Aristad on -
I would like to request a qoute for production, packaging and shipping on ten black reporter style journals, college line That's just for starters for likely purchase as i will probably have three houses by the time i am done retiring and I'd like to have them spread out throughout the homes. This leads to my next question, which is, what country are you based in, and after that,do you ship internationally pretty much whatever your answer is. I hope my ten will guarantee you at least a little business.
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Permalink Reply by Brett McKay on -
What a great idea. Good to see a guy putting his talents for working with his hands to good use. I'd definitely buy a couple.
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Permalink Reply by Doctuh on -
I used to work at a company with the greatest engineering notebooks ever. Each sheet was half tightly spaced graph paper and half unlined. It was a wonder to use when doing any sort of diagramming or formulas.
Alas, they were all custom made for that company. If you had a product like that I would be all over it. You should set up a website where people may see your (proposed) work.
Wal-Mart sells a cheap Moleskine knockoff called "Markings" in their journals/planners section if anyone is thinking that route.
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Permalink Reply by Christatos Aristad on
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Forgive the terse nature of my earlier post please. I'm not sure what I was thinking.
I was also wondering, my young friend, if you let me know what colors and designs you think you could provide these in?
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Permalink Reply by Leo Shen on
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I would definitely be up for at least a couple, maybe more. Where did you learn to bookbind? Sounds interesting and useful.
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Permalink Reply by Eric Sherwood on -
Shoot yeah, I would definitely snag a couple. Do you have any pics of a finished product?
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Permalink Reply by Joseph L. Rogers on -
Talk about pricing. I've been looking for a proper journal to begin writing in, one larger than a 3x5, yet still have a certain...customization, as you put it. I'll be honest, fellas, I'm a snob. After reading Brett's post on the art of letter writing, I began looking at fountain pens, and purchased a Cross ATX for $70, and I'll NEVER write with a Bic again. I'm DYING to get a real straight razor and badger brush, and so on, so forth.
To have true handmade journals to write in would be SO sweet. Tell me what kind of patterns you'd be able to work with, and it'd be nice to have either all of my initials, or an R for my family name on the front of each. Durability would, of course, be key. Tab for keeping a pen in the notebook, as well as two ribbon place markers, and one that will come from the back, and loop over the front (akin to a rubber band) would be nice, too. Can you do button clasps, as well?
PM me if you have further questions/details.
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Permalink Reply by Yash Patel on -
You could make do with a boar hair brush at first considering their relative inexpensiveness, but definitely get a straight or DE razor and some old school shaving cream or soap ASAP. Your face will thank you every day. I'm so glad I discovered it mere years into my shaving career [I'm only 19]
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