A steampunk-ish journal with some history and romance

Years ago, I purchased a pair of 1930s leather motorcycle pants at an estate sale. They were jodhpur style with canvas-lined pockets and they laced up at the waist like football pants. The leather was a rich, warm brown, beautifully weathered and worn. They were wonderful. For a long time now, I have been wanting to make a leather journal out of them and I finally did. The journal/sketchbook was given as a thank you gift to a friend of mine who is an artist.



The journal fits down inside a canvas bag fashioned from one of the pants pockets.

 
The journal's wraparound cover is cut from one of the pant legs. I believe the fore-edge of the wrap is the hem of the pant leg.
 


I added a metal stud where the stitching on the leather terminates.
 


The rawhide tied around the journal is the lacing out of the pants. Click for a larger view to see the wires wrapping around the ends of the rawhide lacing. This is an original detail.
 



The book has three signatures, each wrapped in a piece of handwritten sheet music from an Italian-American Marine band composer. I got two boxes full of his hand-written musical scores at an estate sale on The Hill, the Italian neighborhood of St. Louis.
 


The book is bound with a long stitch, or more
accurately, running stitch.
 

It's got kind of a steampunk feel, don't you think?
I hope he enjoys it.

Sharon

Scrap Journals in the Etsy shop

I just listed two Scrap Journals in the Etsy store. For those of you not familiar with the Scrap Journal, it is a hand-bound, recycled journal with bits of vintage ephemera for its pages. It is a relatively petite book at 4 1/2 x 6 inches.
The first one has a lovely color scheme, which is echoed throughout the interior pages. The graphics on the old sheet music cover are pretty fantastic too. Be sure to click on images for a larger view:




 

I love the swirling pattern on the cover of the second one. It reminded me of Spring rain, so I found an image to decoupage on the front of a girl dressed in flower petals and carrying an umbrella to shield her from Spring showers:







Available here and here.
Sharon

Around the studio today

Here are some photos from around the studio today. No beauty shots, just some snaps of how it looks right now.

Wide shot of the studio. Click to view larger.

Bookcase full of old books. Some I will keep and some will be made into journals or other projects. That's the leg of my tripod extending into the picture.

Top of the bookcase with two small collages, one completed and one in progress. I found the two small polka dotted feathers on a walk yesterday afternoon.

Bulletin board

 

Recent purchases.

Piano rolls.

Three shoe boxes full of dirty old postcards from a railroad company in the early 1900s. I use these for the Vintage Index Card gift tag sets. (The boxes are cool too.) 

Vintage sewing patterns

Office supplies, vintage and otherwise. Many thanks to my sister for the thumb tacks, brads, etc. in the cool vintage boxes.

Stack of old ledgers from the turn of the century. From a dry goods company down South.  These are 10" x 14" each and very thick, filled with beautiful handwriting.

French titles.

Stack of old atlases, photo albums and a bundle of letters from Cecil Quackenbush to his mother. He was a rounder and a rambler--traveled around the West and Southwest picking up jobs as a movie extra in early silent Westerns, a ranch hand and a laborer. He wrote faithfully to his mother in Indiana wherever his ramblings took him.

And finally, Ellie, the (other) love of my life.

Hope you've enjoyed the tour. A memento of my life and studio at a singular moment in time.

Sharon 

Faded pictures

I shot some photos for my friend Jen earlier this week. The lovely (in every way) Julie Malone was kind enough to model. Here are a few of them (click for larger view):

 

I'm slowly learning to use my new camera more effectively and my Photoshop skills are improving.

Jen's beautiful cashmere pieces can be found here. 

Sharon

My neighborhood sings in the Spring

I have a confession to make. My neighborhood is ugly in the winter. There, I said it. Rows of red brick buildings, sooty ice and snow on the ground, the trees bare...but my neighborhood sings in the Spring. Flowers everywhere! Trees blooming and then leafing out in green. And a healthy dose of pride of ownership in evidence. I wish Spring could last longer, but perhaps its fleeting nature is what makes it so sweet. As always, click on any pic for a larger view.

Pretty border

Lots of old-fashioned flowers, befitting a neighborhood and houses over 100 years old.

Shade garden

Michael and I looked at this house when it went up for sale. It was ultimately purchased by a young couple who are doing great things with it.

Streetscape looking toward Grand.

Our house with lilac, redbud and dogwood in bloom.