Many of my customers request leather books, so it is rare that I get to use this material for a cover.  It is buckram book cloth.  It's not especially elegant (it has a bit of a shiny coating on it), but it is just about the toughest stuff that can be used on a book cover.  These books were made for a long-time customer of mine as holiday gifts for his two young sons who like to draw.  Buckram is a great choice for this application because it is so tough and you can wipe it off with a damp rag if something splatters on it (it's also a great material for cookbook covers).  I can't do raised or recessed designs using book cloth, but I thought these sketchbooks were good examples of how a buckram cover can still be interesting.

Each sketchbook has just under 100 pages and is just under 1" thick.  The pages are 9" wide by 12" tall and consist of heavier, acid-free sketchpaper.  The covers are red and blue buckram stamped with lettering in gold as well as multiple compass designs in light blue foil and navy stamping pigment on the blue book, and red foil and burgundy stamping pigment on the red book.  My customer sent me a great video of his sons with their books on Christmas morning showing off the drawings they had already completed.  It was the best! 

Each of theses books would cost around $130.  Less if lighter-weight blank paper were used instead of sketch paper.

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