Gabrielle Journal #2
The design of this journal was based on Gabrielle's season 5 costume from the Xena series. The one with lots of braided leather. I did this one for fun in a very limited edition of 3 to sell on Ebay and to one of my longtime Xena customers. The cover of this book was made using rust pigskin leather. There are two raised sai designs on the front. There were also areas cut into the cover that formed the "setting" for the fabric triangle and the braided leather strips. The braided strips are 4-strand braids of various colors of Sokoto goatskin leather that were set down into the surface of the cover. There are two long diagonal strips on the front and two shorter strips on the back. At the ends of the strips, there are two copper cut tacks. The tacks were treated with clear, archival museum wax to help prevent tarnishing. The long "tails" at the end of the braid were left loose on the front cover. The triangle on the front cover holds a piece of the actual orange/rust fabric used to make Renee O'Connor's Gabrielle season 5 costume skirt. This material was obtained from a prop and costume auction in New Zealand after the series ended. The spine of the book has raised cords that correspond to the size and angle of the braids on the front and back. The raised cords are stamped on either side with lines in brown and burgundy hot foil stamping pigment to match the colors in the braids.
A book like this would cost around $330.