gallery - baby

Yes, it's a baby book.

A baby album, to be exact. The baby this album was commissioned for was to receive the middle name of the late owner of this orange Chevy Cheyenne. I wanted the truck to look as accurate as possible and worked from photos of a truck of this vintage to carve each section from binder's board and layers of tag board. Each piece was then individually-covered with hand-pared goatskin leather in various colors and then assembled like a puzzle in a recessed area of the cover. The truck is accented with rubbed silver pigment on the grille and tires. The surrounding cover features a stylized road and landscape design with the mountains and sky accented with wax to darken that area and provide depth. I do love an unusual baby book.

vintage Chevy Cheyenne baby album

- page size 10" wide by 10" tall

 - 50 pages (200 page sides to write on)

- pages are acid-free Arches cover in white

- gray satin ribbon page marker

- handmade marbled paper endpapers in a gray "stone" pattern

- cover is predominantly navy blue goatskin book leather over carved binder's board and tag board

- truck on cover created from many pieces of hand-cut and carved binder's board, matte board, and tag board, all individually-covered with hand-pared goatskin leather in the appropriate colors

- truck accented with rubbed silver pigment in "chrome" areas

- upper half of cover accented with clear leather cream polish to darken the mountains and sky

- lettering on cover and added using moveable metal type, hot foil stamping, and silver stamping foil

- something with this level of detail would cost approximately $700

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The appeal of this album lies largely in the extremely adorable black and white cover photo provided by my customer.  The rest of the album has been kept simple so as not to compete with the photograph. The palest of pale pink endpapers were added as the only suggestion that this is a baby girl.  A favorite quote appears on the back cover with the baby's name on the spine.

black and white baby album with photograph

- page size 9" square

 -  50 pages (100 page sides to mount photos on)

- very pale pink endpapers

- cover is eggshell linen book cloth over binder's board and tag board

- cover image printed on water and fade-resistant Epson professional photo paper and mounted on the cover in a slightly recessed area

- lettering on spine and back cover added using moveable metal type, hot foil stamping, and pewter stamping foil

- decoration on spine added using a custom metal die, hot foil stamping, and silver stamping foil

- approximately $185

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Created to last a lifetime, this set of books was commissioned by my customer for her new nephews Tomas and Javier.  These books will be written in throughout the twins' lives at every event from baptisms to birthdays to graduations to weddings.  The look is classic with just a touch of pale blue to suggest twin boys.  The blind embossed decorations include acorns, meant to represent the children, and a tree meant to represent the family tree that they are now a part of.

leather lifetime memory books for twins

- page size 7" wide by 8 and 1/2" tall

 - 100 pages (200 page sides to write on)

- pages are off-white, acid-free, and lined with light gray lines with college-ruled spacing

- light blue satin ribbon page marker

- cover is dark brown goatskin leather over binder's board

- decorations on cover added using custom metal dies, hot foil stamping, and blind stamping technique

- lettering on cover and spine added using moveable metal type, hot foil stamping, and ligth blue stamping foil

- approximately $245 or $490 for the pair

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This set was created for a new baby. The set includes a small hardcover sketchbook in periwinkle book cloth (discontinued color), stamped with stars and  a moon, smaller silver cloth clamshell box (discontinued color) to hold small 3-D items, and a larger clamshell box with a leather cover, the baby's name in raised lettering, and blind stamped stars to hold the set. I wanted this set to have a soft, "baby" look without using pink or light blue and sweet theme with the moon and stars without being too cutesy.

- three-part baby book set consisting of a journal/sketchbook, a box for holding small items, and a larger box to hold the set

- small journal/sketchbook is roughly 5" wide by 8" tall with pages of acid-free heavy sketchpaper

- small clamshell box to hold small items

- larger clamshell box with front, spine, and back cover covered in a blue-green goatskin book leather

- raised lettering on box cut by hand from thin tag board and applied to the box before the leather was added

- stars and moon on box and book added using custom metal dies, hot foil stamping, silver stamping foil (book) and blind stamping technique (leather box)

- smaller cloth-covered clamshell box $175

- cloth-covered hardcover sketchbook/journal with stars $95

- larger leather-covered clamshell box with raised lettering and stamped stars - $230

($500 for whole set)

* please note that the cloth materials used on this project (small box, book and edges of larger box trays) are discontinued colors and no longer available, but this type of construction can be done using different colors 

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running horses at night baby journal and album set  

- page size 10" square

 - 100 pages (200 page sides to write on) in journal

- 50 pages (100 page sides to mount photos on) in album

- tan linen page marker in journal

- tan stone textured endpapers (this paper is no longer available)

- cover is dark green vellum book cloth over binder's board

- decorations on cover added using custom metal dies, hot foil stamping, and silver, chrome, and pewter stamping foils

- lettering on cover added using moveable metal type, hot foil stamping, and silver and pewter stamping foil.

- approximately $170 for the journal

- approximately $230 for the album

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