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Beautiful Books Made by Hand
Custom Journals, Sketchbooks, Bullet Journals and More
About BatFeathers Books
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Custom Books
Starting at $35 dollars (which includes shipping), you can have the perfect journal created for you! Customized with your preferences to have you working, journaling, or organizing in your own perfect book.
The Process
Starting a Book with it's cover...
For me, the first step in beginning a new book is the book cloth. I love spending hours in fabric stores, imagining what a particular fabric would look like if I were to use it to cover one of my books. Sometimes, I'll even see a particular top that I just love the look of, so a joke in my family is "I'm gonna make a book out of that!"
I typically purchase around half a yard, as I like to have enough to be sure I can make a few books out of the length. I especially like it if the pattern runs horizontally, as I feel like I can get more out of the fabric.
Choosing Paper
My preference is for 24 pound, 98 bright white premium paper.
Paper weight is measured by how much the uncut ream (About 500 pages) weighs. The higher the poundage, the thicker the paper, depending on the size of the ream.
For comparison, printer paper is around 20 pound.
The brightness is how white the pages are and is measured in 1 to 100. 98 is considered artist quality.
For comparison, printer paper is in the low 90s.
The colored paper I use is also 24 pound Astrobright's brand. This paper is colored through, and has no white core.
I prefer paper with a smooth tooth, doesn't bleed through, and feels nice against your hand.
I print the lines for my journals myself on my trusty Canon, but for the dotted or graph paper, I have to order out. Depending on my supply, the paper will be different poundage, but I try to get a quality paper for all of my books.
Binding
The pages are stitched together using a lace crochet thread.
I like using colored thread, as it gives a neat pop of color in middle of every couple of pages. Variegated colors give a lovely pattern, along with a new color every few pages.
I use a curved upholstery needle, and I run the thread over a block of bees wax to help tame the thread, keep it from tangling, and lock the stitches into place