Bookbinding, sketching, and collecting street art

Anam cara

Back in September I was commissioned to make a notebook for someone’s birthday – and now, finally, I can blog about it as his birthday has now passed. I do love clients who give me plenty of time to work on something!

The brief was quite simple: it had to have a theatrical theme, and also the words ‘anam cara’ on it. This is what the finished book looked like.

This style of notebook is a perennial favourite of mine. It’s simple, but the soft leather makes it luxurious, and pretty much any design can be added using pyrography. Always a heart-stopping moment because so much can go wrong when you’re working with a searingly hot tool, but very gratifying when it goes well!