The Deadpool Traveler's Notebook Project - Part 2

LMC TN - Almost finished!

Little leather charm I made for the LMC TN

A6 TN that will be called Lil Wade (front)

A6 TN that will be called Lil Wade (back)

One on top of the other

From top to bottom: Lil Wade, natural leather A6 TN, Big Wade, Original Morgan LeFae's Trinkets LMC

All filled with notebooks

This was quite a journey and I learned a lot on leather and how to use it. I doubt I have learned everything there is to learn about it but it's still a very good start:

- Already treated leather is REALLY hard to work on and modify, ever after filing it...
- Markers seem to suddenly die when they are used on treated leather...
- I can use kitchen scissors to cut leather circles!
- A 50 Cent coin is the right size to make a charm.
- China ink is a good replacement for markers although many layers are needed.

I wanted to wait for a while before I completed the red LMC TN (Big Wade) because I originally wanted to do a lot of sketching inside the cover but because it was so time consuming and more or less pointless to do this on a treated surface, I have given up on the idea. One thing that I wouldn't mind trying is spray paint. I would create a stencil and then spray some paint all over. Ideally, if I'm skilled enough and if the spray paint sticks to the leather, I would love to do something like this across the front and back cover of Big Wade:

That would look pretty amazing!

However, if I do that, I will have to wait for the summer to do that so that I can do this outdoors. So watch this space as there may be more to come at a later date!

The Deadpool Traveler's Notebook Project - Part 1

Before going to see the Deadpool movie and since discovering that you can actually use markers on leather, I had been thinking about making myself a traveller's notebook (TN for short) in red with some Deadpool illustrations. I wanted to do one in large Moleskine size (LMC) and so I started to take some measurements. I already have one TN in LMC size from Morgan LeFae'sTrinkets and I really love how the size is so portable and still big enough to doodle, paint and write. When I measured my TN it was slightly bigger than A4 size by half a centimetre. The difference was too big to just wing it with an A4 piece of leather and I definitely needed something bigger. So I looked for the next size, which is A3 and once I did some calculations, I figured out I could definitely pull off an LMC TN as well as an A6 one!

I went to all the textile and furniture shops that I could find in my town and the general answer I got was that it was difficult to find the thickness of leather I needed for my project.

So I turned to eBay and found what I was looking for.

I ordered my leather and when it arrived, I noticed that the 'inside' of the leather was not suede, like I usually see on other pieces of leather and discovered later that the top side was also treated and polished.

My project isn't finished yet but I wanted to post a few pictures of what it's looking like so far.

Back side of the piece of leather. Completely waxed!

Right side, looking really bright!

The 2 A6's

After the drawing

Both the A6 (top) and the LMC (bottom)

I guess I should have known that the top side was waxed but the penny didn't drop until I started drawing on it and that the marker started to go all funny and stopped working all together. I finished the drawing with some China ink and this morning it's looking slightly sticky. I would love to do a little Deadpool logo in the back of the leather and maybe also write Deadpool above the main drawing but first, I'm going to have to test on the leftover bits of leather.

I'm planning on cleaning the leather with some acetone and then using a file to make it a bit rough. I wonder how it's going to look once I finish to use the file... I hope the paint is not going to leave the drawing. But if it gives it an edgy style, I might try it on the LMC...

Watch this space for more updates!

Arts and Crafts Afternoon

Last night I was looking into leather and how it could be worked on. So far, the only way to decorate leather was to use acrylic paint. I looked further into it and realised that you needed a special type acrylic paint that was suited for leather, which I don't currently have. Then suddenly, inspiration struck me and I started to wonder whether it would be possible to use markers instead of paint and after further research, I saw that it was possible!

Over Christmas I had made a small Traveler's Notebook (TN) with plain non-dyed leather and I still had some bits that had not been used so I took them and proceeded to use some of the markers to test my theory. And it seems to work! I made a small bookmark with one of the pieces and it turned out really great!

Because I only have 2 (well 3 if you count grey) coloured markers in red and black, there was really only one subject who was acceptable for this mini project...

Here are some pictures: