What do you do with your last tiny bit of russet leather? The objective, to make a nice little gift for a special friend. One who loves books and spends time reading and studying. Something that he will enjoy using and will be useful. The light bulb comes and and the bookmark is born. Please see below some photographs of what I came up with within the limits of the materials and time available.
This was a fun little project that ended up taking some hours. It takes longer when you do something for the first time I tell myself. This project is a little detached from my usual projects so it was nice to do something different. The bookmark fits to the front or back covers or to the spine cover with ease. It has three pen loops for long or short writing utensils and four strands of leather to act as bookmarks. The bookmark could be used decoratively also. The inner strip of leather is quite a bit thinner than the outer so that the book is mostly unaffected by the presence of the inner strip of leather. I left the threads uncut and liked the look. Just added knots to the ends. There was so little leather that I had to splice the strips together on both the front and back. The bottom loop of the front strap covers the joint on the front and the inner strap is not visible so the joint there is concealed. I used my 10 spi pricking irons so the saddle stitches are quite small which I think works visually and also makes the stitches less likely to come undone. This bookmark was made for a book with a specific height although I have plans for an adjustable bookmark.
This ended up being quite an elaborate bookmark and I am not likely to make these to sell. I am quite sure the cost of making it will outstrip the cost of most books!
I hope you enjoy looking through the photographs and please feel free to leave your comments or suggestions in the comments box below or email me directly on awais@sailorshandmade.com.
The book pictured and for which the bookmark was made is the recently published translation of the Quran which is available at Serenity Productions.
