Leather notebook covers are romantic things. You can picture some of the world's most famous writers jotting down stories, ideas, and thoughts in such leather-bound notebooks. Well, if you fancy yourself a writer, you can do the same. Better still, why not "tool" a leather notebook cover, thereby personalizing it and making it your own private place for keeping all of your writings and musings? Here is how to do just that.
Buy Your Supplies
First and foremost, you are going to need some leathercrafting and stamping accessories. Buy the leather notebook cover you want, making sure the leather is soft and very supple. Harder leather will not take the stamping you are going to do, and harder leather tends to crack over time anyway. Then go to a leathercrafting store or hobby shop. Purchase the leather stamps you want, which can include letters for stamping your name or other words on the cover, various geometric shapes, flowers, animals and things in nature, etc.. Buy a leathercrafting hammer too, which is what helps deliver the right and forceful blow to each stamp in order to imprint the stamp onto your leather notebook cover.
Set Your Supplies up on a Hard Surface or Workbench
The next thing you need to do is to set up this project. Place the notebook cover, open and interior side down, flat on the work surface. This will prevent accidental stamping straight through one side of the notebook to the other. You will need to moisten the leather slightly each time you are about to stamp it.
Steps to Take/Stamping the Leather
Select your stamps in the order in which you will apply them. Lightly wet the first small area of the notebook cover with a mildly damp rag. Then take a stamp, place it vertically onto the leather with the stamp design end down, and tap the opposite end with the leathercrafting hammer. Do not be afraid to give it a solid whack! You want a good impression into the leather with the stamp, and the stamp cannot do a proper job if you are working gingerly with it.
Lift the stamp to check the design. The stamp's impression should be deep, but not too deep. Also, it should not be too shallow. If the design is too shallow, it will lift and fade over time. To make the design deeper, place the stamp back into the grooved edges of the design, and hit the hammer on the end of the stamp again. Now it should be deep enough. Continue until your entire leather notebook cover is exactly as you want it.
