Magic Leather Sketchbook Cover

A few years a go I made this leather book cover for my sketchbook. It was inspired by magic books you see in movies and fairy tails and I wanted it to appear as something with a long history. I used stuff I had lying around already so I can't really provide a B.O.M. but the Instructable is merely for use of inspiration for your own creativity.

The leather sheets I used for front and back came from some old leather seats, a very tough and thick kind of leather. The side of the book and the " lock" is a part of my old and longtime favorite leather belt that became useless when the buckle broke (I could have made a new buckle but at the time I favored this item).

I used a leather shoestring to put the parts together after I made the holes for it with a punch. The corners where the sketchbook is put in I made by sewing little triangles of leather on the the cover by hand. I used some very strong iron thread. the holes for the thread I drilled with a small drill-bit at the size of the used needle, which was quite a big one.

The "lock" was made of the end of the belt. The holes where already in it so I only had to fix a jeans button on the leather cover.

Than, to finish it, I choose to decorate it with a design of a Ouroubouros, the snake or dragon biting it's own tail, an ancient symbol of eternity. I used a lino cutting tool to carve the symbol in the leather and added some gold paint in the carvings.

The last things I added where the metal ornaments on the corners. These I got from a friendly colleague, she found them in the garbage. I simply glued them with hot glue, and it worked quiet good because they are still on the cover after a few years.