Make an Epic Leather Book Cover With Burned Design

I love working with leather! Most of the leather I use are recycled old couches. Recycling for the win! <3

This leather book case is made on a small notebook but you can choose any notebook format you like.

This instructable can be divided in three parts:

1. The Book Cover: the basic leather cover of your book. If you have finished this part you can leave your book this way. It looks already really awesome but if you are in for a challenge go to part 2 for an even more awesome book cover!
2. The Buckle: In this part you add a buckle to your leather book cover so you can close it tight and secure.
3. Burn Leather Burn: with this last part your leather book cover evolves from awesome to epic. In this part you're gonna burn something in the leather book cover. This can be a name or a drawing or a symbol. Make it personal and epic!

Supplies needed part 1: The Book Cover

• leather that bends with ease
• notebook
• thick needle or piercer
• leather string max 3 mm
• box cutter

Extra supplies needed part 2: The Buckle

• a medium sized buckle

Extra supplies needed part 3: Burn Leather Burn

• black marker
• sheet of carbon paper
• wood burner
• pencil

Put the leather down on the side you want to see on the outside of the book. Measure the size of the book you want to cover (front, back and spine) and add 2 cm to both the length and width. For example my notebook is 16 cm by 22 cm so I need a piece of leather which is 18 by 24 cm.

Cut it out with a sharp box cutter.

You will need to cut two more pieces of leather. The length of the leather needs to be the same length as you used for the big leather piece. In my case that is 18 cm by 6 cm.

You are gonna need to pinch a lot of holes in the leather to be able to lace the string through the leather. I forgot to make a good overview picture of all the holes so I added a drawing for that. See the drawing where all the holes need to be. The distance between te holes is 1 cm.

Pinch the holes on both the two small pieces of leather and te big one. To make it easy for myself: after I pinched al the holes in the two small pieces I lay them on top of the big leather as shown in step 2 and I pinch to big leather trough the, already made, holes in the two small pieces. Just to make sure the holes are all on the same spot.

Lace the leather string as a spiral trough the leather. See the pictures for clarification. To make it a bit easier cut a nice sharp point to the leather string. When you reach the end of your holes, you can secure the string by clamping the end of the leather string under the already laced string in front of it.

Add the notebook by sliding the hard cover from the notebook into the leather cover. Congratulation! You made an awesome book cover. If you are up for a challenge continue to part 2: The Buckle. Or if you don't want to add a buckle but you do want to burn some leather, go to part 3: Burn Leather Burn.

Yes you decided to go to part 2!!

You start by measuring the buckle and cutting the two straps of leather you need for the buckle. The length of the bar in the middle (where the tongue of the buckle is attached, see picture) is the width of your two leather straps. In my case 1,5 cm.

Small leather strap:

For the length of the small leather strap take at least two times the length of the buckle. Make a big hole in the middle were the tongue of the buckle easily fits trough. Add 6 holes equal to the picture. My small leather strap is 1,5 cm by 6 cm.

Big leather strap:

The length doesn't come so close. You just have to make sure it is able to go from halfway the notebook on one side to halfway the notebook on the other side. Add 4 holes on one side and cut a nice point on the other. My big strap is 1,5 cm by 12 cm.

Remove the notebook out of the case.

Decide where you want to place your buckle and put the small leather strap on that spot on the book cover. With your piercer or needles pierce trough the holes from the small leather strap so your holes on the book cover are in the right spot.

Fold the leather around the buckle and lace a leather string trough the 4 holes closest to the buckle (see picture).

Take another leather string lace it trough the other two holes (see picture). You now have 4 strings of leather sticking out of the small leather strap.

Each leather string goes trough one hole you made earlier on the book cover. Make a knot of them. You can add some glue to secure it if you like.

Make a hole in the big leather strap where the tongue of the buckle fits. Place the big leather strap in its place in the buckle. Put the notebook is in the leather cover. Wrap the strap around the note book to the back. Make sure there is a little tension on the big leather strap.

With your piercer or needles pierce trough the holes from the big leather strap so your holes on the back of the book cover are in the right spot.

Remove the notebook from the case.

Lace a leather string in a cross-stitch trough the big leather strap and the book cover (see picture). Make a knot of the two strings that stick out of the cover.

Congratulations you reached the end of part two. You can now close your notebook with a buckle. Awesome!

Hope to see you in part 3!

Woopwoop! you decided to go all the way and join me in part 3!

The first thing you have to do is choose what kind of design you want to burn on your leather cover. If you are a good drawer you can draw something directly on the book with a black permanent marker. Otherwise search for a picture online and print it.

Place your design on top of a piece of carbon paper. Place the two at the spot on your notebook cover were you want to have the design.

With a pencil trace all the lines. Press firmly with the pencil but don't tear the paper.

If you remove the paper you can see a vague transfer of the design.

Trace all the lines with a black permanent marker.

Finally time for the fun part! Burn that leather! Make sure your wood burner is hot. Trace every black marker line with the wood burner. Don't stay on one spot for too long or you will burn trough the leather. If you traced everything with the wood burner, the shine from the black marker is gone and a nice burned design remains.

You made it! You made an awesome book cover and personalized it with a buckle and an awesome design. I''m proud of you! As you can you in the picture I added some more lines and symbols for an even cooler look. Go play with and make awesome stuff!