Stack of Suminiagashi Marbled Journals handmade by bookbinder Ruth Bleakley 4

Rainbow Journals with Suminagashi Marbled Paper

I want to show off some lovely pastel rainbow journals I made using Boko Undo Suminagashi inks (affiliate link) – and before you leave a comment, YES they are very light in color once they dry! If you are looking for bold, vibrant colorful marbled paper, you need to try a different style of marbling […]

Saved by the Bell Journal

Summertime memory: coming back from the beach during the heat of the day to eat ice cream sandwiches and watch “Saved By the Bell” reruns at my grandparent’s house. And now I live in the same house! But…no TV…and also I’m lactose intolerant now, so no ice cream. But hey, one out of three ain’t […]

Marbled Woven Spine Journals

Paper from West Palm Beach While I didn’t marble the paper on this book cover myself, I won’t forget where I bought it from. It was a hot afternoon in September and we were driving past West Palm Beach for a follow up appointment for my husband’s Lasik eye surgery. We planned to stop at […]

Mysteries of the Cosmos Journals

Inspiration strikes… The thing I love most about these journals is how well the two black and purple papers go together, even though I aquired them years apart. This is certainly a case of me being inspired by my materials. When I get stuck, or run out of bookbinding ideas, a quick trip to (one […]

Purple Marble Circle Journal - handmade journal shop - Ruth Bleakley - 2

Marbled Circle Artist Book

I’m so excited to unveil a new style of handmade artist book. It features a luxurious Japanese silk book cloth cover, with precision circle inlay that features stunning, one-of-a-kind marbled paper. I like the idea of a book containing a hidden surprise, so I used the same beautiful paper for the inside endpapers as well. […]

Golden Cranes Journal handmade by book artist Ruth Bleakley - 5

Golden Cranes Journal

This is a very special journal I made all in one go. By that I mean, I was “in the crunch” for at least 8 hours putting the finishing touches on it, adding gold leaf, cutting out birds with an exacto knife, hand-painting in tiny bird beaks. Also somehow I managed to make it without […]

Temari Ball Journal handmade by Ruth Bleakley Coptic Journals 10

What’s a Temari Ball? It’s featured on this journal!

These handmade Temari Ball journals are kind of meta-handmade, because not only is the Chiyogami cover paper handmade in Japan, the colorful toy balls on the cover are also a depiction of a beautiful Japanese handicraft called Temari (手まり) Balls. Temari translates as “hand ball” and supposedly were sometimes used in games, but the idea […]

Blue Cranes and Peach Cloud Twin Journals by Ruth Bleakley that lay flat when open - 8

Blue Cranes and Peach Clouds Twin Journals

This gorgeous crane paper is one of my new favorites! A big flock of white cranes flies across clear aquamarine sky, with golden swirling clouds. The aqua color perfectly compliments the other paper I used here, a vintage chiyogami pattern of golden clouds on a peach sunset sky. If you look closely you can also […]

Blue flowers Twin Journals handmade by Ruth Bleakley Coptic Stitch with Japanese Yuzen Paper - 10

Waves and Blue Cherry Blossom Twin Journals

Don’t you love how the cherry blossoms coordinate on the two pieces of paper I used on the covers of this “twin journal” ? If you use chiyogami or yuzen paper as often as I do, you start to see trends and themes emerge. (All of a sudden I just pictured someone talking about the […]

Unlined Blank Sketch Journal handmade by Ruth Bleakley from Indian floral paper - colorful gifts for artists

Lay Flat Journals in Bright Bold Colors

Feast your eyes on the rich, saturated colors of these beautiful lay-flat coptic stitch journals that I finished last week. In addition to Japanese Chiyogami paper, I also made a couple journals using some of my favorite new papers featuring hand marbled and hand stamped designs. While their patterns are totally opposite, something about the […]

Paper Potluck! Scrap Packs for sale until Nov. 19th

Pin It **EDIT and update – these have all been sold! This is a post from 2011** I’ve been working hard on packaging up one of  my most popular craft show items, the paper potluck! It’s a big scrap pack of assorted papers, color coordinated by me (most paper scrap packs are just a big […]

Plum Blossom Handmade Journal

Behold! My latest in what I like to call my “Yuzen Book” series. I wanted to showcase some of my very favorite Japanese Chiyogami papers* by making journals, but I didn’t want to simply cover boards with the paper – boring! I decided to pair my favorite papers with lovely handmade paper on the spine […]

Bakers Twine & Wax Seal Fancy Packaging

I had a custom order for an Annapolis Guest Book and you know how much I love gift wrapping. Inspired by my Pinterest board called “Amazing Packaging” I wanted to do something with baker’s twine, but I also love my wax seal, so I did this awesome combo – gold sticker + baker’s twine + […]

Delynne’s Coptic Stitch Yuzen Wave Album

I was contacted by someone on Etsy who was a fan of my Yuzen Waves Mini Journal but wanted something bigger, that could be used as an album for collecting her mosaic inspirations. I set out to create a custom coptic stitch hand bound book for her, and here are the photos of the process!   […]

A little break to go sailing…

ahhhh…our awesome landlord lets us borrow his 23′ o’day sailboat and my husband and I have been taking it out for sunset cruises – tough times in Cape Cod 😉 My job is to hoist the jib sheet – how’s that for nautical?    

Droolworthy Washi Tape Care Package Straight From Japan!

Oh boy oh boy! If you somehow haven’t heard of the amazing craft/office supply product called washi tape then you are MISSING OUT big time. I’d drooled over it online for a while, but couldn’t QUITE get myself to pay $4-$5 a (teeny) roll – so I emailed my friend Yori who lives in Tokyo with […]

My 100th Etsy Sale! Hooray!

Say Hello to my 100th Etsy sale! This Chiyogami Patchwork Journal was one of my favorites because it showcased several of my favorite papers – no need to pick your favorite, because they’re all on one book. There will definitely be more of these to come, since I have plenty of scraps leftover from my latest […]

1 Great Tip For Making Better Books

So I’m definitely on some kind of extreme bookbinding kick right now, and last night I made covers for 11 new yuzen (the Japanese silkscreened paper I like so much) coptic stitch journals – meaning I covered 22 boards! I remember a  few years ago I was reading another bookbinder’s blog and I saw a […]