Dragon Skin Book

The project I want to show you today, is a favorite. As soon as I had finished with the covers, I realised that I wanted to keep the book and not send it far away to Australia to its rightful owner.

All of you that you know me, you know that I choose my commissions very carefully and only if I am intrigued by the client's  idea. I never accept orders that the client asks that I materialize his own idea, as I believe that each of my books is a piece of art and a commission should never suppress the artist within.

The story goes back in August when a tatoo artist from Australia, mailed me that he would like me to make a journal for him, in order to create his portfolio. I checked his work and I was impressed, so I agreed. Up to now he has not seen his book. His hint preferences were the color combo of a  Bulgari watch and this dragon's eye. Apart of these I had a free rein

The challenge that this commisssion presented,  was not only the artwork of the  book. It was also going to be huge one. Its dimentions would be 25 x 35 cm with 300 pages of 300gsm heavy watercolor paper. Although I have made tomes of 500 pages, I have never used such a  heavy paper. And the book should open freely AND open flat, for the artist to draw inside.

To cut a long story short, I used a combination of Coptic stitch and Codex binding, and I was really happy with the result. This is the book block , sewn and ready for casing. For its binding I used 13 meters of linen thread!!!  For your comparison, on top of it, I have one of my standard books of 100 pages. See the differnce in size? It's like David and Goliath

And here is my finished book. The texture of the covers looks like old dragonskin. The details are all metallic  and the book weights 5 kgr!!! Isn't it amazing?

And in order to have an idea of its final size, I have included a picture of the same standard book on top of the journal.

 Tommorrow it will be on its way to Australia, where I hope that it will be loved and be filled with art.