Lady Falcon Travelers
Gustav Klimt Painted Traveler
A while back I was asked if I could make a traveler with a painting by Gustav Klimt. Since I love the paintings by Gustav Klimt, I said yes and started making the Traveler.
With me being a bit insecure about my painting skills and the medium being so different from Gustav's, I didn't get it right in one go. 
I also doubted if this one would be good enough....
So I presented the question to my customer and luckily enough she said she loved it.
Funny thing is, once I knew she loved it, I started looking at it with different eyes and having made the photo's also allowed me to take a step back.
I now feel it is beautiful in it's own right and learned that I really always should take pictures,if only to allow me to look at the things I make in a different light and create some distance.
I wrapped her up and sure enough...it got stuck in customs for weeks.
Making me start to wonder if it would ever arrive at it's new home.
Things like that can be nerve wrecking, specially with the painted traveler's notebook, since so much time and energy goes into the making of these.
But it got there in the end and I'm happy to say, this one has found it's way home as well
All I can do now is lean back and enjoy the photo's.
I'm so glad that I do take photo's of my Traveler's Notebooks, because in the end I have to let them al go and all I have are the photo's. However I'm happy to know they find their way to loving new homes and they are special and unique to their owners. It takes some headache and heartache to get them there, but it's so rewarding and I feel privileged that people allow me to make them their unique Traveler's.
Hope you enjoy the pics, have a wonderful week, xoxo Monique
Steampunk Lady, a pretty English Bridle and then some...
I've been making lot's of TN's with pockets lately. Hand stitching pockets on Traveler's Notebooks is quite different from hand stitching wallets with thinner softer leathers. However I feel I've mastered the craft by now, so next I'll be making messenger bags...I've got one commission already for a messenger bag. That'll be one for my daughter... the prototyping can start....but first I'll show you what I've been up to these past weeks.
Painted TN's are a thing I love to do and I love how people come up with ideas for their own personal Traveler's Notebook, unique to them. Like this Steampunk lady Personal Size Traveler's Notebook. As I learned yesterday, this was inspired by many little snippets of interest in the life of the lovely lady this is going to. Steampunk, Outlander, Vampire diaries etc. I love that, not only do I have many similar interests, but I love that people will tell me things about their life and that through this I get to touch on a person's life for just a brief second and get to know them, just a little bit.
However not all TN's I make are painted, most actually are "merely" dyed. Like this very cute English bridle A6 Traveler's Notebook with pockets, white stitching and a pen-loop.
Making all those wallet inserts and Traveler's Notebooks also means I've gained quite a bit in speed with the hand sewing, which made it possible to add just a stitched edge to the store. Something I didn't do before, because it took so much time to sew it all by hand. I now feel the sewn edge is a viable and lovely decorative addition to any Traveler's Notebook.
Last but not least and already at its new home is a Thor themed Traveler's Notebook, which I did with a stencil technique that doesn't leave any feathering, but just clean crisp edges.
The Thor themed Traveler's Notebook is like the Enterprise themed Traveler's Notebook from a while back and the "JOURNEY" Traveler's Notebooks from last year something I will be exploring further in the future, specially since I'm going to try and start adding ready to ship items to the shop, since all items now are made to order. Which is in effect, like a friend said, as if my shop is always sold out...
Hope you enjoyed my notebooks and do stop by the shop or if you want something custom made, drop me a line.
Have a great day,
xx Monique
However not all TN's I make are painted, most actually are "merely" dyed. Like this very cute English bridle A6 Traveler's Notebook with pockets, white stitching and a pen-loop.
Making all those wallet inserts and Traveler's Notebooks also means I've gained quite a bit in speed with the hand sewing, which made it possible to add just a stitched edge to the store. Something I didn't do before, because it took so much time to sew it all by hand. I now feel the sewn edge is a viable and lovely decorative addition to any Traveler's Notebook.
Last but not least and already at its new home is a Thor themed Traveler's Notebook, which I did with a stencil technique that doesn't leave any feathering, but just clean crisp edges.
The Thor themed Traveler's Notebook is like the Enterprise themed Traveler's Notebook from a while back and the "JOURNEY" Traveler's Notebooks from last year something I will be exploring further in the future, specially since I'm going to try and start adding ready to ship items to the shop, since all items now are made to order. Which is in effect, like a friend said, as if my shop is always sold out...
Hope you enjoyed my notebooks and do stop by the shop or if you want something custom made, drop me a line.
Have a great day,
xx Monique
Starry nights and long and winding roads...
Well maybe not so winding, but long it is, the road I painted on a custom requested Traveler's Notebook.
Before I went on holiday I got a request for a custom traveler's Notebook with a picture of a gorgeous view of the milky-way in the sky and a road leading toward a soft sunset in the far distance. The view of the milky way was so beautiful, I wished we could see the stars here like this, but I'm afraid there's a bit too much light pollution going on in our crowded little country.
The Traveler's Notebook is well underway to its new home so here are a few pictures of it.
It started out looking like this.
and I had every intention of making photo's while I was painting it...but failed horribly.
That's the trouble with getting all caught up into the painting...
I also made several other TN's, but I'll keep those for later. In the mean time there is a little treat for those that like to make their own inserts.
I made a cute dot-grid insert with some doodled arrows I had in my media stash.
I have no clue where they came from, but they were in my free to use folder.
Therefore it's available from my free templates folder, which you can find via this page.
And since I needed a new journaling booklet, I printed one for myself and made a booklet.
I love how I can now print my own decorated papers and make my booklet covers with them. With the A3 printer, I even had paper left over to make a cover for my next personal size diary and make one of my bookmarks with leather tabs, to match the cover. Next I will use it to make folders...the sky is the limit as they say, so here are a few more images of the lovely milky way TN.
I really like how he turned out.
I'm off now to go and work on my special project with angels (ssst don't tell anyone, it's a secret) and I hope I will be able to show you that next time....
I hope you enjoyed this and I wish you a lovely weekend.
It started out looking like this.
and I had every intention of making photo's while I was painting it...but failed horribly.
That's the trouble with getting all caught up into the painting...
I also made several other TN's, but I'll keep those for later. In the mean time there is a little treat for those that like to make their own inserts.
I made a cute dot-grid insert with some doodled arrows I had in my media stash.
I have no clue where they came from, but they were in my free to use folder.
Therefore it's available from my free templates folder, which you can find via this page.
And since I needed a new journaling booklet, I printed one for myself and made a booklet.
I love how I can now print my own decorated papers and make my booklet covers with them. With the A3 printer, I even had paper left over to make a cover for my next personal size diary and make one of my bookmarks with leather tabs, to match the cover. Next I will use it to make folders...the sky is the limit as they say, so here are a few more images of the lovely milky way TN.
I really like how he turned out.
I'm off now to go and work on my special project with angels (ssst don't tell anyone, it's a secret) and I hope I will be able to show you that next time....
I hope you enjoyed this and I wish you a lovely weekend.
Painted leather Traveler's Notebook covers, on the outside....
Or...why I don't paint the inside of my covers with the same acrylics based leather dyes I use on the smooth outside.
I've gotten a few questions from people asking me if I could paint the inside of the leather Traveler's Notebook covers. The answer to that would have to be yes, of course I can paint the inside of the covers, however I choose not to do it. For a reason, a very good reason in my mind. =)
I do dye the insides of the covers with alcohol or oil based leather dyes. So there's plenty of color to be had ...
for instance, the above Nebula Traveler's Notebook, has a purple inside =)
To explain why I choose not to paint the inside, I would first have to explain something about the vegetable tanned leather I use.
The vegetable tanned saddle leather I use is 2.5 mm thick (6-6.5 oz). A cow hide is not uniformly thick, so to get the full grain leather with this thickness, the hides are split. The outside is the full grain outer skin. The inside, where the cut was made, has a rougher suede like appearance. With the tanning process these loose fibers get pressed down and it will look slightly flattish at first, but with time the fibers will loosen again.
Not all insides have the same length fibers, some are very short and some are fairly long...
Now if you dye this with acrylic leather paint and/or finisher, you will flatten the fibers at first. Depending on the type of finisher you use the fibers will stay down quite a while.
However in the end, and probably sooner rather then later, due to the nature of the use the notebook gets, ....folding it open and close repeatedly, ....these fibers will work themselves loose again. revealing the undyed natural leather color.
As an example I have here, my very first home made leather Traveler's Notebook. It was my daily carry for about a year and is still going strong, even though I did replace it a year ago with another black Traveler's Notebook...
As you can see, I do use these notebooks, so they look a bit scruffy from getting logged around all the time. Both have had about a years worth of daily abuse by now, so I think it is fair to compare them.
The first was dyed with an acrylic base dye and finisher, both inside and out and the second with an oil based (fiebings) leather dye.
The notebook on the left is showing some wear on the edges, where the dye has gone, showing the natural color of the leather. The right notebook doesn't have this at all. The dye doesn't lie on the surface, but has sunken into the leather. Other then some wear on the edges, with the acrylic based dye, you can see the dye is holding great!
On the inside however, this is a different story.
As you can see, the fibers are loosening and showing the natural color of the leather.
Which is not a problem and does nothing to the integrity of the leather, but when you have a pretty painting on the inside...it'll get all chipped and strange looking... which is also ok, if you don't mind that =)
With the alcohol or oil based dyes I use for the inside, this won't happen. After dyeing I brush them with a suede brush to get a nice and soft suede feeling surface.
You can still get different colors for the outside and inside.
and the outside can be painted, while still having the nice and soft interior.
I hope this helped explain this all a bit.
If you like to see more Traveler's Notebooks and or inserts you can follow me here:
Facebook Group: Lady Falcon Traveler's Notebooks
Facebook page: Morgan Le Fae's Trinkets
IG: LadyFalconTN
Flickr: Traveler's Notebooks
Etsy: MorganLeFaesTrinkets
I've gotten a few questions from people asking me if I could paint the inside of the leather Traveler's Notebook covers. The answer to that would have to be yes, of course I can paint the inside of the covers, however I choose not to do it. For a reason, a very good reason in my mind. =)
I do dye the insides of the covers with alcohol or oil based leather dyes. So there's plenty of color to be had ...
for instance, the above Nebula Traveler's Notebook, has a purple inside =)
To explain why I choose not to paint the inside, I would first have to explain something about the vegetable tanned leather I use.
The vegetable tanned saddle leather I use is 2.5 mm thick (6-6.5 oz). A cow hide is not uniformly thick, so to get the full grain leather with this thickness, the hides are split. The outside is the full grain outer skin. The inside, where the cut was made, has a rougher suede like appearance. With the tanning process these loose fibers get pressed down and it will look slightly flattish at first, but with time the fibers will loosen again.
Not all insides have the same length fibers, some are very short and some are fairly long...
Now if you dye this with acrylic leather paint and/or finisher, you will flatten the fibers at first. Depending on the type of finisher you use the fibers will stay down quite a while.
However in the end, and probably sooner rather then later, due to the nature of the use the notebook gets, ....folding it open and close repeatedly, ....these fibers will work themselves loose again. revealing the undyed natural leather color.
As an example I have here, my very first home made leather Traveler's Notebook. It was my daily carry for about a year and is still going strong, even though I did replace it a year ago with another black Traveler's Notebook...
As you can see, I do use these notebooks, so they look a bit scruffy from getting logged around all the time. Both have had about a years worth of daily abuse by now, so I think it is fair to compare them.
The first was dyed with an acrylic base dye and finisher, both inside and out and the second with an oil based (fiebings) leather dye.
The notebook on the left is showing some wear on the edges, where the dye has gone, showing the natural color of the leather. The right notebook doesn't have this at all. The dye doesn't lie on the surface, but has sunken into the leather. Other then some wear on the edges, with the acrylic based dye, you can see the dye is holding great!
On the inside however, this is a different story.
As you can see, the fibers are loosening and showing the natural color of the leather.
Which is not a problem and does nothing to the integrity of the leather, but when you have a pretty painting on the inside...it'll get all chipped and strange looking... which is also ok, if you don't mind that =)
With the alcohol or oil based dyes I use for the inside, this won't happen. After dyeing I brush them with a suede brush to get a nice and soft suede feeling surface.
You can still get different colors for the outside and inside.
and the outside can be painted, while still having the nice and soft interior.
I hope this helped explain this all a bit.
If you like to see more Traveler's Notebooks and or inserts you can follow me here:
Facebook Group: Lady Falcon Traveler's Notebooks
Facebook page: Morgan Le Fae's Trinkets
IG: LadyFalconTN
Flickr: Traveler's Notebooks
Etsy: MorganLeFaesTrinkets
Painted Traveler's Notebooks...
Á while back I discovered you can paint Leather Travelers Notebooks with acrylic paint, my all time favorite medium. Regular Acrylic paint will work, however special acrylics for leather are better and give a much nicer result.
Since then I have made quite a few Traveler's notebooks that were painted, among which are my painted lady and some nebula's. I tend to show some of the TN's I make in my facebook group, Lady Falcon Traveler's Notebooks and on my instagram, @LadyFalconTN, but somehow seem to forget to post them here...
So without further ado, here's my latest Weir Tree TN. It's an A6 Traveler's Notebook and it has one, larger/older , brother, or sister, in the world =)
These are hand painted and since the leather doesn't take kindly to pencil, I can't sketch it out before hand.
As you can see in the next picture, it's a rough sketch with paint, after which the rest gets painted, slowly building layer after layer.
I love working like this,
Feeling my way to the final stage.
Trying to capture the light and how it bounces off the tree.
The stars in the sky are an extra challenge =) and usually leave me all starry looking as well.
Here it is next to my own A6 Traveler's Notebook.
And the insert I made to go with it.
I always leave the inside with just the leather dye/stain, because this way I can brush the inside to make it nice and soft and suede like.
Positively pettable =)
The last few pics are from the previous Weir Tree, which is an XL Regular Size, a bit larger.
I would love to see both next to each other someday =)
I hope you enjoyed watching this and I wish you a wonderful weekend.
xx Monique
IG: LadyFalconTN
Flickr: Traveler's Notebooks
Etsy: MorganLeFaesTrinkets
Facebook:
Lady Falcon Traveler's Notebooks
Morgan Le Fae's Trinkets
Since then I have made quite a few Traveler's notebooks that were painted, among which are my painted lady and some nebula's. I tend to show some of the TN's I make in my facebook group, Lady Falcon Traveler's Notebooks and on my instagram, @LadyFalconTN, but somehow seem to forget to post them here...
So without further ado, here's my latest Weir Tree TN. It's an A6 Traveler's Notebook and it has one, larger/older , brother, or sister, in the world =)
These are hand painted and since the leather doesn't take kindly to pencil, I can't sketch it out before hand.
As you can see in the next picture, it's a rough sketch with paint, after which the rest gets painted, slowly building layer after layer.
I love working like this,
Feeling my way to the final stage.
Trying to capture the light and how it bounces off the tree.
The stars in the sky are an extra challenge =) and usually leave me all starry looking as well.
Here it is next to my own A6 Traveler's Notebook.
And the insert I made to go with it.
I always leave the inside with just the leather dye/stain, because this way I can brush the inside to make it nice and soft and suede like.
Positively pettable =)
The last few pics are from the previous Weir Tree, which is an XL Regular Size, a bit larger.
I would love to see both next to each other someday =)
I hope you enjoyed watching this and I wish you a wonderful weekend.
xx Monique
IG: LadyFalconTN
Flickr: Traveler's Notebooks
Etsy: MorganLeFaesTrinkets
Facebook:
Lady Falcon Traveler's Notebooks
Morgan Le Fae's Trinkets