My daughter asked me to make her a new sketchbook for her birthday. She selected gold book cloth for the spine piece and corners and the green book cloth for the boards. I got the idea to see if I could carve into the davey board to create a small space to hide a few gears and create a surprise.
I made a prototype of the process first before working on the actual cover. I’ll be curious to see how long the gears hold inside the mylar-covered heart, especially with heavy use by a young artist. I used PVA to attach the gears to the gold book cloth. I used some of my debossing tools to push the cloth down into the carved out area. I’ve never experimented like this before with the board or with different materials. It really has me wondering about other things I might want to try.
My daughter was happy with her new sketchbook and thrilled when she opened it up and saw the hidden surprise.
Of Paper and Ink 