A Custom Book for an Avid Tea Drinker
I recently finished creating a custom handmade journal for a new customer, Lauren. Lauren is an avid tea drinker who wanted a book that would make her tea drinking experience easier. Making this book was a collaborative process between the two of us, but the process was not without its challenges! Keep reading to learn more about how this custom book was made.
Custom Quotes + Design
Prior to diving into the production of this book, Lauren and I hashed out details via email. She was looking for something that felt natural and earthy—an aesthetic she knew tea drinkers would love. She also knew from the beginning that she wanted printed inside pages featuring a tea logging template and a cover that had simple words printed on it.
After some back and forth on the materials and what would and wouldn’t work for the printing, we landed on using St. Armand paper with the text gold foiled on the cover. The inside pages would be printed in mostly black ink, with one special page in 4-color, on a 100% post-consumer waste paper.
Prior to starting, I wasn’t sure how the gold foiling would work on the St. Armand paper, since this paper is usually quite textured. It’s one of my favorite things about this paper, though it can pose some challenges, so I added a caveat that we would need to do some tests before we began.
When we were ready to begin work, Lauren sent me her designed pages; I then stitched them all together to ensure the book would be set up correctly for printing and binding. After a couple of rounds of proofs, we were ready to start production!
Production + Binding
Featuring a coptic bound spine, this book lays totally flat once opened.
Before going all in on the St. Armand paper, I did a few tests on some offcuts from other projects. Preliminary results were promising! The gold foil effect is created entirely free hand, but for precise designs I follow a printed template.
However, we ran into a snag once the new paper arrived. The color Lauren liked ended up being more textured than anticipated. In some areas, there were literal bumps in the paper caused by the materials used to make the paper, which caused the foiling process to be more challenging than in the tests. This resulted in some patchiness on some of the thicker lettering and gaps in the lines. I strive for quality in all the work that I do, so after letting Lauren know the foiling wasn’t going to produce a quality cover, we pivoted to a different idea: Printing.
But there was a similar issue with printing, as well! As much as I love St. Armand paper for its unique and eco-friendly qualities, this material was just not working for our desired effect. Nonetheless, we pivoted once more, this time to hand-lettering. Finally (!!) we landed on something that worked. Using a simple colored pen, I hand-lettered the text design. This was a slow and careful process, but the end result was vibrant and, thankfully, totally crisp and patch free.
The rest of the printing and binding process was smooth sailing. I love the St. Armand color Lauren chose, and the bonus is all of the lovely texture that shines through. St. Armand paper is made from flax straw from farmers, and you can really see it in this paper. I also sourced the book closure from a pair of old pants, giving life to this piece of material that was otherwise destined for the trash bin.
My sincere hope is that this tea journal will be used for years to come and will prove useful for remembering all the different varieties of tea that have been tasted and tested.
Interested in making a one-of-a-kind book? Learn more via my customs page or feel free to get in touch!
