Shuttle

This archival, hand-sewn journal/sketchbook is made from 85 gsm Arches hand-laid paper from France, sewn with Irish linen thread in the linked stitch pattern that dates back at least to the Ancient Copts.  It allows the book to lay open easily to any page.

 This book’s endbands are navy and gold silk  and its bookmark is a goatskin.  Its spine is covered Saffiano goatskin, the leather preferred by the Italian house Prada, and its boards are wrapped in a paper that was hand silk-screened in Japan in a factory where kimono silk is decorated.

 Treasure binding began with monks in the 6^th Century who would encrust volumes with jewels. During the Renaissance, there was a resurgence in treasure binding. This is a contemporary revival of the treasure binding in which a lucky charm has been embedded in the cover of this book.  

 The talisman in this book is a 1988, $5 coin from the Marshall Islands commemorating the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery.

The vessel served for 27 years and was retired in 2011.  It flew 149 million miles.  Go the distance.

This book is approximately 6.5 x 10” with a few more than 150 blank pages.