Renaissance Art

Number 12, Tait, won Giveaway #41, our  Wrap-&-Tie-style Rustic Fishing Journal. Please send us your address so we may send your gift!

Arthur has been busy at Renaissance Art developing tons of new products for a wholesale line. It’s pretty exciting each morning to come in and and have Arthur pass us a new journal he’s made the night before. One morning, a medium-sized, buckle-style 120-page journal greeted us:

I love this closure–the buckle adds another layer of time, another rustic element. The charming curve of the belt as it wraps around the spine and dips to highlight the braiding. And being in Santa Fe, I can’t help but feel the Southwestern touch. In fact, I love it so much, we are giving it away!

The closure on a journal is one of the most important parts–it dictates aesthetic and also function. What are some journal closure (wacky and practical) ideas that you have? Tell us in your comment for a chance to win: click HERE to read the rules of this Free Giveaway but DO NOT comment on that link to enter. You enter by commenting on THIS post.

Remember that the winners need to contact us with their address and phone number in order to get their gift.

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This simple slipcase is the first in our line of leather cases for your iPad.  The Ebony accent on Charcoal looks… yes, sleek and conservative… we know.  But… this honey is available in 12 different leathers and in any combination you can dream up (monochromatic for you minimalists or different colored walls and accents for the wild and crazy). Build it according to your desire with 12 different leather colors to reflect the inner colorful YOU.  Your case is made to order in about 1 or 2 days right here in our Santa Fe studio by The Leather Ladies and…. Joey

So… when this becomes available on our website next week, what colors do you think you will want and… in what combinations?  Here is the list of color choices:

Black

Charcoal

Merlot

Twilight Blue

Rust

Avocado

Flight Jacket (more rustic)

Cranberry

Wintergreen

Ocean

Sunflower

Molasses

This is the first and simplest design.  Others will be coming very soon…. strap closure, pockets, messenger bag style… perhaps a modular system to go with our modular covers for discbound/Circa brand items… all customizable and, of course, completely TWeaKaBLE

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Next week we plan to introduce a new line of Refillable Journals.  Our current line is all hand-stitched around the cover, some with inside pockets, making them more expensive.  Our Recession line of things is targeted at being every bit as functional and durable but with a basic and less expensive design.  In this line we machine stitch the covers which reduces the time it takes to make them and will reduce your cost by about 1/3.

Here is our 9X12 version with a double strap closure.  Other closure options will be a traditional style, wrap and tie, a single strap and a flap with a snap closure instead of the tie.  This 9X12 size will have 128 pages vs the 96 in our current 9X12 refillable and will be about 2/3 the cost although pricing at this point is not set.  Our US size refillable journals will be compatible with most mainstream brand refills of the same size in case you would rather use their less expensive refills.

The available sizes will be 4X6, 5.5X8.5, A5, 8.5X11 and 9X12.  I have considered making an A6 and A4 size for our European customers and those who prefer the European sizes.

Let us know what you think.  If you are planning on getting one, watch for the intro discount we have on most of our new products.  They are typically introduced on a Thursday or Friday with a 20% discount available thru the weekend.

My good friend Karen and I fly fish together.  She also likes to watercolor stuff… like the flies we use.  Today she leaves on a one month trip to Egypt and Turkey where she will be fly fishing and painting.  So I made her a case to fit her watercolor kit, brushes and papers which she can take in and out.  To do this I used a discbound system.  Basically, everything revolves around a set of rings.  It is the best of both worlds…

1. Convenience of a binder - You can take in and out and rearrange your papers.  Kinda nice cuz then you can put in whatever paper you like, wherever you like and if you make a mistake then just remove it or put it in a different place in the book.
2. Opens and closes like a book with no binder rings to open and close.

So here is a big pic of the front with some thumbnails you can click on for a larger pic.

FRONT - has a gusseted pocket for the w/c kit and a tapered pocket to hold brushes
REAR - has 2 fat elastic bands to hold other brushes and stuff
CLOSURE - We made a thick elastic closure which clips into the rings.  You can move it up or down or not even use it if you do not want to.
INSIDE - no inside pic but it has in it 2 different kinds of watercolor paper and a few dividers.  The only thing we forgot was an inside pen loop…. DOH!

outside rear cover

overview of outside front and rear cover

First let me say that a new Giveaway is coming very soon.  It will be a 3X5 card binder… we stamped our logo on the front cover.  We are such dorks sometimes

We are continually developing our hardcoverd book line and have the formula to make any size now.  This will also fit into doing small editions of custom books… well, that and a new printer with imposing software built in.

Anyway, here is a pic of a hard covered 4X6 photo album I made for a friend of mine who is having a baby.  I will make the larger 10X10 or 12X13 companion album next month.  It is done with a traditional quarter binding with Dark Wintergreen over Avocado and lined with the Dark Wintergreen.  The Wintergreen is a new leather color debuting shortly with about 6 other colors.  As always, this book also lies completely flat when open.  Let us know what you all think.

Pic is of the 3 styles we decided on for the 3X5 card binders.  It is shown with the 3/4 inch rings.

I am working hard to build the product pages for these new 3X5 card binders but just wanted to give everyone a peek.  We decided on 3 styles… from left to right they are: Traditional, Flap and Strap.  They will be available with or with out a pen loop.  The pen loop will add 1/2 inch to the overall width of about 3-3/4 inches (9.5cm).  They will also be available with a set of 3 black plastic dividers which are 3-1/8 inches wide.  The 1/8 inch sticks out just enough to easily access a section without making the binder any larger.

My personal favorite is the one on the far right, the strap closure.  This is because the strap is such that it will tightly hold my pen (Caran d’Ache Ivanhoe or Namiki Vanishing Point) in place without the need of a pen loop.  So I get the benefit of a pen loop but not the extra 1/2 width and… it will cost less.

As far as my favorite color/s… molasses/rust, cranberry/ocean or black.  My conservative side likes the molasses/black and molasses/avocado.  Oh… you will be able to pick your primary and accent colors when ordering because like all of our stuff, it will be made to order and ship within one or two business days.

Hope to have all the product pages completed very soon but just wanted to give everyone a peek.

No need to mention last weeks winner here.  She already contacted us :)  BTW… I will be adding some pics of the finished designs of the 3X5 card binders.  I am working on the product pages at this time and expect to have them done really soon.  I wanted to do a lot of size comparisons for the three different styles and all the photography is what is taking so much time.  But I hope to post a pic of the three different styles later this week and have all the product pages completed by next week.

Traditionally, when we think of a book, we think of it as either hard covered or paperback.  Well, our version is a little non traditional.  In the traditional sense, it has a front and rear hard cover.  In the non traditional sense we sew the pages right into the spine.  It is both decorative and functional.  In fact, so functional that you can bend the book over on itself at the spine without doing any damage at all to the integrity of the book.  This would break the spine of a traditionally bound book.  But for ours books, it just adds to the usability of the book.

These books will lie completely flat from the first page to the last… no fighting to keep any of the pages down.  This particular one which we are giving away has 144 pages of Rives lightweight paper.  It is 100% cotton rag and a little on the raggy vs. smooth side.  It is 115 gsm and about 90% opaque.  We had some of this in the studio and so decided to use it for this prototype.  The sheet size is a standard European A5 size and we added a strap to keep it closed.

We will be doing these in our colored leathers as they are fully leather lined.  Just something else in the works at the Renaissance Art studio.

Remember that the winners need to contact us with their address and phone number in order to get their gift.

As usual, click HERE to read the rules of this Free Giveaway BUT do not comment on that link to enter. You enter by commenting on THIS post.

We made this prototype version of the 3X5 card binder with a pen loop and an inside diagonal pocket.  This adds 1/2 inch to the overall width making the overall dimensions 5-1/2H X 4-5/8W or 14cm H X 11.5cm W.  At it’s thickest point (the spine) it is 1-1/4 inches or 3-1/4cm.

Below are two images showing an inside view with my orange Namiki VP fountain pen and a side view.  This one is shown with one inch rings.

I would be interested to know what your preference would be for ring size… 1/2, 3/4 or 1 inch (as shown).

To win the original prototype in our standard brown leather, scroll down a few posts for our free giveaway.

During a recession, fashion design is often one of the first visible elements of change. During the Depression, the hemlines of women’s skirts dropped from flapper to ankle length as bare legs (with a drawn on line) replaced stockings. While we’re not drawing imaginary stocking lines on our bags, we are making a adjustments to accommodate the economic atmosphere.

While these special edition bags will remain constructed of our same tried-and-true bombproof 2.2mm full grain leather, we aer slimming them down a bit.  We are taking our basic messenger bag style and paring it to its essentials: one main compartment and no extra pockets (except inside the flap).  Take your pick from three sizes: 8X10, 10X13 and 12X15.  If you have been needing a Renaissance Art bag but your wallet has not been compliant, these are priced to meet the demands of our recession at $125, 140 and 155 respectively.

Number 11, Ara, won the free giveaway last week. It was an erasure poem of the 9/11 Commission Report, The O Mission Repo. If you didn’t win and would like to pick up your own copy, click here.

When Julia Child was research assistant in the Secret Intelligence division of the Office of Strategic Services, she typed ten thousand names of officers on thousands of note cards in order to keep track of them. When Julia Child was a culinary deity, she created hundreds of recipes that would be printed on thousands of recipe cards.

For both of these jobs, Julia sure could have used one of our new versatile 3 x 5 one-inch ring binders ($20). Leather lined (no suede side showing), these hand-held helpers hold about 80 cards*, more with other company’s lighter card stock, and will come in every color we offer: rustic brown and black and all seven Rustic Elegance colors. And the exposed rings don’t just look good—they help the covers stay flat.

If you are like Julia and mix business with pleasure, you may want to two-tone your binder—one color for the inside and another for the outside. Mix and match black, molasses, rust, ocean, avocado, cranberry, and rustic brown and leave a comment about your favorite color combos.

Need a pen-loop? A diagonal inside pocket? Leave us a comment to let us know what you think about these features. Who knows. Your comment may be the one that wins this free giveaway.

Remember that the winners need to contact us with their address and phone number in order to get their gift.

As usual, click HERE to read the rules of this Free Giveaway BUT do not comment on that link to enter. You enter by commenting on THIS post.

Soon to come: ½ and ¾-inch ring binders and a Name the New Stuff contest (winner gets the stuff!)

*We use a super-sturdy acid-free100 brightness 100# cardstock. Check out our website for our card offerings.

Two posts down, on the Free Giveaway #25 post, one or some of you mentioned that you would like to see how the inside was going to look.  I am working on the product pages for the new covers for the large size Moleskine notebooks using our Rustic Elegance leathers and… well, the inside on the left is the same.  So, I just thot I would post a pic of it because it is the same as what the inside cover will look like for that coming discbound cover.  Just ignore the moleskine notebook refill on the right and pretend it is a discbound notebook.  Here it is.
Btw… new giveaway will be up tomorrow and it will be for a new and different discbound cover design.

Recently, a few of you have been emailin’ us about pencil cases.  Well, a few years ago, almost 5 years in fact, I did some pencil case makin’ and the pic below is what I came up with.  The only one I really liked was the rollup pencil pouch… that’s the one on the bottom.  The others might look cool but the amount of pencil storage to bulk ratio was not practical… IMHO that is.  I want to make a few improvements to the rollup pencil pouch and will probably do it in 3 or 4 sizes to fit everything from smaller pastel and charcoal sticks to pencils to longer brushes.  What do you all think of the different cases in this pic?

Anybody know what that title is a takeoff of?

We are working on Patch Products.  All we need is a $20,000 splitter.  But we have done some patch stuff and I was reminded of it today when trying to organize the 42 folders of photos we just put on our brand spankin new Facebook account.  What reminded me of it was this picture.

This is one of our Leather Folios which holds an 8.5X11 pad on one side and has diagonal pockets on the other with a pen loop in the middle.  The only difference about this one is instead making it with one piece of leather for the cover, we patched smaller pieces together.

So, when we finally do get that splitter we will be doing some of our books and other things Patch style.

You can go HERE to check them out.

The Moleskine pocket size covers are all completed with some new closures.  We are photographing them and working to get them on the site ASAP

Here is some advance notice of our newer leather colors.  The first product we will offer them on is our Custom Leather Book Covers.  I am working on the product pages right now and hope to have them all done the end of Wednesday.  The photo explains the colors and the difference in the leather weight

We are using a lighter weight thread and machine to sew up these covers.  The leather has a little sheen to it but when broken in develops a really nice patina.  These covers are lighter weight, smaller and more elegant than our heavier duty rustic covers.

Stay tuned because when we introduce them we will be giving a discount code to our faithful blog readers good for a few days.

Mid month, probably around the 17th, we will introduce the next group of covers using this leather… the one for the pocket Moleskines which have some new and interesting closures including our Bi-polar closure.  Kudos to Jackie for naming that one.