Compass Rose

Been trying to post this for a week or two. For a while now I’ve wanted to make a leather cover for the Field Notes I carry. Like, a year… or more.

But every now and then I stop carrying thrm for a while. Like this sum

mer I stopped because it was one less item that I would be touching in stores, out and about, that I couldn’t really disinfect in any way. I went to using my phone for to do lists and time cards at work(covid free zone cause no one else is there.. well, mostly), and memorizing shopping lists.
At work its been ok, except where I need to take fast notes, measurements, and layout diagrams.
And it never worked for lists.
So I’ve gone back to carrying the notebooks. And to wanting a cover to help keep them from disintegrating.
I had a cover before, got in late 2011 but it was made for a thicker Moleskine book, which I used it with for a couple years off and on. But to not be too floppy when I transitioned to field notes in 2014, it had to have at least 2, 3 better, in it. Too thick to carry easilly. Which I did do for a while.
But it became too cumbersome, and I went to naked single notebooks. And then found that the naked notebooks get torn up a lot.
After a while I went to wrapping all new Field Notes in a layer of heavy duty packing tape, to keep them more colorfast, and less fragile. But even then they can still get pretty beat up before I get through one. Especially if there is a lot of carry and little use, like this summer.
So anyway. I don’t have time to make anything. Or really to think about making anything. The old rule rings true, you can have time to do things OR money to do things. Not both.
I love the job I have, ain’t complaining. Just missing having time for other things… 😉
So anyway, I broke down and started shopping/browsing. And after A LOT of narrowing it down, I bought a couple things that normally I’d prefer to make.
I wanted simple thin leather, 3 to 4oz flexible but abrasive resistant… And real leather.
And the front and back pockets that slip over the cover on the book. Thats really hard to narrow down, so many makers do the Midori/travelers style with the elastic bands in the spine, no hold for the covers. I want to open the leather, and the notebook as one, not have to open each separate.
And Just those pockets. No credit card slot, no pen holder, no hold shut strap. And hug the notebook like second skin, not a arctic parka 3 sizes too big.
And not $100 freaking bucks…
So.. I found what I liked, then what I REALLY liked, and at a bit more than I wanted to spend (figured about $25 was good for paying a craftsman, where they profit but I don’t get gouged) I figured what the hell and did it. Was About $35.
Super glad I did!!
So it turned out to be thicker leather than I wanted. And it doesn’t hug the edges of the book as close as I’d have liked.
Its actually bigger in footprint in both thickness and area, as the old cover I had. The old cover I stopped trying to use because it was too big in pocket, and uncomfortable.
This amazingly disappears, I can’t feel it at all!!
Yeah, anyway, shut up and show pics AK, I know…
Old and new

Inside (came with a single graph craft notebook, a pleasant surprise)

And the outside showing why I splurged and got this. Some of you will remember a slight obsession I have with compass rose designs… Just couldn’t pass this up! Its laser engraved, and surprisingly deeply.

Here is a link to the nakers shop, if anyone is interested.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LostSkeletonsBrandCo

The only disadvantage to using this is any of the Field Notes quarterly eddition I get, I don’t get to see the fancy covers. And since I just got several packs of special editions, I’m feeling this loss. But just because I have the cover doesn’t mean I ALWAYS have to use it.
So I think I can find a happy medium where I will still get to see the more special notebooks.