Kirstie and Phil - Love it or List it Gift - Channel 4

I love getting asked to make special gifts for customers and I was surprised late last year when a message arrived in my inbox enquiring whether I could make a Journal for one of my favourite celebrity ‘couples’ Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer. The customer wanted something which was locally handmade to give to Kirstie and Phil as a thank you gift after the filming of their house refurbishment on the Channel 4 show “Love it or List it”. I’ve been a massive fan of Kirstie and Phil for some time. As a Chartered Surveyor in my former life, I’ve always loved property shows so was delighted to be able to help them out.

The customer chose Green and Brown leather for the journals and we worked together on choosing a map of Northern Ireland and Irish blessing to include in the journals. I made the journals in a fairly short timeframe so that they could be delivered in time for the last day of filming. A short time afterwards the customer left me a wonderful review saying that Kirstie and Phil “Loved them” and she also messaged saying that “Kirstie was especially blown away”. Cue huge smiles from me and a warm and fuzzy feeling. It does feel great when you know you’ve made something which has been loved and appreciated :)

If you get to watch the show, I hope you enjoy it. Larne is a beautiful part of Northern Ireland and my customer was a delight to work with. I feel very pleased that two handmade journals from my little book bindery made their way into the hands of Kirstie and Phil (and I hope Kirstie approves of the handmade nature of gift!)

I thought you may be interested in seeing part of the process of making the two leather journals (with exposed long stitch bindings). Please see below for photos.

Making a Long Stitch Leather Journal

I’m lucky enough to have inherited a hot foil blocker from a retiring bookbinding here in Northern Ireland so whenever I start an order I fire her up and start her heating. It takes quite a while to get her up to heat so it’s always the first thing I do.

I use this time to cut my leather and fold the paper into sections. I cut all of my leather to order. So after the customer had confirmed the size and colour of leather she wanted for the journals, I cut the leather and set it aside to be foiled. I also sourced, designed and printed the first page map of Northern Ireland and the Irish blessing. The map dated from 1820 and I chose it because it was one of the few vintage maps I found to include Larne, the location where the program was being filmed.

Each of the sown in sections (signatures) of my journals are made from a single sheet of paper which is folded using a bone folder and then cut with a knife. They were then pressed in a book press.

I use individual letter type and gold foil to imprint personalisation on the front of the leather.

The folded and pressed pages are then cut to size and holes punched in the creases ready for sowing. I punched the holes in my pages using an awl and punching cradle.

The journals were made from a single piece of leather and I needed to make sure that the holes were accurately and neatly made to stitch in the pages and strap.

The pages were sown to the leather by hand using Waxed Linen Thread. Sadly this thread is no longer made in Northern Ireland - I live just a few miles from a former linen mill, which was once the heart of the linen trade, but I struggle to find any linen thread left locally. Instead I have to import my thread from America.

One of my favourite Irish blessings was included on the first page of the journal with a vintage map of Northern Ireland from 1820 in the back ground. I finished up by sewing a long leather strap to the front of the journals and then rounded the corners of the leather covers.

The finished journals. I’m so pleased that both the customer and the recipients liked them! I put a lot of work and effort into every journal I make and it really does make by day when someone messages me to say they liked my work.

I wrap all my journals in book papers from old books which sadly are beyond repair. My father is an antiquarian book seller and often finds random pages or ruined books in some of the larger lots he buys. Sadly these books have usually been broken for their book plates or specific sections and the discarded pages thrown away (or used for padding!). I wrapped Kirstie and Phil’s journals in the pages of a book which dates back to 1710. The pages detailed the basics of what a gentleman of society should know about ‘Arithmetick’. Now don’t think that I was suggesting that Kirstie or Phil need maths lessons but I thought they may find them interesting as a curiosity.