Journal Closure Help

[johnggrg]

Hi everyone! I have a question. I am making a journal for my daughter. I cut an H shaped leather peice and made the H 11 inches long by 1 inch wide( that's the walls of the H that is). Two ends of the H will be sewed on the back of the journal and the other two ends will have snaps that will attach to the front cover. My question is this. Does anyone know how I can shape the ends of the 1 inch straps to look nice? A decrative cut of some kind? I don't have a strap end cutter and can't buy one at the moment. I was hoping to at least shape the ends that are getting sewed on. But would like it to have a decrative shape. Not sure how to do this. tried a bottle cap but that seemed a little hard to make the same for all the ends. Any thoughts or is there a pattern I can use for this? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you. John

[johnggrg]

Basicly trying to think of a way to cut the 1 inch strap ends to look nice instead of plain square ends. Anyone??? John

[Ferg]

View a photo/image of the end of a belt you like, replicate it by cutting with an Exacto knife. Done that many, many times before buying the chisels.

ferg

Basicly trying to think of a way to cut the 1 inch strap ends to look nice instead of plain square ends. Anyone??? John

[johnggrg]

Thanks for the response Ferg. I was thinking about that but can't seem to find a good picture of one in a shape that looks good. Most belts have a round or pointed end. I was thinking about the old iron hinges that had what looked like a clover type end to it or something like that. Just haven't been able to find a good picture that I could use to print out the right size. John

[dirtclod]

Draw / trace your H onto a piece of paper and start drawing using different shaped washers, coins or a compass till you come up with something you like and trace that onto your leather.

[johnggrg]

dirtclod thank you for the reply. I've been doing that and just haven't come up with anything good. In a way I messed up. I stamped the cover with ALOT of designs and shapes wich look really intricate. Now the closure looks to plain. Don't get me wrong the cover looks good to me but now need to figure out what to do with this closure straps. Talk about getting a headache. It's really holding me up on this project.

If I do a rounded emd or just a pointed end it will not go with the rest of the journal. Kinda backed my self into a corner on this. Like I said two ends will be sewed on the back but will have to bend when closing it. That's where cutting that area becomes a problem. Each tab is 1 inch wide by 2 inches long have to allow for the bending when closing a little. That is why I thought to ask the pro's what they might do. Oh on the back side(or inside when opened) of the H I sewed a thin piece of leather for a pen or pencil to go. Thought maybe someone has done one like this before. John

[WinterBear]

Can you post a picture? The folks here might be better able to give you an idea if they had a better understanding of what it looks like and what you are trying to do.

[Ferg]

Go to one of the cabinet hardware sites and checkout the miniature hinges, hasps, etc. We used to use them in our wood shop business all the time.

Van Dyke's Restorers may have a lot of what you are looking for.

ferg

dirtclod thank you for the reply. I've been doing that and just haven't come up with anything good. In a way I messed up. I stamped the cover with ALOT of designs and shapes wich look really intricate. Now the closure looks to plain. Don't get me wrong the cover looks good to me but now need to figure out what to do with this closure straps. Talk about getting a headache. It's really holding me up on this project.

If I do a rounded emd or just a pointed end it will not go with the rest of the journal. Kinda backed my self into a corner on this. Like I said two ends will be sewed on the back but will have to bend when closing it. That's where cutting that area becomes a problem. Each tab is 1 inch wide by 2 inches long have to allow for the bending when closing a little. That is why I thought to ask the pro's what they might do. Oh on the back side(or inside when opened) of the H I sewed a thin piece of leather for a pen or pencil to go. Thought maybe someone has done one like this before. John

[johnggrg]

WinterBear kid busted my camera so that is out. As far as what it looks like. The closure for the journal is shaped like a very wide H. The tabs are 2 inches long by 1 inch wide. Ferg I will look there and see if anything will work. Thank you both for taking the time to help me out. If anyone has an idea please feel free to post. Thank you. john

[johnggrg]

Ok here is what I did. I wish I had a camera so you could see what I did but I will try to explain. First I rounded the ends of the tabs. Then used a cd and put one end at the point of the rounded edge and the other at the edge of the center strip or long part of the H. It ended up looking like a double sided axe on both ends of the H. Looks better then I thought it would.

Now that I have done that. I need to attach it to the journal. One question I have is this. Since it has to bend around the end of the journal. Should I but it up against the edge of the journal and sew it on or should I leave a little gap between the edge of the journal and the H before sewing it on? I hope you understand what I mean. I wish I wouldn't have let the kid use the camera. Would REALLY come in handy right now. Let me know what you think. John