Debossing your Moleskine

No, its not taking your notebook off management's hands. Eric Au, a Master's Candidate in Industrial Design at the University of Calgary has come up with this very cool M Mod:

"I have been a user of moleskines since about 1 year ago. I found that they were great b/c I could cram alot of stuff into them and at the end of each one, would be filled and ultra thick with information and design. I am an industrial design masters student and since joining the formal design community, I found it useful to make things very personalized, but keep them designer-ish. So I set out to make a debossing effect on the front cover."

" After careful thought, the best solution would be using some old typewritter fonts that would be used for a Canon electric typewritter that had exchangable wheels for different fonts. I aquired some through a very nice resource centre friend and staff. I carefully taped down the letters to form my name and the word design since that would be the purpose of this moleskine and each successful one from now on. Then taped the pattern of letters on the cover and tapped them with a hammer to depress the letters in the soft oilskin."

"The results were impressive and I enjoy it immensely. I will be doing these with maybe themes since I have a few sets of fonts. Stuff like differentiating the differences between the multiple moleskines I currently employ as my devices. I use the large and small grid ones."

"I hope this provides another way to personalize the front of the moleskine, but keep the clean and classic look of the book. For those who understand typography and care, the font is Orator size 10. Enjoy!"

Visit ericau.net.

View larger versions at Moleskinerie/FLICKR: 1 2 3 4

Homework help:

"Debossing: an inverted form of embossing in which a relief plate is placed under the sheet of paper as it is run through a press. That area of the paper is thus lowered, rather than raised.

Embossed print: a print in which a three-dimensional effect is achieved through the pressing of the paper into the crevices of the plate or wood block."

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Comments

[http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/]

Wow, now that's a great idea!

[Shanon]

Very cool. I like the idea.

[Sylvia]

That's great, and I learned a new word too! ;)

[Eric]

Thanks people! I hope you can recreate this too!

[Kate]

And if you wanted a little more visibility on the letters, you could rub some paint into them. I'd probably color-code them, but I color-code everything.

[miguel westerberg]

em desembro deichei uma mensaguem pois tinha curiosidade sobre os livros de apontmentos,,, vivo agora no brasil e sou artista plastico..

miguelwesterberg@yahoo.com.br
www.miguelwest.blogspot.com

parabens pelo teu blog

[Nathaniel]

After seeing this I browsed the Michael's and found a leather stamping kit that serves the same purpose. Thanks for the idea.

[Ezra]

Hi; I have been selling customized moleskines that I deboss on my letterpress.

I tried using ink (see one I did for some friends here: http://rainyplanet.com/blog/2006/07/09/custom-moleskines/) , but the coated surface doesn't ink so well.

[Lorra]

Hi! This is a great idea. Can I ask where you got your typewriter fonts from?

[Melissa]

Thanks for the idea! I'm going to give personalized a moleskin with a poem a shot for a writer friend of mine. FYI for those who haven't spec'd this out yet...the font wheels shown above can be purchased from typewriter repair shops. Most will look at you like your crazy but generally will sell them for about $5 a piece. If you're connected with a school, ask your facilities guy if he has any old equipment lying around (though most will probably be the ball type which aren't useful). The kit at Michael's will run you about $15 but sign up for their newsletter online and get a 40% coupon. These are great for titles as they are much bigger (1/4") but give a very different effect than the typewriter fonts. I also tried some metal scrapbooking letters and flowers but they didn't work so well. Also, you might also like this article: http://aks-research.blogspot.com/2007/02/modding-moleskin.html for modifying the inside of a moleskin pocket-type book. A very different effect, though it preserved the stylish low profile cover.

Thanks again!

Melissa