Cross and custom slip cover design for the client's bible. For the slipcover I used beautifully soft doeskin, in a lovely caramel color and really soft so it would handle and wear well. The cross is a custom design created to fit the cover and give a really traditional feel to the overall piece. Leather has a natural oil to it, sometimes making it difficulty to transfer designs or get some waterbased dyes to stain it. To transfer the design onto the cover I took a sheet of paper and pierced holes every millimeter or two with a pin, to perforate the design completely. Then laying it over the leather, I pounced charcoal through the holes, so when the pierced paper is removed the design is transferred to the leather beneath. This proved to be the best technique for the level of detail I wanted to do in the cross, and the leather surface, but meant that I had to work carefully when laying in my dye, so as to not muddy it with the charcoal outlines and to not smudge the charcoal into the leather and ruin it. It was extremely challenging, but the final effect is exactly what I wanted... a really "ancient tome" feel.