Looking after
your journal.

Bought one at the market? This is everything you need to know. Your journal is vegetable-tanned cowhide, hand-airbrushed with alcohol dye cut with neatsfoot oil, and finished with a Resolene topcoat. That combination is durable and forgiving. It was built to be carried, not protected.

The short version

Use it. Carry it. Let it get marked. That is most of the maintenance.

Veg-tanned leather darkens and softens as it takes up the oils from your hands and the light from being outdoors, the same way a baseball glove does. That darkening is called patina, and it is the difference between an object that wears out and an object that wears in. Every scratch stays. A few months in, most people find it stops looking like something they bought and starts looking like something that is theirs.

Conditioning

• Once or twice a year, or whenever the leather starts to feel dry to the touch.
• Use a neutral leather conditioner or neatsfoot oil, applied with a clean, soft cloth.
• Work it in thinly and evenly, then leave it overnight before you carry it again.
• Less is more. Over-oiling makes leather soft and floppy in a way you cannot reverse, and it darkens the piece unevenly. If you are unsure, use half what you think and do it again next season.

Water

• The Resolene topcoat makes your journal water resistant, not waterproof. It will survive a Seattle walk home.
• If it gets wet, blot it with a cloth. Do not rub. Let it air dry away from direct heat.
• Never use a radiator, a hairdryer or direct sun to speed that up. Heat is what actually ruins leather, and it does it permanently by shrinking and stiffening the fibres.

Sunlight

• Prolonged direct sun will darken the leather and can fade hand-applied dye unevenly.
• A journal that lives on a sunny windowsill will develop a tan line. Some people like this. Most do not.

Marks and scratches

• Light scratches can often be worked out with a clean fingertip. The warmth and the oils in your skin are usually enough.
• Deeper ones are permanent, and they are part of the record now.

What not to do

• No saddle soap, household cleaners, alcohol or baby wipes.
• Nothing goes in a washing machine.
• Do not store the journal sealed in plastic. Leather needs air, and plastic traps moisture against it.

Paper and hardware

• Every binder is a standard size, so refills stay available for as long as stationery does. We keep lined 100gsm and blank art 180gsm. See the refills.
• The hardware carries a lifetime guarantee. If a ring mechanism ever fails, email us and we will sort it out.