Blue Suede Goddess Tree Journal

Blue suede, five by seven, with a goddess tree on the cover and antique-toned paper inside.

Suede is not a lesser leather, it is a different surface. Grain leather is the outside of the hide, tight and smooth, and it is what you see on nearly every other journal cover. Suede is the fibrous inner layer buffed until the fibers stand up into a nap, and most modern suede is a split, sliced away from the grain layer, so both its faces are soft. Nubuck is the opposite trick, the outer grain sanded to a nap, which is why the two look alike and wear differently. The nap is why suede feels warm in the hand instead of cool, and why it takes a fingerprint and a water spot that a grain cover would shrug off. It is the softest thing in our journal case and the one to keep out of a bag with a water bottle in it.

The goddess tree is a modern pagan design convention rather than a historical motif with a name: a figure whose raised arms become the branches, so the body and the tree are one shape. Its appeal is obvious. It puts a person inside the growing thing rather than standing next to it.

The antique paper matters more than it sounds. A cream or tea-toned page is easier on the eye than bright white under a lamp because it cuts the glare. You give up a little contrast for that, and if you write at night it is a trade worth making.

Benjamin International source from artisans in Nepal, Indonesia and India, and every one of these is made by hand. That means the cover takes color unevenly and the tooling sits a little differently on each one, so the journal you get will not be the journal in the photograph. That is the trade you are making and it is the right one.

Good to Know

5 by 7 inches, blue suede cover, antique-toned paper. Handmade in small numbers, so the dye takes differently on every one. Suede marks, so expect it to develop a history.

Try It With

The Kheops Tree of Life journal is the same idea with a grain leather cover if you want something harder wearing. a quill pen to write with. More in journals and journals and pens.