Consorts, books and crosses

I decided to make Ynigo a favor as he was fighting for me. He loves the cross, which is a cross of Santiago, I think. I made the tiny book out of elephant poo paper. I have tried to make paper, but I have been largely unsuccessful.  It is a pretty tough process and the only real medieval mention is a bamboo type from China.

I cut small sheets of the poo paper into pages, and bound 8 or so together at a time. I made several packets and then cut a leather cover. I tooled the cover and painted the cross in gold acrylic paint.  I then dyed the cover. After it all dried a few days, I softened it using Huberd's Shoe Grease.  I let that sit for a few more days until it was all absorbed. In the meantime, I finger braided a cord so he could wear it on his belt.  It doesn't show in the picture, but I used a tiny coprolite (dinosaur poo) bead as a button closure. I made a loop by using a length of silk to make a loop and I button hole stitched around that.

I put the whole thing together by sewing the packets into the leather cover.  Yay for my first book.