Using the large paper, the journal itself has 8.5 x 11" pages. Though I prefer grids, I had to leave these blank because I can't run the large paper through my printer and I didn't feel right using the printer at work. The journal is entirely blank . . . no name, personalization, etc. It contains 120 sheets, which means 240 writeable pages since the 32lb paper has little or no bleed-through.
The front and back leafs are made from a very nice gold metallic paper that I purchased from Hollander's, a bookbinding and paper store located in Ann Arbor, Michigan (they have a great website at Hollendars.com). To match, I bought a wide (5/8") gold satin placemarker ribbon, and used gold-threaded ribbon to make the header and footers (which you can't really see in any of the pictures I took).
The bookblock itself was made with a rounded and 'fanned' back . . . basically this makes the spine of the book rounded and slightly wider than the pages themselves.
The cover is my favorite, though . . . I made the front and back from thick bookboard, and then added a raised pattern cut from some thinner bookboard (and also added two raised bands on the spine, again tough to see in these pics). I then covered it in thin black pigskin, pressing the leather down into the creases of the pattern. Finally, I made some 'templates' from the thin bookboard that matched the shape of the low spots and pressed the cover in my press, which firmly set the whole thing in place and really created some nice defined transitions between the raised and lower sections.
I'm really happy with this . . . almost too nice for me to write in!
