How to care for a handmade journal

A hand-bound journal is more forgiving than people think. Coptic stitching in particular was designed to survive centuries in a monastery in the Egyptian desert — your backpack is not going to destroy it. But a few small habits will keep the book looking the way you remember it from the day you bought it.

1. Let it breathe in first

If your journal was made in a dry month and you receive it during the monsoon, let it sit open on your desk for an afternoon before you start using it. The paper will equalise with the humidity and the book will close more evenly.

2. Never leave it in a parked car

The single fastest way to warp a handmade cover is to leave the book in an Indian car boot in May. Heat and sealed air ripple the boards in a way that is hard to reverse.

3. Carry it spine-down

When you slide the journal into a bag, orient it so the spine is at the bottom. The weight of the text block then rests on the spine itself, not on the signatures and stitching.

4. Use the right pen

On 120gsm mixed-media paper (what most of our journals use) almost anything works — fountain pens, rollerballs, gel pens, even light watercolour. The one thing to avoid is a heavy alcohol-based marker, which bleeds through in under a second.

5. Do not force it open

Hand-bound books open beautifully on their own. Never flatten a page by pressing down hard on the spine. The book will settle into an open position by the tenth or fifteenth use.

6. Keep glue away from a Coptic

Most handmade journals use a tiny amount of PVA on the covers. If you ever see a loose thread, resist the urge to glue it. Instead, tie a small square knot inside the nearest signature and trim. A five-second fix that lasts forever.

7. Clean the cover gently

A dry microfibre cloth is enough for fabric covers. For handmade-paper covers, a soft eraser picks up most marks. Never use a wet wipe.

8. Store it upright

On a shelf, flat for a week is fine; flat for a year will bow the boards. Stand your journals like regular books.

9. Repair it

Almost every binding failure is fixable. If a thread breaks, pull the loose end through to the inside, tie it to the next pass, and carry on. If a cover lifts at a corner, a dot of PVA the size of a grain of rice, pressed flat for ten minutes under a heavy book, is all it needs. We also run a free repair clinic at the studio twice a year.

Where to go from here

If you are new to hand-bound books, our Coptic beginner's guide explains why they are built the way they are. For an upgrade, browse the finished-book shop or a starter kit.

FAQ

Can I wash a fabric cover? Spot-clean only. The boards underneath the fabric cannot be soaked.

What humidity is ideal? 40–60% relative humidity. Most Indian homes are in that range for most of the year.

Will the paper yellow? Recycled paper ages more slowly than cheap wood-pulp paper, but some softening of the white is natural and looks lovely.

My thread snapped after five years. Is the book a write-off? Not at all. Bring it to our studio — a re-stitch takes about an hour and costs ₹400.