This journal is bound in natural undyed leather, tooled and hand painted with my original artwork. I designed this design binding as an alchemical map of transformation, where the power of love acts as fundamental elemental force. Love, just like liquid gold in alchemy, is the magical substance flowing through our veins, crossing our internal anatomy forming meridians of the soul, in thin threads that interconnect the chambers of our heart. When we allow it to move through us without resistance, we achieve a state of emotional alchemy, finding unconditional love, balance and equilibrium within ourselves. By surrendering to its flow, by accepting its burning passion without fearing the heartbreak, we will find that we are already whole. This binding is a tribute to the beauty of being human and embracing life with its highs and its lows. Ultimately, it is about understanding that love is an internal force and it is independent of external factors.
At the center of the design appears the anatomical heart, rendered not as a romantic emblem but as a living engine, the seat of will, emotion, and vital force. Encircled by a ring marked with zodiacal and temporal symbols, the heart becomes both compass and clock, suggesting that true time is not measured externally, but through inner change. The surrounding sun and moon elements evoke the alchemical union of opposites: conscious and unconscious, masculine and feminine, action and receptivity.
Below, the heart descends into a vessel of fire, recalling the alchemical athanor. This flame is not destructive but transformative. It is the necessary heat through which matter, memory, and identity are refined. It represents the requirements for genuine change: patience, resilience, endurance, continuity.
On the left cover a tree-like structure forms branching paths, connecting anatomical fragments, parts of our heart that may get scattered but yet are always connected.
On the spine, the serpent, an ancient symbol of renewal and hidden knowledge, allows the viewer to ask themselves a question, and make their own decision about the path they chose in life. What stories will they tell?
The painting was made with leather dyes on natural leather and sealed so that it does not wear off during time. A patina was applied to the entire book with transparent glazes so make it resemble an old binding.
The book measures 10.2 x 7.3 inches (26 x 18.5 cm). It has 126 pages (240 sides) of Favini Laguna artist paper with parchment finish. This paper is acid free, hand-torn, has 180 gsm and will work for writing and sketching in any media, even watercolor.
The endpages are made of hand marbled paper. The headbands were hand sewn in gold metallic thread and dark orange silk thread.
This book is an art object. You can use it as a personal reflection journal for your life or as a family book to pass down as a heirloom. Either way, it was made with love and I hope you will enjoy it.
