Ruth Bleakley book artist

Hi, I’m ruth!

Welcome to my handmade journal shop! Creating beautiful journals is my passion, and I’ve been bookbinding for more than 15 years. I’m inspired by precious materials like marbled paper, created by floating ink on water, and bright and colorful Japanese Chiyogami paper, which is based on kimono patterns.

too much paper? never!

Sometimes I joke that my real love is collecting beautiful paper, and that I learned bookbinding so I'd have a way to show it all off! That’s not true though - I really enjoy the meditative process of bookbinding: cutting and folding paper, pasting covers and sewing a book together. It’s also deeply satisfying to create a useful item that I know will last for years.

Japanese Reality TV

In the summer of 2016 I had the once-in-a-lifetime experience of participating in a Japanese reality TV show (“Nippon Ni Ikitai”) about Paper! I flew to Japan and learned the Japanese paper marbling called Suminagashi and stenciled paper patterns called Katazome. Read more: Ruth's Japan TV Show Trip

I love books!

Reading books is my next favorite thing after making books. My mom, grandma, and my great-aunt were all Librarians. I even tried working at a library too, hoping to carry on the family occupation. However, I found myself drawn toward book repair more than anything else, and eventually found myself back in the studio making my own books.