My original plan was to hand bind the books as well, but as these are intended to be used over their coming reign (which means through Pennsic War) my hand bound book would not have withstood the rigors of that type of use. So I opted for a commercially made blank journal, which has the integrity to take months of constant use they will get.
The cover fabrics were dupioni silk and the ground fabric for the shield embroideries was white linen. The threads used were Splendor Silk twisted embroidery threads. While I embroidered the arms on white linen as a base, the spine embroideries were directly on the ground silk fabric. Obviously, the shield embroidery is Middle Kingdom arms of the King and Queen. Though they were Prince and Princess when given yesterday, their Coronation is to happen in the next couple weeks so I opted to do the full Royal Arms for King and Queen. On the spines, I took facets of their personal arms to decorate them. Her highness has dandelions and their leaves on hers while the Prince has three white stars, a tigers head and the Augmentation symbol of a golden sun.
I enjoyed making these covers very much and hope their Highness's will get much use from them.
