A Birthday Card and a Book Cover

I made this for a new friend who has had a birthday recently. 

I also passed on one of my hand bound books as I have SOOO many of them and as this friend does draw I thought she might like it. 

I actually made this book cover well over a year ago and did not like how it come out. To resolve this I coated the entire cover in gesso and started again. 

I found a crimson spray in my stash and totally love it so using that and some black ink, I ended up with a VERY moody end result and loved it. 

Now because I use sprays which are essentially ink you cannot seal the surface with matt medium or anything like that as it just rehydrates the ink and starts moving it around which was what happened the first time I did this cover. SO, what did I use? Hair spray.... and THEN sealed it with matt medium which worked a blast. 

 I had to relearning coptic stitch to bind the book because I haven't made a bound book in a while. Interestingly enough I seemed to have improved on the method a bit and I have no idea why or how. I am just going with it. 

 

Let me know what you think by asking any questions.