Black Leather Journals

Black Leather Journal Covers in Full-Grain Crazy Horse

Most black leather goods are black because a pigment coat was sprayed over the hide. This one is not. Black Onyx is a full-grain Crazy Horse hide dyed through and finished with wax, which is why it reads as a deep, slightly uneven black rather than the flat black of a coated leather — and why a scratch on it goes lighter rather than exposing a different colour underneath.

How Black Onyx Compares to the Other Five Hides

Sampled from the same photograph of the same cover in all six leathers, the darkest 40% of the centre band, the range comes out like this:

• Black Onyx — the neutral, with almost no colour in it at all. This collection.
• Chestnut — the same depth as Black Onyx, separated only by hue; near espresso, much darker than the word brown leads people to expect. See Chestnut covers.
• Forest Green — the same depth as Black Onyx, separated only by hue; dark enough to read almost black indoors, and never an olive. See Forest Green covers.
• Bordeaux — one step lighter than Black Onyx; clearly red rather than a brown leaning red, with roughly twice as much red as green or blue. See Bordeaux covers.
• Cognac — two steps lighter than Black Onyx; the most saturated hide we cut, closer to rust-orange than to brown. See Cognac covers.
• Caramel — three steps lighter than Black Onyx; the lightest of the six, a warm mid-brown that reads brown from across a room. See Caramel covers.

The useful surprise there is that Black Onyx, Chestnut and Forest Green sit at effectively the same depth. If you want dark but not black, Chestnut and Forest Green get you there without going lighter.

What Crazy Horse Leather Does Over Time

Crazy Horse is finished with wax and oil instead of a pigment coat, so nothing sits on top of the grain to crack or peel. Press a thumbnail in and the mark goes lighter rather than paler, because the wax moves aside; rub it and the wax comes back. It collects the marks of being used, which is the reason to buy it.

Black shows this more plainly than any other hide in the range, because every mark reads as a lighter line against a dark ground. Some people buy black for exactly that; others find it the reason to take Chestnut instead.

Black in Every Size

Every size is cut in Black Onyx — A4, B5, Sketchbook, A5, Cahier, Regular, B6, B6 Slim, A6, Personal, Pocket Size and Field Notes — from a 21 × 29.7 cm desk cover down to a 8.9 × 14 cm memo booklet.

Adding a Name to This Leather

Every cover in this collection can be personalized four ways: laser engraving, heat stamping into the leather, or that same stamping in gold or silver foil. On a hide this dark, engraving and plain heat stamping show up as depth and shadow rather than contrast — legible up close, quiet from across a table. Gold or silver foil is what makes a name readable at a distance, and silver in particular sits well on black. Initials, a full name, a monogram, a date or a company logo all work.

What Goes With It

On the same elastics: notebook refills, inserts and organizers, pen cases and holders, journal charms and bookmark clips. All six leathers in all twelve sizes are on the leather journals hub.