Our made-to-order covers are cut after the order arrives. Ready to Ship covers are already finished. That is worth stating first, because it is the reason a custom order is not a special favour here — it is the same work with different numbers on the pattern.
What follows is what can actually be changed, what it costs, how it runs, and the four things we will not do.
A cover cut to your notebook
The standard sizes are A6 and A5, matched to blocks of 105 × 148 mm and 148 × 210 mm. If your notebook is a different size, thicker than usual, or simply an odd one, send the block measurements and we will cut to them.
One condition and it is not negotiable: the block sits on an elastic cord running through the spine, so the notebook has to bend around the cord. Softcover journals do that. Hardcovers do not, at any size.
Extra holes, and an elastic layout that fits your system
This is the request we get most and the one worth knowing about. The standard cover uses a modular elastic system and carries two or three thin notebooks depending on their thickness. If you want more than that, or you want them held in a particular arrangement, we can punch extra holes and fit extra elastics.
It has to be decided before cutting. The holes on a finished cover are where they are, and that includes every Ready to Ship piece. If your system needs four inserts and a place for loose paper, say so at the start and it costs you nothing but the message.
A leather that is not in the range
We keep Buttero and Dollaro from Conceria Walpier, Pueblo from Badalassi Carlo, and Ghost Wax and Freedom alongside them. If you have seen a hide from one of those tanneries in a colour we do not stock, ask. It is often possible.
It is not always. We order hides online from Italy rather than picking them by hand, so availability is the supplier's answer rather than ours, and a whole hide has to be worth ordering for one cover. We will tell you which of those two is the problem if it is a problem.
Personalisation beyond ten characters
Ten characters are free and go in the bottom right corner of the front panel, in gold foil, silver foil, or blind debossing with no foil at all. Longer text is sometimes possible, and the limit is physical rather than a policy: we set the text from a case of metal letters, and there are only so many of each. A word with three E's in it can run out of E's.
Send the exact text and we will tell you whether it can be set.
What it costs
The price is mostly the work. Leather is a real cost and it is not the deciding one; a custom cover is priced by what it takes to cut, punch, fold, sew and burnish, and we quote it once we know what the thing is.
There is no minimum order and no minimum value. We decide case by case, and a request for one cover with two extra holes is not too small to bother with.
How it runs
Send the request through the custom size request form on the site. After that we move to email and work it out there: measurements, layout, leather, text. If the order is complicated we agree a sketch and the details in writing before anything is cut, so that what you approve is what you get.
When it is settled we create a listing for you specifically, and it is paid in full up front. From there it is 5–7 working days to make, the same as anything else. Custom does not mean slower.
Returns, said plainly
A cover made to non-standard measurements or an individually agreed construction, or stamped with personal text, is not eligible for a change-of-mind return where the law permits this exception. Choosing a standard size, leather, colour or elastic does not make a cover non-returnable. Your statutory rights remain unaffected, including your rights if the cover is faulty or does not match your order. See our refund policy for the full terms, and check the spelling and measurements before approving your order.
If something goes wrong, contact us. If the parcel is damaged in transit, we sort it out and you are not left with it. And if we got something wrong — a measurement, a letter, a layout we agreed — we remake it or find another answer. Where the fault is ours or the courier's, it is decided in your favour.
Four things we say no to
Hardcover notebooks. Not a size problem and not something a custom cut solves. Rigid boards will not sit on the cord.
Large formats. A4 and up we do not make. This construction — a folded hide held by an elastic through the spine — stops working at that size, and we would rather say so than sell you one that flops.
Someone else's logo, for free. Stamping a logo means making the stamp first, and a stamp is a real cost. If you want your company mark on a cover and you are paying for the die to be made, that is a normal order and we are happy to do it. What we will not do is treat it as personalisation.
Anything we cannot make well. If a request needs a construction we have not built before and we are not confident in it, we will tell you rather than experiment on your money.
What to send in the first message
The block measurements in millimetres, whether the notebook is a softcover, how many inserts you want to carry, the leather and colour if you already know, and the text if there is any. That is usually enough for us to answer in one reply rather than five.