Here is my finished Gothic book cover. I’m happy with how it turned out functionality but I think I could have done better at reaching the gothic aesthetic. I realized quickly after trying to darken the material that it was not actually leather so a lot of the techniques I had found for darkening wouldn’t work. My other option was to get acrylic paint, which even though would have gotten the color I wanted I thought it would take away from making it look worn and old. So instead I chose to keep the original color of the material and focus on wearing it. I did this by softening the material with rubbing alcohol and crumpling and bending it to create creases. I then used a fine grit sandpaper to to distress it and remove any glossy finish on it. And then I took it outside rubbed it in dirt and then cleaned it off. The process of sewing it together was also difficult, I made a lot of mistakes in the stitching and the thread would keep breaking on me no matter how slow or careful I tried to be with it.
