MATERIALS WE USE
The Gildry Store, with its unique products, is a part of this great history.
For example, the leather cover of this notebook, made from vegetable-tanned calf hide, has the appearance of a true handmade work of art.
The leather is produced using time-tested tanning methods and a process which utilizes natural tannins found in tree bark.
Notebook covers are colored using water-based non-toxic dyes, making them practical and environmentally friendly.
Every book is unique, as even the smallest piece of leather reacts differently to a dye’s pigment.
To achieve the desired shade or effect, each specimen is painted with three or four different dyes.
In the final press during the making of a cover, a liquid varnish made from natural beeswax and oils prepared according to our “special recipe” is applied to the leather. Then, for the finishing touch, the craftsmen manually polish every millimeter of leather.
Leather
The middle age popularly referred to as the medieval period is significant in history for arts,
crafts and reliefs. A period and time of the arts and science of ancient Rome and Greece. There is perhaps no other time in human history that is as popular for quality arts and beauty especially in
their handmade forms. Craftsmanship is not just an important highlight of the period that birth groups of craftsmen mainly referred to as Guilds, it is more of a movement that influenced local
economy through the flow of trade because before a journeyman could be a master, he needed to produce a masterpiece that would be approved by the Guild Masters. Each Guilds have
specialties which ranges from weaving to dying, and painting, baking and bookkeeping, armoring, candle-making and lots more. The good thing about the period is that most of its artefacts and highlights transcends through present times although in more modern forms.
The Gildry store share a part of this great history with its great arts inventions. The cover of Gildry books are uniquely made from vegetable-tanned calf leather as a pure handmade art. The
leather is produced using time-honored tanning methods. The vegetable tanning process involves the use of natural tannin found in tree bark. Tannin is also the root for the word “tanning”.
Our book cover leathers are hand dyed separately with water-based non-toxic dyes. This makes it both eco-friendly and handy. Each book in our store is one-of-a-kind, since each piece of leather reacts differently to the dye pigment. Almost all the books on our website have been dyed and decorated with three to four different dyes in order to achieve a certain shade or effect. Of course this is what artistic beauty entails. We finish each book making process by coating the leather
with a water- based lacquer of natural beeswax and oils prepared according to our unique “recipe”. Each coated leather is then dried and hand-polished to achieve an extraordinary result,
a glimpse of beauty like you have never seen before. We pride our product as highly because it is a distinct one that even large leather factories cannot replicate or duplicate. We are the best at creating the Gold in historical Old.
Paper
Talk of a paper that is made from unique quality mediaeval technology, here it is. The handmade paper is a unique product representing historical Nepalese’s arts, skill and tradition. The Lokta paper as it is widely called is a significant highlight of history in Nepal, given especially its importance as a reliable income source to rural entrepreneurs of the country. This is exactly the same paper from which the Gildry book is made.
This paper is highly tied to the Himalayans history as a traditional handmade Nepali product that is manufactured from Lokta fibre. The Lokta paper also enjoys the popularity of being perhaps one of the longest and strongest natural fiber that produce very strong papers in terms of its unique feel and texture. Therefore the Lokta paper is one of the very rare products in Nepal which all of its elements and supply chain are based on local resources. All of these facts combined rallied the originating craftsmanship and ergonomics motives of this book. It is one that seek to preserve cultural and historical quality with representation in human lifestyles in the best modern ways without losing the all-important cultural connection of the highlighting artefacts in the modern design.
The Lokta/Nepali paper preparation takes exciting process too. Lokta bark is peeled and
transported to the factory and left to rest is left behind as mulch. In the factory, the bark is sun-dried for about 24 hours to remove moisture and stored in a dry place. Afterwards, raw materials for each batch of production is immersed in water to soften and cleaned to remove black spots and impurities. Following this, the cleaned Lokta is cooked in drums of water and caustic soda. The cooked Lokta is also then washed with clean water to remove caustic soda before it is beaten with wooden mallet to make it into pulp. The soften pulp is molded and spread into wooden frames to make flat sheets of paper. Paper thickness is however decided based on the amount of pulp poured in the frame. The pup is allows to dry and then the paper is ready.
In this book we make do with the Hahnemühle Artist paper called Ingres. It is a mould-made ivory paper named after the famous French painter Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867). This paper is ideal for pencil, crayon, pastel, red ochre and watercolours, as well as for gel, ink or fountain pen. The thickness of the binding was selected by many years of selection book/journal which fits it well in the hand and give it pleasant sensations when you write on paper with a pencil and make sketches. Everyone will appreciate this beauty as a chic gift for the Christmas.
We have not just selected the Hahnemühle paper for the sake of it. Rather, our choice is based on the uncompromising quality provided by this German paper mill with over 420 years of experience in the field. What more would you have wanted from a modernized historical art?! So, each time you have our book in your hand and writing on its papers, just remember that you are reliving a quality of centuries past. What a feeling?!
Endleaves
If you have not heard anything else about handmade crafts, I’m certain you know how beautiful they look, and how durable they are among others. The same could be said of the Gildry book’s endleaves. The book’s endleaves is handmade and manufactured with Lokta paper from our Nepal friends. This paper is made from the fibrous bark of the Daphne Cannabina which grows at high altitudes in the Himalayas. The Lokta paper has not only been useful in passing down knowledge and information from the existence of human race to the current generation, its raw product harvesting is responsible for the continuous growth of the forest to preserve its ecology.
Its use for paper purpose is therefore a double win for the human race in terms of use and nature preservation.
We have used the paper for our endleaves because they are very durable and long-lasting. They are equally easily folded without getting crinkles or corrugation. Top of it all, they are very resistant to insect and very free from all sorts of germs. This means that an investment on this paper of its product in simply for once in a lifetime. Generally, Lokta paper represents the bright future of the paper industry and a share relief to people that detest the current reality of digital information storage. Coupled with the origin of the leather, Lokta paper gives the craft in the Gildry book a multicultural feel in outlook, beauty and sensation.