Only the best to preserve a great flying career

For nearly 14 years Australian based pilot Ian had been using a self-made plastic pouch as a NZCAA logbook “cover”. It was time for an upgrade. Ian decided to preserve his flying career properly by having two of his logbooks rebound and Sparrowhawk Custom leather cover made to fit.

When Ian’s order come through, I was ecstatic. I rarely had the opportunity to make the premium cover Ian had chosen, and had never made it in the Medium Brown & Black leather with Butterscotch stitching. I knew the cover would be very masculine and distinctive.

 It was a little tricky adding the extra space required for Ian to fit his rebound logbook cover, but I was up for the challenge.

The first step was to tool the front cover piece. This included hand carving the pilot wings and embossing Ian’s initials in the right position so they would not be obscured by the wrap closure. Once carved, I carefully dyed around the wings. and then hand rubbed the dye on rest of the front cover piece to bring out the grain. From here I antiqued the Medium Brown dye and the wings to enhance the detail.

 

Next I made the outside cover, including the inside keeper sleeves, which are made out of kangaroo hide as they need to be thin and pliable.

 There was also to be a NZCAA licence pocket and pen holder. The pen holder is tricky as it needs to be stitched in a position where it fits neatly in the fold of the wrap around cover, without interfering with the logbook.

  

The result was a handsome logbook cover that packed up for International Courier to Ian in Australia. Emailing Ian some photos first, I was thrilled at his positive feedback. The cover arrived safely and Ian was so pleased. 

What a spectacular piece of work!
The colours and the arrangements look great!
It feels SO special and personalised.
You do great work. Thank you so much.