An antique book is salvaged into an Italian winemaker’s notebook (altered book) for journaling, notes on wine tastings, food/wine pairings, painting, sketching, or other mixed media art. The inspiration is an original antique Piedmontese family picking white grapes during Italian harvest.
This altered book is now sold. Favorite my shop for future alerts; I have a few journals in progress, & there might be a French Winemaker’s Notebook in the works (hint, hint)
Over 200 pages/sides are bound using a traditional book binding method (kettle stitch). 97% of the papers used are vintage or antique ledger papers from Great Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Finland, and Belgium. Original book plates, antique collector’s winemaking postcards, an antique 1847 letter to Italy, and authentic vintage or antique Italian ephemera throughout. All of the postcards are unique and difficult to find. Because of the strict Italian wine laws Italian wine labels are nearly impossible to find so I added French wine labels to inspire your tastings or artwork.
Original water colors of the two major gapes from Italy (Nebiollo red and Timorasso white), porcini mushrooms and the white truffle of Alba, and paint swatches to mimic wine colors are included.
Other supplies used:
B&W photos of Piedmontese family during grape harvest, 3 Italian gentleman, young wealthy lady/vineyard owner, porcelain pin: #bretodeau_vintage on Instagram, from Turin Italy
Original vintage or antique Italian ephemera and documents: (Rachel’s in Italy, lucky lady!!)
Some vintage ledger papers:
Art papers from @donnamorgan4171 on Instagram
French vintage fabrics from @alinecauvin on Instagram
British fabrics from @ruralretro on Instagram
Belgian ledger/papers: @p0stal_l0ve on Instagram
Bohemian digital kit from
Other vintage papers: @taylormadecards4u on Instagram
Piedmont & Swiss Alps topography map printed in France, 1840, Ebay
Collector’s winemaking postcards, Piedmont village postcards, 1847 letter from England to Italy all purchased or won from Ebay
Villar Val Pelice – Piedmont Italy (1861 original steel engraving bookplate) from Ebay. Description from original book, courtesy of Ebay seller:
Continuing our progress westward through the villages of Vignes, Cassarots, Garnier, and Pianta, ” All,” says Muston, ” baptized with blood and witnesses of heroic combats,” we come to the torrent and bridge of the Subiasque,. which serve as the eastern limits to the commune of BOBI—the Bobiaca Vallis of De Thou.t This part of the Valley which, on entering Villar, appears as if almost shut out from the eye, gradually expands into a wide and fertile basin, covered with meadows, watered by the river Police and its tributaries, and bordered all round by a girdle of forests which constitute the natural riches of the commune. Hewn in the mountains, and brought down to depots near the road, the timber is there exposed for sale, and offers a ready supply for domestic purposes, of which the hearths and homely architecture of the valley are the principal sources of demand. The small town and territory of Bobi form the combined arena of many important events in the history of the Waldenses. The picturesque, and even sublime scenery which the environs present, is justly admired by all strangers who have penetrated its recesses; and few portions of the Valleys can furnish more striking subjects for the pencil, or more fascinating episodes for the poet and historian. The affecting lines, here extracted from a manuscript poem, were lately written by one of its most talented sons—and now an exile, because talented and devoted to the cause of truth.
To the tourist who proceeds across the Col-de-Julien to Bobi, the Serre-le-Cruel—a celebrated post of Ariiaud and his victorious followers—will be an object of peculiar attraction. It is a little out of the common track, on the rugged banks of the Subiasca torrent, but, once attained, all fatigue will be forgotten, and the stranger feel himself repaid by one of the finest and most extensive views in the whole circuit of the Valleys. It comprises the entire basin of the Val Pelice, from the Col-de-la-Croix above Bobi, to Villar; the fantastic meanderings of the river ; the road winding down the rugged flank of Col-de-Julien ; Monte Viso soaring directly in front, and La Sarcena—another of the old Waldensian watch posts—raising its monumental crest between. Every feature in this extraordinary landscape is of a bold and impressive character. Associated with so many historical facts, it invites contemplation, and leads the mind back to those fearful times when the persecuted native had no citadel but these inaccessible rocks—no consolation but in his unsullied faith—no personal security but what he could purchase with the sword.