Butterfly Large Journal

admin — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 09:00:00 +0000

I have had a love affair with journals for as long as I can remember. I love to collect beautifully designed journals—the top shelf of the bookcase in my home office has almost twenty journals that I gathered during high school and college. Now, I have a new favorite to add to my collection.

The butterfly journal by Oberon Design is incredibly well-crafted. The large version is nine inches in length by six and a half inches in width, with the paper sized at eight and a half inches by five and a half inches. The journal has a metal knob on the front with a butterfly and a leather tie that wraps around it to close. The purple leather has a matching etching, front and back, of a butterfly with black detailing. The pages inside the journal are white and do not have any lines.

The best part about this journal is the paper is replaceable: the inside of the butterfly journal is a plain black hardcover journal, which is placed into the leather sleeve. This means that when you fill up the original journal, you replace it with a new one (Oberon Design sells blank book inserts for $7.75 each). Since the leather is thick and the stitching is very tight, it can take some effort to remove and insert the inner book.

Oberon Design includes a small insert with the journal about caring for the leather. A few tips include keeping the journal out of direct sunlight, not using chemicals or solvents on the leather to clean, and removing any marks by lightly wiping with a clean eraser or a water-dampened cotton cloth. The journal is incredibly sturdy and looks like it will last for years. For journal lovers and prolific writers, the butterfly journal is a good investment that will look fantastic on a bookshelf and when it is being used.

Written by: Elizabeth Stannard Gromisch, February 14th 2010

Raven Necklace

admin — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 09:00:00 +0000

By Oberon Design

Ravens have captured human imagination since the beginning of time, and it seems I am no exception. My pewter raven necklace from Oberon Design is the most unique piece of jewelry I have ever owned. The image of a raven cast in pewter and strung on a black leather cord gives this necklace a medieval feeling. I was inspired to learn more about ravens after receiving my necklace in the mail, and I discovered that when it comes to ravens, there doesn’t seem to be a middle ground: you either love them or you hate them.

The mythology surrounding ravens is rich, plentiful, fascinating, and downright unsettling at times. I discovered on Wikipedia that the legend of ravens in the tower of London is so important to the people of England that ten ravens (six on duty and four young spares) are employed by the Tower of London at the expense of the British government:

A Yeoman Warder, or Beefeater, has the specific role of Ravenmaster at the Tower and takes care of their feeding and well being…It was said that Charles II ordered their removal following complaints from John Flamsteed, the Royal Astronomer. However, they were not removed because Charles was then told of the legend that if the ravens ever leave the Tower of London, the White Tower, the monarchy, and the entire kingdom would fall…

A wild raven can live for more than thirty years, lest it be bested by its natural enemies, the great horned owl and red tail hawk. The raven can actually be trained to speak, and often makes utterances that sound like "cras, cras." (The word cras means tomorrow in Latin.) This has fed into the legend of ravens being the ultimate oracle, and it is considered one of the most, if not the most, intelligent birds.

Oberon Design is a family owned business based in Santa Rosa, CA that makes quality tooled leather goods and hand cast pewter items that are truly works of art. The company casts their necklace medallions in small batches of six to eight using 100% lead-free Britannia pewter. You can adjust the necklace length to suit your mood and style ranging from 24” to 12” (choker style). The leather cords are made in Greece by a family-owned operation that has been making them for generations. Each of Oberon Design's medallions has a one-word inspirational message inscribed on the backside. The message on my necklace is “Raven.”

Written by: Gita Tewari, December 26th 2009