Beginner's Grail Diary (Printable Pages + Discussion)

Well, since I have not used a printer in my own home ( really nice printer at my old job, made some nice Fifth Element, and Blade Runner paper props! ) in probably 15 years, I think I'm going to have to buy one!
But it's worth it!
 
katmax said:
Also check out club obi wan for grail diary inserts. It does require a lot of looking and you are right about there being a lot of dead links and attachments but there's still a lot to be found.
Click to expand...
Thank you for posting these inserts, especially the arabic letter, i couldn't find it anywhere that it is ready to print. Thank you!

Sometimes i feel a little annoyed with all the gatekeeping that there is in the obi wan forum and generally in the art forums.
 
Hey peeps, I managed to complete my diary using loads of stuff from here and also references from elsewhere, my only dilemma is l, does the diary have a soft or hard spine? I've looked at loads of pictures and it looks like it could be either.
 
I started working on the maps and in this thread, there's a link to this scan of the main Egypt/Sinai map. It’s pretty big, but as soon as you start cropping it to get the smaller maps, it loses resolution real quickly.

So I decided to try running it through Lightroom’s AI upscaler. I ended up being able to quadruple the resolution and it turned out really well.
The final image is now 22,476 x 17,792
Map of Egypt and Sinai.jpgMap of Egypt and Sinai Enhanced.jpg
^Original_______^Upscaled

Here’s a link to a Drive folder that has the upscaled tiff of the original map, as well as all my cropped and colour corrected versions for the printed maps
(that folder also has all the grail diary files I’ve made/remade. Feel free to use any of them).
 
zachsbanks547 said:
I started working on the maps and in this thread, there's a link to this scan of the main Egypt/Sinai map. It’s pretty big, but as soon as you start cropping it to get the smaller maps, it loses resolution real quickly.

So I decided to try running it through Lightroom’s AI upscaler. I ended up being able to quadruple the resolution and it turned out really well.
The final image is now 22,476 x 17,792
View attachment 1905801View attachment 1905802
^Original_______^Upscaled

Here’s a link to a Drive folder that has the upscaled tiff of the original map, as well as all my cropped and colour corrected versions for the printed maps
(that folder also has all the grail diary files I’ve made/remade. Feel free to use any of them).
Click to expand...
Thank you VERY MUCH! I love you for sharing these files!
Unfortunately, lots of people that would do the same amazing work, would keep it for themselves, and or put them on sale, instead of sharing them. And these people expect that everyone has the time and knowledge to do these things. It's crazy.

Once again, thank you!
 
To be fair, there is a specific title to the thread. If it instead said, "show off thread", I wouldn't hold them to sharing files. Some folks actually make their income from design. I don't begrudge them wanting to show their work but not give it away. But I can certainly join the band in singing the praises of those that share. Thank you!!
 
Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum and my english is not so good.. anyway, I got myself a cheap grail diary for Christmas, just to please my inner child and with surprise I found myself full of passion again about this prop! Randomly I found this thread, full of content and information to use for upgrading my cheap grail diary so... A massive thank you to Celeste for starting this thread and sharing so mich, and to you all for sharing information and keeping the passion so alive. Of course my cheap diary Is not enough for me at this point, so I' mIMG_20250313_025814.jpg starting to make one on my own. I post my very first attempt of sketched pages.
 
I stared to do some test prints of Celeste Conway ’s pages, but they were coming out just a bit pixel-y so I decided to re work them a bit. I ran them all through vectorizer.ai to make them vector pdfs (which worked really well).
There were two images that weren’t cooperating though: the crucifixion painting and the King Alain drawing. So I scrounged around and found some higher res rasters of those two and added them to the vector pdfs.

I added all that to my Google Drive folder: Grail Diary - Google Drive
 
Last edited:
zachsbanks547 said:
I stared to do some test prints of Celeste Conway ’s pages, but they were coming out just a bit pixel-y so I decided to re work them a bit. I ran them all through vectorizer.ai to make them vector pdfs (which worked really well).
There were two images that weren’t cooperating though: the crucifixion painting and the King Alain drawing. So I scrounged around and found some higher res rasters of those two and added them to the vector pdfs.

I added all that to my Google Drive folder: Grail Diary - Google Drive
Click to expand...
Yeah, a lot of the images and text are pixilated. I re-typed everything and replaced as many images as possible.
 
Opus said:
zachsbanks547 amazing work! Finally starting my grail diary has been high on my projects list this year and I've really enjoyed seeing your updates and work. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Sorry to tangent but I really missed Opus. I saw your avatar, had some serious nostalgia, went to look up when the series ended, only to find that it restarted nearly 25 years later in 2015 and is STILL GOING!?! So, all that, in the last 5 minutes. I will leave you all to this grail discussion as I have 10 years of Bloom County to catch up on. Back in a bit ;)
 
I got my text block all bound!

I printed it all out with my work’s laser printer on an ivory 24lb cotton paper I found (Amazon).
Then I cut them all out, folded them into signatures, and saw cut the holes.
IMG_0170.jpeg

Then I did a kettle-stitch binding with doubled up regular sewing thread.
IMG_0172.jpegIMG_0173.jpeg

Then I added the end pages and the fabric reinforcement. I believe the end page file I used is from this thread. I ended up upscaling it in Lightroom and then printing it on white 32lb paper.
IMG_0188.jpegIMG_0189.jpegIMG_0193.jpeg

Now I just need to work on the cover. Still working on finding the right leather. And then I’ll probably do some aging, after some tests.
Really happy with how it’s turned out so far.
IMG_0175.jpegIMG_0174.jpeg
 
zachsbanks547 said:
Does anyone have recommendations for what kind of paper to use for the bank notes?

Also, how would one go about making a tablet rubbing?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
I've thought about using images of the grail tablet to create a 3D model, or find an existing model, and print just enough to make a rubbing using tracing paper or some other light paper.

This currently exists only in my head so must work perfectly. :)
 
Did you print the pages at home or use a printing service? I've done some tests on my small Brother printer and there is enough jitter that for the small page size I think it would be noticeable. I'm considering printing one signature on regular paper to see how it looks, the edges of the text or not even so perhaps the 1-2mm shift won't be too bad. But maybe not for the maps.

I've thought about getting test prints from FedEx or OfficeMax to see if their machines are more accurate.
 
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