My Grail Diary Project

zachsbanks547

Active Member
I'm embarking on making my own Grail Diary. I've been doing some research on RPF and other places for a while and collecting pictures and pdfs. The Beginner's Grail Diary thread has been particularly helpful.

My plan is to handwrite/draw as much as I can (as well as typewrite where applicable on the inserts, using my grandpa’s old typewriter), and then hand bind the diary. I've been using my Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen for all the writing; fits the period better than a regular pen.
IMG_9860.jpg

I'm using Celeste Conway ’s Story Diary as a basis, and also using her insert file collection as a starting point. I've also been referencing Zen's Grail Diary page a lot for insert research, especially sizes of everything.
I'm doing it a bit backwards and starting with the inserts and wrapping. Those seemed more tackle-able for the moment.

For the wrapping, I found some ribbed Kraft paper that looked really close on Amazon. I also found some original stamps on eBay. I was pleasantly surprised how cheap they ended up being. I'm planning to get the rubber stamp for the wrapping (and the Eastern Telegram) custom made, which is also surprisingly cheap to have done.
That's as far as I've gotten on the wrap.

I finished the Arabic Letter, handwriting it on parchment paper. I used my light board to essentially just trace the digital file I have.
IMG_9844.jpg

I printed all the LARy tickets, using some coloured card stock from Hobby Lobby and the digital files from the Beginner thread. And then I filled in the numbers on the tickets with my typewriter.
IMG_9837.jpgIMG_9838.jpgIMG_9853.jpg

For the Insurance Company Envelope, I had to guess a bit at the exact construction. I didn't see a lot of good pictures of it. So I printed the file I had on parchment, cut out a rough envelope shape, and glued it together.
IMG_9846.jpg

The August/September/October sheets, the War Time Sheet, and the Washington Quote Sheet, I printed on newsprint paper. Thankfully my mom had a stash of it that's probably almost as old as I am and nicely aged.
I ended up having to remake the digital file for the Washington Quotes, since what I had wasn't high enough res.
IMG_9848.jpgIMG_9850.jpgIMG_9851.jpg

For the Pinkerton Envelope, I found some A2-sized, parchment envelopes on Amazon. I printed the digital files from the Beginner thread, and then hand-wrote the address (again, tracing with the light board).
IMG_9841.jpgIMG_9842.jpg

For the Small Arabia Map, I printed on some 34lb printer paper in b&w, then traced the coasts with a blue highlighter and then added the numbered circles with my fountain pen.
IMG_9839.jpgIMG_9840.jpg

The Eschenbach Map was all hand writing/drawing (tracing with the light board), on parchment paper.
IMG_9854.jpgIMG_9855.jpg

The Roman Numerals Scrap was traced onto parchment paper. I tried replicating the smudges as best I could (the fountain pen really helped here, as it's naturally smudgy).
IMG_9845.jpg

For the Indian Telegram Envelope, I started with the envelope pattern in the Beginner thread, but remade it in Illustrator, then printed it on parchment, addressed it by hand and then folded and glued it.
For the telegram itself, I ended up having to remake the digital file from scratch. I got pretty close to the low-res version in the thread, but not exact. I printed that out on onion skin paper. My mom had some old onion skin in her stash as well. It's really nicely yellowed and is a really satisfying paper to handle.
I didn't find any reference for what the telegram should say. If anyone has any, let me know.
IMG_9834.jpgIMG_9835.jpgIMG_9836.jpg

I had the Henry Jones Sr/Jr photo printed at Walgreens as a wallet size.
IMG_9843.jpg

I printed out the White Star Line flyer on onion skin.
IMG_9847.jpg

I also found an original 100 Franc note on eBay.

I'm currently working on writing out the Gray Letter, using the filled-in letter from this thread as reference.
IMG_9856.jpgIMG_9858.jpg

I attached a zip of all the printable files I remade. Feel free to use however.

Things I could use help with:
-Paper recommendation for replicating the bank notes
-High-res file for the National Lecture Series Ticket
-High-res file for a White Star Line Ticket
-High-res file for the Zeppelin Ticket
Thanks!
 

Attachments

  • Grail Diary Printable Files.zip
    7 MB · Views: 197
Last edited:
I started working on the maps, and in the Beginner's 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).
 
Finished more inserts!

I finished the Gray Letter; I used some textured heavy off-white paper, printed the top text on the front, and hand wrote the rest with the light board.
IMG_9880.jpgIMG_9881.jpgIMG_9882.jpg

The Eastern Telegram was printed on onion skin and then typed up on my typewriter.
IMG_9868.jpg

The Eastern Telegram envelope was printed on 32lb printer paper nd then folded and glued, using the pattern from the Beginner thread. I still have to get the stamp made and add that.
IMG_9869.jpg

The Venice ticket was printed on 32lb, and then I poked all the holes along the edges with my leather awl and then cut it out to give a faux perforated edge. I also ripped off one of the tabs at the bottom, to give it more of a used feel.
IMG_9870.jpg

The Purple Dragon flyer was printed on some heavy off-white paper my mom has, then written out by hand, with the light board.
IMG_9871.jpgIMG_9872.jpg

The camel pack was printed out (front and back) on some 32lb, and then creased. The label was printed on an Avery shipping label and then cut out.
IMG_9873.jpgIMG_9874.jpg

I decided to redo the Small Arabia/Sinai map. Partly to make it more in line with some reference from Zen's website, as well as because I had my new upscaled map file to use as a base. Comparison photo has new on left, old on right.
IMG_9875.jpgIMG_9876.jpg

The Big Dead Sea map was printed on the same paper as the Gray Letter and folded, also using the upscaled map as a base.
IMG_9877.jpg

Same for the Long Arabia Map.
IMG_9878.jpg

The Two-Page Arabia Map was printed on 32lb, using the upscaled map as a base.
IMG_9879.jpg

And I got in my White Star Line Ticket from Indy Magnoli!
IMG_9883.jpg

Currently working on the two hand-written maps and typing out the Donovan Letter. Then I’m moving on to writing out the “Leap from the Lion's Head” page.

After that, the only inserts I have left that I want to use are:
  • Silver Certificate (which I still need to figure out a paper for)
  • Grail Tablet Rubbing (which I think I’m going to buy on Etsy)
  • Lecture Series Ticket (which I need a good file for)
  • Zeppelin Ticket (which I also need a good file for)
 
Last edited:
I got the stamps and the 100 Franc note in the mail this week.
IMG_9891.jpgIMG_9895.jpgIMG_9896.jpg

And I finished the mailing labels. I ended up using the story wording, which fits with the story diary I plan to do. I printed the border on an Avery shipping label and then typed it up on my typewriter.
IMG_9897.jpg

Finally, I finished the Donovan letter, printed on 32lb and typed on my typewriter. Took a few tries, since I need new correcting ribbon.
IMG_9898.jpg
 
Last edited:
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
 
Pixelated pictures are the norm when it comes to trying to get good source images. That being said there are some good ones around, it just takes alot of google searches and some digging.
 
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. I still have to glue the binding and add some reinforcement fabric. And then I’ll probably do some aging, after some tests.
Really happy with how it turned out.
IMG_0172.jpegIMG_0173.jpegIMG_0174.jpegIMG_0175.jpeg
 
I finally have a cover on!
tempImage2QmbIi.png

I was originally planning to make a leather-wrapped-board cover, but I wasn’t feeling great about how that was turning out. So instead I went with a solid leather cover, and it turned out pretty good. It has some flex, but isn’t too soft, which is perfect. The overhang ended up narrower than I was planning on, but oh well.
The dye job ended up pretty uneven at first. I was able to get it more even with buffing and more coats, but I was still unsure it would work. Then I did some aging on the cover with wire brushes and it really pulled it together. I’ll probably do more aging on the cover at some point, as well as just carrying it around and letting it get banged up naturally.
tempImagePCKrvE.pngtempImagenCQF3d.pngtempImagesvXyJy.pngtempImageivNcna.pngtempImageBVCJeO.png

Now I’m started on aging of the paper. I’m spraying each spread with tea and then drying with a hair dryer. It’s pretty subtle so far, so I may do a second pass of the same technique, but with coffee. It is adding a nice crinkly-ness to the paper though, which is great.
 
Last edited:
Diary is done! Maybe a bit more aging I can do, but I’m pretty much calling it done.
IMG_0686.jpgIMG_0687.jpgIMG_0688.jpgIMG_0689.jpgIMG_0694.jpg

I also mostly finished the paper wrapping, with the label that I typed on my typewriter and the vintage stamps that I got glued on.
IMG_0697.jpgIMG_0698.jpg

Only things left to do is get a custom Venice stamp made for the wrapping and get a replica US Silver Certificate.
 
Last edited:
Just finished working on my Zeppelin Ticket. I made it from scratch on Illustrator, using some pictures of Magnoli’s replica for reference.
It’s all vector, so it should print great (not being vector is the thing that bugged me about any of the other versions I found).
IMG_0709.jpgtempImagemsDIfz.pngtempImagebfK0Pm.png
I uploaded my PDF files to my Google Drive, including versions with and without typewritten text and stamps, depending on what you want to do post-printing. I did all the typewritten text for my own replica on my typewriter.
I also added the separate files for the stamps I made, in case anyone was ambitious enough to make actual rubber stamps.
 
Last edited:
Just finished working on my Zeppelin Ticket. I made it from scratch on Illustrator, using some pictures of Magnoli’s replica for reference.
It’s all vector, so it should print great (not being vector is the thing that bugged me about any of the other versions I found).
View attachment 1946614View attachment 1946611View attachment 1946612
I uploaded my PDF files to my Google Drive, including versions with and without typewritten text and stamps, depending on what you want to do post-printing. I did all the typewritten text on my typewriter.
I also added the separate files for the stamps I made, in case anyone was ambitious enough to make actual rubber stamps.
That’s awesome!
Thank you so much
 
Amazing job!! This is awesome.

BTW, have you ever seen Dr. Jones' diary that came with the old Indiana Jones and The Last Cruzade graphic adventure game from the 80s? 70 handwritten pages, and the text is just excellent, so well written and convincing.
 

Attachments

  • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Grail Diary.pdf
    11.2 MB · Views: 10
Back
Top