I really NEED this handmade leather cover for my iPad 2! These covers are made by an Etsy seller who calls his store punkassjim. Jim was inspired by the cover of an 1940s electrical handbook. He hand-carved the embossing plate, embosses the leather using his car as the weight, and then constructs these covers himself. They are stiffened with a book board and lined with microfiber fabric. He scavenged the attachment post and magnets from cheap knock-off smart covers and uses them in his Electric Library covers, so the covers can sleep/wake your iPad 2. The covers won’t fold into the triangular stand like the official Smart Cover, though. The Electric Library covers are available in British racing green, navy blue, black, dark brown, and a red/brown leather for $89.99 each.
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Oooh, those are cool. I don’t use the fold up feature of my smart cover, so it wouldn’t bother me that they can’t fold.
I should try to make a stamped leather cover. I have a huge roll of leather that I bought to try my hand at notebook covers… Hmmmm… If I only had time for arts and crafts… sigh… 😉
Cool – but now I’m waiting on iPad 3, so no more accessories for my iPad 2 over $20!!
Thanks for the write-up! FYI, the hinges were only knockoffs in the first few covers I made. Since then, I’ve been getting small lots of ruined/damaged Apple smart covers and poaching the genuine hinges from them 🙂 And the magnets I source separately.
Nilay, I’m interested to see how it shakes out, but my prediction is that the iPad 3 will be similar enough to the current model, that the smart cover will retain its exact same design. Just a hunch, based on Apple’s track record, so we’ll have to wait and see.
Hi punkassjim. I adore your electric library covers for iPad, but etsy doesn’t seem to open any links I’ve found to your product. Are you still making them?
Kind regards, harrison. UK
Punkassjim actually scammed money from several of his iPad cover buyers (never delivered the product) through Etsy (i’m one of those) and therefore received bad feedback. I believe that’s why he has closed his Etsy shop.
He won’t answer any of the emails sent to him either. So not a very nice guy…
@Disappointed That’s awful! He made attractive covers. It’s a shame he did that.