Tag: Home made books

A New Kind of Journal Cover Part 1

Dear Liza,

My friend Ruthie Inman is always teaching me new things! This week, we are making a new journal cover.

For our Zoom Art group this week, she asked us to pull together some muslin fabric, tissue papers or napkins, and some watered down glue.

So friends in Scotland, Illinois and Portland did just that. And the project, at least this part, was just as easy as it could be. We slathered the thin glue mixture onto the fabric, tore the tissue paper into pieces, and stuck them down.

I started with bright colors from napkins, and then softened them with the white layers.

We kept gluing until we had about four layers, pausing to let it dry a bit in between layers so the whole gooey thing didn’t disintegrate under our brush.

I finished my piece with some old wrapping tissue flowers and a butterfly from a napkin, and left it to dry.

And to make sure it didn’t stick to the mat and dried completely by tomorrow, I carefully peeled the fabric and paper layers off the mat and laid them on a cooling rack.

We’ll see what happens when we all Zoom Art together on Thursday!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Making an Art Journal Part 2

Once I had the main shape and look of my art journal, I set it aside to let my nerves settle. Doing too much fiddly detail work gives me the heebie jeebies.

The next day I set out to make the journal pretty and ready to use. I glued the first page down to the the inside of the front cover, and the last page to the inside of the back cover. This makes the whole thing very sturdy and more all-of-a-piece.

First page glued down to inside front cover…

When these had dried, I saw that the pages pulling against the cover had bent the cover a bit, making it rounder at the spine than it had been. This was unexpected, but I don’t mind it. I have seen some old books with this, and now I know why!

A little rounder on the spine…

I realize now that I forgot a part here. I was supposed to poke holes in the front and back cover to put in a closure, like a ribbon, to tie and keep the journal closed. Having missed that bit, I figured out an alternative.

Meanwhile, I got some more pretty paper from Auntie Bridgett’s cupboards and glued them over the inside front and back covers to make them pretty and fit my theme. Since I am going to use this journal to record everything about my garden this summer, there are flowers, butterflies, and birds.

And with the book finished, I can write and create in it and not worry about losing information and Art about my garden.

Here is my Plan B closure. Auntie Bridgett was trimming the handles off an old tote bag, and I liked the look of the crisp black bow tie against the pastels of the cover!

It is still cold out and there is even some snow on the ground, but my imagination is already on its way to summer!

Love,

Grandma Judy