At Journalfest last week, (Oct. 28-30, 2010) I took a journal-making class from Diana Trout. If you know her book, Journal Spilling, you’ll want to take a class from her. She loves books. She loves journaling. She loves painting, and it doesn’t matter if you make mistakes–in fact, in our class, she said there were no mistakes, just things to change. Her easy manner and depth of knowledge made exploring possibilities wonderful. There were many possibilities–new book spines, endpapers, bookmarks, ways of closing the book.
Old embossed book cover spruced up with Sakura metallic gel pens.
We made rescue journals–using the covers from old abandoned books and putting new pages in them. Each person created an entirely different book.The book I brought was in German with a very tired cover. Using a gold Sakura gel pen, I gave the worn-out embossing on the cover a new look.
Monsoon paper page with circle cut outs. Notice cut on edge.
We used pages of various papers and sizes. Here, monsoon papers make a return into the journal. I could use the papers even though I had cut two circles out of them because I could fold the paper, creating a surprise.
Washi paper tape, original pages from the book, wallpaper strips are all fair game in the book
Diana had brought washi paper tape for us to use. Here I combined the original end paper from the book with similarly-colored washi tape. The paper closest to the spine of the book is lifted up to show the space for private journaling.
Wallpaper on the left, monsoon papers on the right add variety.
I loved the soft neutral tones of wallpaper on the left, contrasting with brighter monsoon papers on the right. The middle page will be great for journaling and maybe a watercolor sketch.
Thanks, Diana, for a great class!
--Quinn McDonald is a writer, creativity coach and artist. She’s just beginning to get a start on making more journals!
Beautiful Book Quinn!! I am so glad that Diana posted about it so I got to meet you!! Diana is an absolute doll isn’t she? I love her wonderful attittude and easy style!!
I’ll be back for more visits to your wonderful blog!!
Diana made the class so easy–I had a lot of fear about cutting up a book, but she was so respectful of the process. I’m working on another one now, and can’t wait to see how it turns out. Please stop by any time!
Oh this is such a wonderful result. If I had this journal in my hands I would want to see and explore it page after page!
The monsoon papers are phenomenal, their designs are just amazing, a glance in the Universe.
It was fun making it, for sure. I don’t have anything written in it, but I may make it into a theme journal–with lots of things that can be taken out and put back in.
Oh my, Quinn. It’s beautiful. I love the holes in the monsoon paper, and I love the cover, so old and yet given new life, and I checked out the washi paper tape, and it looks so amazing, so fun to create with.
Your journal is lovely. It would seem a joy to tuck sentences, stories, even just simple words, here and there amongst the pages. Just lovely.
I’m thinking this might be an experimental book–with items tucked in that can be taken out and replaced. We’ll see. I certainly have enough “stash.”
Great pics of a beautiful book, Quinn! I really LOVE the monsoon paper and what you did with the cover worked beautifully.
You’ve really got me hooked, Diana. I’m taking a Dremel class next week–I want hinges on those books!
Make sure you let me know when those hinged books are up here, Quinn. Wanna see!
Will do, Diana–I can’t believe this Dremel tool class is THREE days long! I’m excited though. The bad news is, i feel a whole lot of tools coming on.
How wonderful that you got to take this class. I have the book and really want to dedicate some time to it. Your book is beautiful and I can just imagine the textures and feeling it gives you.
Very interesting. The only problem with that is I’d find it too hard to write on something so beautiful and artistically done.
I can see how you might think that, but if you took a closer look, you would feel right at home writing in it–I love it for all its flaws!
Oh what a beautiful journal you’ve created, wish I’d been in that class!