by Linda | Apr 15, 2010 | my creative journal
Today I continued my new project of making a little book…that actually turned into making multiple little books. I took the paper I had and tried the gluing method. I didn’t have two clamps, so used my heavy duty hole puncher to weigh down the stack of little papers as I drenched glue on the binding. I’ll have to wait for it to dry completely and see if this method holds well enough.
Since I wanted to try more methods of binding the pages together, I cut some more paper, but this time using regular Fabriano drawing paper, creating 4 page signatures. Signatures are just sheets of paper folded in half that will be bound together to form your entire book. In this case, I’m not being very technical about it, like checking the grain of the paper – too lazy! All the rules of bookbinding that you learn have a really good reason to be a rule…it really does matter in the end. However, it all just depends how picky you are about your book and what you will be using it for. I’m pretty flexible because it just depends what I feel like doing at the moment – I skip steps when I get impatient or when I feel like the precision won’t be worth it for the project.
However, one thing I never skip is the pre-punching of holes. Otherwise, you aren’t exactly going to be able to sew the signatures together. It’s sort of a tedious process that is super boring, especially if you have a lot of signatures…but it makes the next step of sewing a lot smoother.
I tried sewing one little book of signatures together, but sort of messed up somewhere in the process – you can see the line of thread on the outside binding below. No worries since it’ll be covered up in this project. After going through the process of sewing it, I realized I had the same problem of not knowing how to attach it to the leather cover – oif!
My hands got really tired from the sewing and poking, so I’m going to continue tomorrow. I have more paper for an even smaller book that I’ll try to sew straight into the leather cover, but I’ll have to finish these first two. Check back in for the results tomorrow…hopefully one method or another will work properly.’
In other updates…I realized that I’ve been drawing a bird a day for 5 weeks now! I’m proud of myself for keeping to the routine and I like how a daily thing, even if it’s just 5 minutes, adds up to so much before you even know it. Who doesn’t want to have stuff done without realizing? Let’s see, otherwise I’m just doodling in my art journal…realizing drawing a million circles can be super tiring…and feeling like I have no time again because suddenly dinnertime is here. Yikes…gotta go!
by Linda | Apr 14, 2010 | my creative journal
Another hump day…that’s what I call Wednesdays since I learned the term in grade school. Sigh sigh…middle of the week, doesn’t feel like a fresh start, but doesn’t feel like you are close enough to the weekend either. I had a bunch of projects lined up to be worked on today, but I just didn’t feel like digging into them. You can call it laziness or perhaps ADD, because I started making a little book instead. The inspiration came from watching the latest video of crafting by Marion on ustream. She made the cutest little book, so I was inspired to make one with stuff I had lying around. A beautiful piece of black leather, scraps of thick white drawing paper and old jewelry supplies…
Looks pretty cute, huh? I just folded up the scraps of paper I had, cut the leather to size and used eyelets to attach the side piece of leather for closure. The round bead is glass from Murano attached to a black leather cord…sort of the traditional system of wrapping around the booklet many times and slipping the bead in place to keep the whole thing closed. A cute little 8x8cm book, perfect to keep in the car for notes or in your purse perhaps? I’m quite happy with the results and how neat it looks. I suppose all miniature items just look cool! So what’s the problem with all this? Well, I haven’t actually attached the pages to the leather yet. I’m not sure if glue is strong enough, but sewing would be too close for all those pages as I want them single, not in bunches. I fooled ya, didn’t I? It’s totally unfinished…
I was chuckling a bit to myself about the unfinished book and how I could still take the photo that looked final. I found out that some projects you see published in crafty books are sometimes unfinished as well, so that’s why I was chuckling. Or at least sometimes they don’t finish projects completely because they only need the parts essential for photography. Pretty tricky, huh? Well, if anyone knows of a good method to attach the paper to the leather that would be nice. I want something sturdy that enables me to keep the pages single sheets folded, rather than bunched together as signatures. Now I’m going to scour the web and see if I can find a good tutorial or combine techniques that would work for this project…
by Linda | Apr 6, 2010 | my creative journal
Happy Tuesday to everyone! It’s time for me to share some art journaling pages I’ve been playing with this week. I started with random backgrounds on several pages…collaging in some papers and painting with whatever colors I had lying around. The nice thing about art journaling is not having to plan anything really…just let your hands create and lead you forward naturally. Last week I created a super bright collage of flowers, so this time I went with kraft paper and more muted earth tones, even though I couldn’t help putting in some bright red! I first glued papers onto my pages, then rubbed paint around with my fingers. It’s fun to just put down layers without thinking much of how I was going to finish it up…after everything was dry I could go in with pen and ink for details and journaling.
This first spread still has the flowers and brightness of Spring incorporated…I guess I can’t help it. I was listening to the podcast by Jamie Ridler interviewing Carmen Torbus while working on this…hence all the positivity! You can see the photo of background alone up top and then my random doodles that were added in. I was using a new black pen that turns out to be super super inky, which I like for how true black it is, but the inkiness actually flicks around because of the texture from the paint…pretty weird!
You can also create cool textures on your backgrounds if you use crinkled paper to take away some paint from the surface when it’s all still wet. That’s what I did below to get a speckled wall type of texture all over my pages. It’s pretty rough and crazy looking, but sometimes you can also find interesting shapes in the textures.
I actually made myself a doll template to play around with because it helps me visualize various positions for drawing. I know you can buy one of those real wooden dolls for modeling, but it’s just as easy to make yourself a paper doll and put it in different positions. Feel free to download my PDF doll template for your personal use. This little activity turned into thoughts about not liking dolls in general – they are scary to me! I never played with dolls as a child…never owned a barbie and was much more into plushies or playing with plastic figurine toys. Maybe because I have older brothers and it was easier to just play along with their toys!
In the end, I don’t feel totally satisfied with these pages yet, but I know I can always go back and add to it. Always remember that you can keep working on pages for as long as you like, in whatever order you like…that is the beauty and freedom of having a personal art journal. It’s definitely my place to play with freedom and without the pressure of having to finish. I also started another background…not sure where it will take me yet…
I hope you will experiment with playing in an art journal and making random backgrounds – in fact many people work on backgrounds all the time and fill them in when they feel like it at a later date. It’s definitely fun and liberating when you can just play with color on a page and not have to think about composition or the final layout. I do that often when working on other pieces and have leftover paint to just smear onto pages. There are also plenty of techniques to explore in creating backgrounds…try them out and have fun!
by Linda | Apr 2, 2010 | my creative journal
Hi folks! To kick off national letterwriting month and I consider it also send your cards month, here’s a super simple Mother’s Day card you can make. I am really big on using digital elements because of the ease of being able to download them immediately and also because I can create my own matching designs if I’m missing something. However, I also love the real paper, textures and touchy-feeling elements of handmade cards. So the best of both worlds in my opinion would be hybrid cards! Combining both sides of cardmaking I think really maximizes the potential for all of us to create. To start this lovely month of stationery and card goodness here on BackToPaper.com, here’s a super easy peasy way to use digital elements. The idea is to make a simple card by combining elements digitally for printout, but then adding a real-life embellishment to bring out the handmade feel.
To make the card above I used the free Sketch Tulips digital element from Hero Arts, my own designing in Photoshop and simple embellishments I had lying around already.
- I wanted a distressed style, so I created the faded music paper background in Photoshop and put that behind the Sketch Tulip element in Photoshop.
- Then I added a simple sentiment to the bottom with the basic text tool and added a drop shadow in white – so really it’s a glow to make the words pop a bit more.
- I planned to add embellishments in the middle, so that’s why I left the space there, so now my is ready.
- I printed out onto white cardstock in the size I wanted for my card.
- I cut out the graphic a bit smaller than my white card base and added some dimension by inking and distressing the edges.
- Then I added my real-life embellishment of string with a bright button around the center with a simple bow.
- I glued that whole finished panel onto my white card base and tah-dah! All done!
Really easy, right? You can download the faded music paper background I created below, just click for high-resolution JPG. Feel free to use for your personal projects or paper crafting projects. I know sometimes it can be intimidating to use Photoshop or related programs, but this same card could have been done by simply printing all elements out and cutting them out individually to combine by hand as well. I really like simple hybrid cards like this, especially if you need to make 50 thank you cards, for example. You can quickly print out 50 copies of your design. I hope this will inspire you to use those digital elements out there and make a hybrid card. Enjoy and stay tuned for more hybrid projects like this one 🙂
by Linda | Apr 1, 2010 | my creative journal
Did you know it is the month for letterwriting?! I think a heartfelt handwritten sentiment goes a long way any time of the year, but having a whole month dedicated to the art gives us pretty good motivation as well. If you are cardmaker like I am, it’s a good time to send them out to friends and family. RedLetterDayZine has a great post all about this April month of National Letterwriting. There are great links for more information at the end of the post as well.
I can’t believe April has already started because I feel a bit behind in my letterwriting already! I have my dip pen and wax letter sealing kit ready…but want to create some new stationery for the occasion. Watch out for some more lovely printable stationery here – I will be posting my designs! Also, stayed tuned for some hybrid cardmaking print-outs or kits, because sending a card counts as well. Let me know if you have any themes of topics in mind…until then!
