Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Preparing the Journal

CIMG6549 CIMG6550CIMG6551 Welcome to my little pink studio! Some have questioned how I journal and here the mysteries are unveiled. Photo 1 is taken from the doorway of my studio on the day I have set aside to prep pages. Sure I should have straightened up a bit before photographing  but where's the truth in advertising in that? My desk is littered with things like stencils, gesso and gel medium. You can see all this in Photo 2 as well as magazine images and crayons and watersoluble paint crayons, etc. None of these things are pertinent to our discussion today except the journal, gesso and a bit of acrylic paint. Photo 3 shows my easel set up as a work surface. The height is perfect for me to stand and work.

On my work surface I have my journal laid out. My current journal happens to be leather bound so I secure the front and back covers beneath waxed paper with masking tape - I'm messy. 

CIMG6567CIMG6566

Just so you'll know...This journal came bound with handmade Saa paper, which is lovely to look at and beautiful to feel but absorbs pens and paints as though it is extremely thirsty. A thin coat of gesso allows me to enjoy journaling in this book. I nearly threw in the towel to begin with because no matter what type pen I tried there seemed to be no way to prevent the inks bleeding and smudging. I was stressed and distressed over this - I love this journal and did not want to give it up.

CIMG6562 Gesso fixes lots of things. It is cheap and readily available and you simply cannot purchase this stuff with out feeling quite "arty", a definite bonus! Here in Mobile it sells for $4.99 at the local craft and hobby store. With a coupon I pay about half that amount. Excellent value. (Always use those coupons!)

CIMG6561 CIMG6563 CIMG6564 CIMG6565

1. The blank page with waxed paper sandwiched in the pages before and after the ones I am working on. 2. Spreading the magic gesso. 3. Impatiently drying the pages with my trusty yard sale find hair dryer. 4. Finished, gessoed and dried pages, ready for me to apply paints and other goodies.

CIMG6555 Voila'! I do that about 20-30 times or more and then Dixie and I are ready to enjoy our art journaling without interruption, (or bleeding inks and such). Most seem to prefer only doing 5-10 pages at a time but I want to get past this step as quickly and painlessly as possible without having to return for more. So, I choose to seem obsessive/compulsive rather than just doing a few pages at a time. Love to All! Keep journaling!!!

1 comment:

  1. Love seeing your process. I've never attempted working with pages like that for the very reason that you stated. Nice to see you found an excellent way around it.
    I do a lot of altered books and have found that wrapping the book (all but the pages I'm going to paint) in saran wrap or stretch-tite plastic works extremely well and I don't have to worry about the saran wrap moving on me and can move the book about as needed. I even hit it with the hair dryer for a second or two to help it stick to itself. Works like magic.

    ReplyDelete