Turmeric Flip Journal

A lot of artists are hoarders--not the kind on television that need intervention--but we are savers of bits and pieces of pretty things. Sometimes we save ugly things because they are just so very interesting. We save pieces of pretty paper, yarn, fabric, metal, rocks, sticks and weird stuff from garage sales.

One of the many things I save is teabags--used, dried, and emptied of their contents. They add a nice vintage look to a page. (You can see some of my past creations here and here.) My husband recently switched to turmeric tea, and I loved the golden color of the bags, so he started saving them for me. (Is he a good husband or what?!)

Like many, I have boxes and drawers full of unfinished artworks. It turned out that a lot of them were 6"x6"...probably because that is the size of my geli plate. I decided to use the scraps up and put them in a journal.

These are some of the leftover hoarded and unfinished artwork that became book pages.
The center pages were part of a card I received from artist Jeanne Draachreider.

Recently an artist posted a journal she made that had a simple ring closure. So simple. So efficient. I loved it. I ran out to my local office supply store and snagged a package.

One of the problems with most bound journals is that once you start adding layers to a page, it gets fatter and fatter and eventually won't close. Often some of the back pages go unused because the journal just can't hold any more. Some people remove every other page, but that seems tedious and wasteful. A ring-bound flip journal seemed like a perfect solution to the "fat journal" problem.

 

First, I tried out the ring on my Index Card of the Day collection. I loved it. The cards flipped easily, and I could add and subtract pages without a problem. The cover was made of leftovers from a mermaid doll project.

I used some of Gwen's stencils in shades of blue and green as the base for the fins, and also used some of the embellishments from silk sari scraps plus a seahorse and starfish from the downloadable Stupendous Sea Life collection and a few Turkmen jewelry parts.

The dolls I made for my art doll trade group came out great too. Below are a few of them.

I wanted the turmeric journal to be a little more elegant than the Index Card of the Day flip book, so I decided to make the cover one continuous piece, with an inch or two for a spine, and have two rings. I got to work, cutting watercolor paper, smearing (with the side of an old credit card) matte medium on the paper, and layering the teabags. I was in my zone, working madly and happily like an elf at Christmas.

 

 

 

  

 

I especially liked the imperfections of the tea stains and the unevenness of the shapes where the teabags overlapped. I also liked the little snippets that were cut off so that the tea could be removed from the bag.

I criss-crossed the small strips on the book spine to enhance the rustic effect.

The wet spine of the book, with tea bag end strips forming loose crosses.

I left some of the pages with only the teabags. For others, I covered them with the geliplate prints and other small, unfinished artwork.

On some, I had to experiment with a new mandala stencil of Gwen's from the Boho Collection, and tried it several ways.

 

 

 

 

When everything was dry, I punched holes in the pages. For the holes on the front and back cover, I added some grommets for strength.

I tried out a some of Gwen's Fabulous Floral Embellished Trim on the cover as well as some of the German Dresden Trim, but they were too fancy with the utilitarian ring closure.

The sea-green and gold trim was pretty with the cover, but didn't work with the ring closure.

The Dresden Trim accent was gorgeous with the turmeric teabags, but the rings looked clunky next to it.

I loved the new mandala stencil so much I used it on the book cover with some of Seth Apter's Emerald Creek Radiant Rust embossing powder.

When I put all the pages together and attached the rings, it looked great. The circular design complimented the ring closure and the little grommets, and the warm rust effect went nicely with the turmeric's golden color.

 

So far, so good--but there was a problem. The journal didn't flip very well. The spine of the cover prevented the pages from laying flat, and the curve of the ring also inhibited the page-turning.

This page has a StencilGirl design by Andrea Matus DeMeng done in Deep Sea Baked Texture Embossing Powder.

This page has a StencilGirl design called Lacy Lotus, by Jessica Sporn.

The left page has a Damask design by Michelle Ward  printed on deli paper.

I tried some substitutes for the rings. A fiber closure was a fail. I tried some jewelry pins with wire twisted through both ends...also a fail. I tried taking apart a D-ring but the metal was too difficult to bend and even if I had been able to get the pages on the straight part of the ring, I wouldn't be able to open and close it.

 

 

I decided to go with function over beauty, and cut all my pages, as well as the cover and spine, apart. Now the pages flipped perfectly and the book would open completely and lay flat.

To finish, I dangled some of my favorite Turkmen jewelry parts on the rings. They go nicely with the rustic look of the turmeric teabags, and add a sweet, soothing tinkling sound. This just may be my new favorite journal!

The new journal, open flat, showing the back (left) and front (right)

A side view of the Turmeric Flip Journal

The finished Turmeric Flip Journal, with Turkmen jewelry parts dangling from the ring closures.

Making a New Accordion Journal

New handmade Accordion Journal, covered in fabric I designed and printed at Spoonflower

Finding just the right journal isn't easy, even with the multitude of styles available in art stores and business supply stores. For me, there are many factors: size, shape, weight and paper quality. For journals that I keep at home, weight doesn't really matter. But I have been looking for a little journal to tuck in my tote bag, one that I can use on my lunch hour or pull out when I have a chunk of unexpected free time.

Recently I found a journal making kit in an art supply store that looked just right. Small, lightweight, and since I enjoy the bookmaking process--fun to make. But when I opened the package, I was seriously disappointed. The paper was super flimsy, and no good at all for paint. The book spine was flimsy. There was no fabric or paper included to cover the book, and not much thread for binding. I debated about returning it, but didn't want to lose a couple hours going back to the store, waiting in line, and coming home.

So, I took the two heavy cardboard cover pieces and decided to make a new journal with them, using cardstock that I had on hand, and my own fabric as a cover. I cut a new spine from some heavy cardboard I had on hand, and cut a long, long rectangle to accordion fold and stitch my page signatures into. I used a method that I learned a few years ago in a class I took with Kelly Kilmer at Ink Pad NYC. Here's a link to another book I made with the method.

Step one was cutting the fabric and making sure I had enough to cover the edges and glue to the reverse side.

Next, I went to work on folding the long paper that would hold the signatures, I cut the paper to the size I wanted, put them together into signatures, and stitched them into the long folded paper.

The inside cover needed a book plate, so I chose some deli paper that I had painted and printed with one of Nat Kalbach's positive/negative art foamies. I also rifled through my scrap boxes and chose some paper and fabric scraps to cover the first page of the accordion.

Here's what the finished book looked like open and closed:

Now that I have made my new journal, I discovered what looks like the perfect little journal that I can use on my lunch hour. Artist Gwen Lafleur has a fabulous website with all kinds of unique trims, washi tape and embellishments. I have my eye on a little journal that is 8"x8" and has beautiful sheets of watercolor. Take a look at her website--the art eye-candy is plentiful and there are so many intriguing items it is had not to want it all!

Up-Cycling Leftover and Imperfect Artwork

I used to open the refrigerator and look around for something to eat for dinner and close it saying: "Nothing good in there to eat." But my roommate Susan had a knack for cooking, and would rummage around and turn the leftovers into something delicious. Our deal was that Susan cooked and I did the dishes...we both thought it was a good deal.

In the past few days, I decided to apply Susan's creative cooking technique to my art stash and UFOs. First, inspired by a class I took with Julie Balzer, I made a new Junque Journal. I alternated pages of painted deli paper (doubled together with matte medium for strength) with really pretty commercial 12"x12" scrapbooking paper. I decided to try machine binding the pages because I had a shoulder injury and hand stitched binding would have been painful.

Here is the cover I chose: painted deli paper with 6" Artistcellar chakra stencils. (Artistcellar also makes small chakra pocket stencils) The spine was created with some old hippie style trim I purchased years ago on sale. Not a perfect match, but not too bad, and since it is a Junque Journal, it didn't matter.

"Junque Journal" with cover made from painted delipapr and Artistcellar Chakra stencils

The first page I worked on has a beautiful fashion figure that was an illustration in a recent FIT Alumni News magazine. It reminded me of why I came to New York, how much I wanted to be a fashion designer when I was young--but afraid to try, afraid I wasn't any good. I eventually ended up going into the fashion business and found my niche as a fabric designer. It was an uphill battle against parents and teachers who had other ideas of what I should do with my life. I wrote my memories on the page with white and purple ink.

An illustration from FIT's alumni magazine sparked some memories, which are written on the journal page.

A few days later, I decided to use up small ATCs and scraps that were too pretty to throw out, but not quite pretty enough to trade with my Paper Traders yahoo group. Adhering them to some Retro Cafe Art mini gothic arches gave them a new look. I made a duo and a triptych, and hinged them with 1" pieces of elastic and mini brads.

Leftover, imperfect ATCs were used to create this butterfly themed gothic arch mini triptych.

Leftover and imperfect ATCs were the base of this mini gothic arch duo.

On Election Day, I decided to use up some splattered watercolor paper that was hanging around. I cut the pages in half, then folded them, stitched them, and viola...I had a new mini journal. It needed a little something on the cover, so I grabbed my favorite Artistcellar pocket stencils, some Michelle Ward NYC urban-themed stencils, some ink, a cosmetic sponge wedge, and just played. Little did I know that the words I stenciled would have even deeper meaning as the election results began to come in.

This mini journal has 4.5" x 6" pages, with a simple stitched binding.