New Journal for JournalFest

I’ve finished a new journal today. All 3 of my classes for JournalFest are journaling classes so I decided to make one journal to use for each class. The journal measures 8X10 and has 3 signatures. I painted the book board black and attached the spine using hot pink duct tape.

 Then I just started doodling with my water-based sharpies. With the black book board, some of the colors don’t work so well. But others really seem to pop. It’s done for now…but there’s a good chance there will be more doodles before the book is filled.

 I started several things on the back but wasn’t happy with any of them. There are a lot of layers of black paint covering those experiments. LOL I finally decided on stenciling. I made the heart stencil myself using an old file folder. It’s one of my favorites. There’s also some stenciling using sequin waste…although you can’t really see that in the picture. Again, I’ll probably add to the back at some point. We’ll see.

Once the covers were done, I added my signatures. I’m using 140 lb watercolor paper. Three sheets folded and a piece of Cavallini map paper covers each group of three. I cut the edges of some of the papers in a wavy or diamond pattern just to add some fun and interest.

I bound the pages into the book using a funky binding. I don’t know if it’s even a formal “binding”. I just wanted a lot of strings hanging off. I’ll add some beads of course. I was going to use a couple of different colors of binding thread but couldn’t find the other color I wanted….of course. I’m not crazy about it a this point but maybe once I add the beads….