Recently I bought this beautiful old book off a second-hand marketplace website. I was actually looking for something else but found it in the process and couldn't resist.
As you can see the corners and the top and bottom of the spine are a little bent and frayed already but that's not a problem. I put metal book corners on it and stabilized the frayed edges of the spine with a gentle dab of clear, matte glue to keep them from fraying any further.
This book had a very interesting way of attaching the first signature and the end papers - I've never seen it before. I made a sketch of how it was constructed for future reference and I very much want to try and re-create it with a new book. This way of binding made it possible for me to save and re-use even the end paper pieces from the text block, which is rarely possible since they usually need to be cut when the text block is removed from the cover.
The book is written in hard to read gothic print (and not of great antique value) and it was the first one in a long time to really inspire me to create a new journal for myself.
This was the first one I made for my personal use and even though there are still a few unused pages at the end I somehow didn't feel like actually using it again - it feels like it belongs in a past era of my life now. I do like to flip through it every now and then though. I've talked about this journal here (how it came to be) and here (how I was using it - about half way down the post) if you'd like to take a look.
I filled the cover with five signatures using a hidden binding with some red bookbinder's linen which picked up the red on the end papers. It got a bit chunkier than I had planned but that's okay. I'll try and be careful with the already battered cover - I don't want it to fall apart completely, it's just so pretty.
I've used all sorts of random papers I'd been hoarding for that purpose for a while: mop-up papers from catching ink overspray, cleaning stamps, testing stencils, scribbling pens, etc., single sheets of letter writing papers with designs on them, crumpled gift wrapping paper in one of my favourite shades of green, organic chemistry paper with hexagonal print which will be fun to try and write in/around, a magazine cover, bits of paper my children drew and wrote on, wrapping papers from posh chocolate bars, off-cuts of old wall calendar pages, pretty flyers from events (when events where still a thing), individual pages from an old encyclopedia and a field guide about trees and flowers, ...
Some of the individual sheets I've stitched to narrow strips of fabric to give them a fold through which I could stitch them in, and most of the encyclopedia pages I've stitched together along three sides to create large pockets that are open on the side to hide things in.
Some papers, like the chocolate wrappers, have slightly awkward flaps which I would probably cover up or cut off if I used them in a journal I make for sale but in this one I just left them as they are to give me a place to tape or staple a post card or photo or some other piece of ephemera I want to keep.
In many journals I make for sale I put in lots of envelopes, pockets and tuck spots to prompt the future owner to actually use them without having to worry about not having tape or glue at hand. In this one I decided to leave it mostly "un-finished" (except for the already stitched side pockets) in order to keep the freedom to create pockets and tuck spots when and how I need them or to even glue two pages together if I feel like it.
I'm so happy about having both sides of the end papers! It's so pretty!
The pages with the flowering cherry tree are the front and back page of a local council publication, the back has (rather un-aesthetic) advertisements on it which I will eventually paint or collage over. Some of the pages I will not alter at all, they are simply there to look great and be kept safe because they are awesome.
I think I've talked about something similar already in one or more of my various journal related posts:
some people make rather blank, plain journals to be filled by the owner with whatever they please. Some people make themed journals which are complete works of art already and which are not really intended to be used and decorated any further - making them according to a theme was practically using them and the remainder of their purpose is to be looked at and admired.
Some people make themed journals which are not quite so elaborate and open to further use and decoration.
I (and I'm sure other journal makers too) like to make journals which are a mixture of several ways - finished and un-finished at the same time. There is space to write, draw, doodle, sketch, make lists, collage, stick things, make flaps, etc. and there are pages I put in simply because I want to keep them safe and look at them.
It's funny, but it actually took me quite some time to figure this out! To realise: I don't have to "do something with" or "use" every single page! Maybe I'll doodle a border around a beautiful flower illustration from an old book, but do I have to add to the illustration itself? Of course not... I can, if I want to, but I don't have to feel like I'm not "using" my journal properly if I don't - I can just enjoy seeing it whenever I flick through it to find the next page I want to work on.
(Sometimes I don't use the pages in the order they're in. Sometimes I'll just flip through to find any page that speaks to me and use that. I date most of my journaling so that's fine...)
These are the first pages I've done in my new journal.
The first one has an empty seed packet, taped on so it flips open with a little card inside and journaling about what I planted on the back. The green hearts were made by my daughter years ago - I had saved them for sticking them into a special journal.
The second one is a sad face I drew. I'm really not a master at drawing faces - and please don't think I'm only saying this to get comments about how it looks great, etc. - I know I'm not but I'm practicing and I can see lots of things I can improve on. That's what a journal is for - at some point I will be able to compare this face with a more recent one and I'll see how I improved with practice.
This is partly why I'm showing my (fairly) personal pages (I've chopped my kid's names off two of the pages): I'm still intimidated by other artists' work at times and sometimes I forget that they must produce "ugly" stuff on occasion as well, that they started at some point and that they are constantly practicing, evolving and improving, however good they may be already... And when I first started I felt like most people only share the really cool stuff they make but never what a struggle it was to get there. (I don't know if that's only just starting to change or if I'm only just starting to notice.)
I'm not saying my pages were a struggle - I'm just saying that not everything we create needs to be "pinterest/instagram worthy". We have to allow ourselves to create something random, unremarkable, personal, flawed, boring.
The third page is another little drawing done by my daughter when she was something between three and four years old. I'm saving lots of her artwork but some will have a special place as collage images in my journals. She knows I'm doing this and is always torn between surprise, smugness and amusement when she sees me gluing one of her images into my journal - haha!
I've just added a border to the page and wrote a few words about the image...
The fourth page is my 18-month-old's first watercolour piece. He was sooo interested in my little case of cheapo shimmer watercolours from the office supply store that I gave him a water brush, mixed up a little paint for him and watched him closely as he painted on a piece of sticker paper I had lying around on my desk. I just had to trim the edges and stick in to the advertisement side of the magazine cover. I won't be adding anything else to it - I'll just admire it and remember the moment every time I see it.
I still - still! - struggle with journaling regularly even though I love it when I do and it's making me a tad sad some times to think how many precious memories I haven't kept by not journaling. But I also notice that when I try to force myself to do it I get so stressed about it that if sucks all the fun and enjoyment out of it, so I try to find something in between to keep it being a pleasure...
I hope you are all doing fun and relaxing things that give you lots of pleasure and a sense of achievement (because that can be rather important and missing from our lives at times).
Lots of love! xxx