Making a journal and ways to make a cover you'll love

Journal Construction

The journals we're using in class are stitched together in the simplest way possible. I wanted to show you how easy it is to make your own journals in the future.

The inside pages are 11” x 17”, folded to 8.5” x 11”. Every folded sheet gives you 4 pages to work on ~ lots of room. The paper is text weight, which is heavier than usual photocopy or printer paper.

The spine is reinforced (duct tape, brown paper tape or masking tape) because losing your cover would be a bad thing.

I call this method I’ve developed “Vampire Binding” since it uses pairs of holes punched close together. One pair of holes more or less in the middle, plus two more pairs of holes near equally spaced along the book’s length.

Using waxed thread go in and out through each pair of holes twice, then tie a double knot with the two thread ends and trim to about 1/2”. If you start stitching from the inside of the journal, the knot and threads ends will be inside the book. If you start from outside, the knot and threads ends will be on the outside. Your choice!

Pockets! Pockets!

Your journal is equipped with pockets. A skinny one in the front to tuck in a pen or pencil so you can take your journal with you every day. Highly recommended.

And a BIG pocket in the back for things you like but haven’t decided how to use yet. Feel free to fill it up with interesting stuff you find while venturing out in the world.

Now including handouts ...

Class handouts have been designed to go straight into your journal. On the back of page 1-6, there’s an edge marked: “Apply glue or double-sided tape”. Place the taped/glued edge right next to the spine inside your journal. Don’t worry if it’s not straight, you can trim off edges that stick out, or even fold the pages in.

Page 7 will always be single-sided so you can cut it up and include all the bits and pieces wherever you like in your journal. I like to colour them (since they’re in black and white) and use them in magazine image collages.

I’ll be using the same handouts in my journal and posting pages on the blog.

Okay - got my journal but my cover is an empty white space!

Don’t fret! Here are some things you can do to make it your own …

Option 1 ~ Scraping acrylic paint using an old credit card, coffee loyalty card or putty scraper. 90% of the reasons people are unhappy with using paint on their covers is because they use too much. I recommend putting a blob about the size of a pea in the center of the leading edge of your scraper and then scraping super thin so it dries really fast. If the colour isn’t vibrant enough, scrape another layer of paint on top of it. Start with the lightest colour first and work towards the darker ones.

I chose the colours on this cover to match the duct tape I reinforced the spine with : Cadmium yellow, Magenta and Teal.

Option 2 ~ Same colours, but using stencils and make-up sponges. Again, use less paint than you think you'll need. If you use too much, the paint will leak under the stencil and you won't get a crisp image. To help with this, "pounce" the sponge on a scrap paper until the edge gets blurry and then you'll know you don't have too much paint.

Option 3 ~ Colouring book pages make great covers. You can glue them on as they are, and then colour them as you go along. This page is from the Legendary Landscape Colouring Book by Vitek Radomski and Carrie Wong - highly recommended! 12x12" on good quality paper.

Option 4 ~ Since I've reinforced the spines with duct tape, it's very useful to keep covering the whole cover with duct tape, either continuing with the same tape or mixing and matching patterns for fun.

Option 5 ~ Doodle a pattern of your choosing with a waterproof pen like a Sharpie. Colour or not, as you wish.

Option 6 ~ Crumpled brown paper is a fun option. Start with a piece of brown paper bag about 1" larger than your cover size. Crumple it and then flatten it several times till you get the amount of "crumple" you like.

Put double-sided tape around the outside edges of the cover, and glue all over the middle. Line up your crumpled paper with the edge of your spine reinforcement, and then smooth out very gently over the whole cover until you've stuck it down to the tape at the edges.

When you like how it feels, drag a rubber stamp ink pad over the wrinkles to exaggerate the texture. Add some collage and/or a title as you wish.

The nice thing about this technique is that your cover will feel more and more like leather as you carry it around.

Option 7 ~ Collage: The covers above are a mix of the duct tape and magazine images.

Next Post: We talk a little bit about boundaries and how we can use them to help us, in art and in life. I'll also talk about some books to look at to get started in visual journaling.