book

I struggled with this journal. I had all the materials laid out, cut ready... gold colored rice paper with leaves and things embedded, a lace doily for the spine, papers, waxed linen... The six signatures went together easily...but once I started on the cover I ran into difficulties... the paper glued on well enough, but trying to get the lace on properly proved difficult. I had decided beforehand that I would not put in a board to give the spine form... I stitched and glued the lace into place... and even though the lace didn't fit the cover board quite perfect I kept on. I chose a paper to use as end papers... and began to glue the signatures to the cover. It did not look good. the spine, which was supposed to curve softly around the book, pulled to one side and looked tighter on the bottom than on the top. The ribbon that had been glued onto the signature piece didn't want to stay tucked in... I stood and stewed. What to do? Toss it away, keep it as a reminder of where you can go wrong, use it for myself because I could not give it, sell it to anyone....

I tore it apart. I ripped/cut the signature pages from the cover, ripped and cut off the lace spine and began again. This time I gave myself permission to just do anything. To over decorate, to paint and add to the cover. I chose a piece of quilt fabric for the spine, this time using a board to give the spine some form. I trimmed the spine with rub-on copper. I added the stamp, as planned, but after spraying the cover with glimmer mist and using a stencil to add more texture, I painted the stencil using pearly and metallic paints. The spine was too bright now, so I sprayed it with walnut ink... and this is the result -


This picture was taken around 7 a.m. before the sun made it into my patio. Notice the stencil pattern sprayed onto the cover. I have not completed painting the stamp yet.

A view of the spine. It lays correctly now and seems to go with the rest of the book.

Here you can see into the pages. The signatures do not seem as tight as other books I've done... I wonder if this is because I ripped them out? Plus the paper is curling a bit... not 100% dry... I think that will correct itself.

Here is the cover with the stamp painted to my satisfaction. With the sunlight on the book I think you can see the glimmer the spray added.

Inside, I misted the end pages and stamped them up with a handful of hand-made leaf stamps... helps to hide the lumps and bumps created by the ripping and tearing I did the night before.

The book is not perfect. I look through it and see mistakes. You can see some evidence of the re-do, but I do not think this harms the integrity of the book. I'm still not completely happy with the sheer tie I've added. I don't know yet how to change it to make it more to my liking (glimmer mist????)... maybe it will just have to remain.

And yes, I think I will still give it to my sister. Somehow all this trauma has softened the edges, and made the journal a little bit earthier than it was at the beginning. I think it will make a great gardening journal.