This blank journal I finished a few days ago. I call it my 'look out for me" journal... I stamped that on the border area of the cover... the little girl looking through the viewfinder inspired the title. She looks so brave, looking into another world...
I started the cover for this book from a piece of crumpled, painted brown paper I've saved from a past art project. I started by fiddling with a black pen doodle, and when I didn't care for that I doodled and played with pearlized acrylic inks. Then I glimmer misted it (I love glimmer mist). After that I went back in with India ink using a both wide and pointed nib. With the fine nib I wrote thoughts and words about adventure, bravery and faith... with the wide nib I played with changing line. After tearing the paper in half I collaged on the girl, the side paper (dyed/painted newspaper) and stamped the phrase, look out for me.
The next dilemma was how to seal the collage. I mulled that problem over for a day or so, looking at all my options and finally settled on encaustic. Maybe a risky solution for a journal, but I'd covered another book with wax and had been pleased. The tackiness lasts a couple days, but as the wax cures and as you hand buff the surface it becomes luminous and I wanted this effect for the cover... but before the wax was laid on, I stamped a couple dragon flies in the front cover. For me there is something magical about dragon flies.
What I hadn't expected was how difficult it would be to take a photo of a waxed surface without too much glare. I tried taking a picture outside with no direct light, I tried a picture like the one above, in my living room where the light is too low... I tried taking a few shots on a little table in my entry where there is south light, but not too much of it(below)
Every one of these venues had some challenge. The book color is richer than the photos show. The waxed surface creates a dimensional quality that cannot be seen.
The paper stock is a rich cocoa brown with a nice tooth... would be nice for pastels.The next project was this one. I had this copper... I've had it for 25 years or so, salvaged from my Dad's garage in Illinois. It was left over from a new roof project... copper on a tar paper... and I knew that one day I would find a use for it.
After I cut the copper to the desired size I pulled the tar paper backing off, leaving it with a rough enough surface to take to the glue. Once the copper was glued to the book board, I stamped and heat set this pattern on and then tooled around the stamp a bit to raise the surface a bit.
A border design was added, then I searched through my leather stash until I found a suitable piece for the spine. I wanted the spine to be more than glued on - I was a bit afraid about the glue adhering to the copper surface, and while I first thought I'd use waxed linen to tack it down, I soon realized I'd have to get into the car to get a linen that would would work. The getting into the car thing made me look a little farther and I remembered I had quite a bit of copper wire left over from my jewelry making days.
And here is the result (picture taken near the south window)... the spine is glued and wired onto the book cover. A copper bead sits at the top of both the front and back or the spine. I added a leather lace to tie the book closed... and the time had come to sew the book together and the final assembly process to begin.
Cut-off view of the spine... how to get close enough without cutting off part of the picture? And like the encaustic cover, the color is washed out...
When I put the signatures together I sprinkled the book with five colorized sheets. These become happy little surprises throughout this 158 page book.
I've told myself no more books until Monday... already I'm feeling withdrawal symptoms.
A border design was added, then I searched through my leather stash until I found a suitable piece for the spine. I wanted the spine to be more than glued on - I was a bit afraid about the glue adhering to the copper surface, and while I first thought I'd use waxed linen to tack it down, I soon realized I'd have to get into the car to get a linen that would would work. The getting into the car thing made me look a little farther and I remembered I had quite a bit of copper wire left over from my jewelry making days.
And here is the result (picture taken near the south window)... the spine is glued and wired onto the book cover. A copper bead sits at the top of both the front and back or the spine. I added a leather lace to tie the book closed... and the time had come to sew the book together and the final assembly process to begin.
Cut-off view of the spine... how to get close enough without cutting off part of the picture? And like the encaustic cover, the color is washed out...
When I put the signatures together I sprinkled the book with five colorized sheets. These become happy little surprises throughout this 158 page book.I've told myself no more books until Monday... already I'm feeling withdrawal symptoms.
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