Maybe I could call it a junk journal? Or perhaps, it’s all three, in one.
Today I began preparing the first ever (#1 in the series…because there will be a series) Halloween Zine.
After I set the painted paper aside to dry, I saw a stack of brown paper packing material. Believe it or not, it all came in a box that delivered unto me a little plastic cup, with lid, full of red-rooted floater plants. The care that went into packaging these things was phenomenal.
I could not let go of the paper. Or, rather, I refused to hand the paper over to the cats. This is what normally happens to any packaging that waltzes through our front door. The cats immediately claim it. One dog might want a strip or two to shred, but she will also chew whatever box comes in to pieces as well, so she knows she has to share with the Murder Mitten Crew.
I have long, I mean LONG, talked about my set of twelve small Zane Grey books I thrifted ages ago with the intention of setting up a series of monthly journals for myself. I have a stack of maybe four of those now gutted book covers under my desk (where I store things) that I have cut down and put signatures in waiting to be bound.
Yeah. I pulled a completely empty one out of my desk drawer, where the abandoned, I mean, waiting ones sit. I used a metal ruler to rip the packing paper down to size. Although one piece of the torn paper turned into a nice folio. The other strip basically became a much smaller (not as wide) folio. (A signature in a book is made up of any number of folios.) I wasn’t looking for perfection. It’s brown paper packaging.
I knew I would only get a single folio from each piece of packing paper that would be the correct height and width for the book. The rest I threw in because…why waste it? And different size pages can be fun.
I created a single signature. There was no reason to do more than that. I bound it with a simple three-hole pamphlet stitch. There is some overhang above, below, and from the side from the pages within. I like it like that. If I didn’t, I would use the side of the cover to rip the overhang off. Torn edges are fine in this journal.
I will have to put up a video of it later this month. Why? I am hoping to get a new phone by the end of the month, but we’ll see.
Do you make your own art journals or doodle books or glue books or junk journals?
Would you be interested in hearing more about my hand-made journals and how I use them?
Let me know in the comments.
Tabitha Low 