Bible Journaling: John 20 v27

I’ve recently bought a new Bible specifically to journal in – actually I’ve purchased two (NIV & NLT). There are probably some people who think that drawing in a Bible is sacrilegious, but I see it as creative worship, and an extension of my sermon sketchnotes. As a pastime, it seems to have become very popular and perhaps a spin off from the adult colouring trend. Some journaling bibles even have illustrations waiting to be coloured. I christened my new NLT bible this evening:

Quick Review

NLT Reflections Bible: The Bible for Journaling (Reflections: Full Size)
Tyndale House Publishers, ISBN 978-1-4964-1803-6

The bible is bound with black hard cover and has an elastic band around it. There is a single ribbon page marker. The pages are as you’d normally expect to find in a bible. They’re bright white, smooth, a little translucent, thin but pretty tough. The thing that separates it from conventional bibles is the wide margin (5cm / 2″) on either side which has faint ruled lines down the page.

I didn’t experience any bleed through the page using a black pigment marker to create the text outlines. Adding colour with pencils caused page curl, which was easy enough to curl back afterwards. I found it easier to work with a piece of card behind the page to press onto rather than onto the pages behind which felt a little spongy. There was enough tooth to the paper to take the coloured pencils without feeling as if the pencil were skidding across the page. The illustration is visible from the back side of the page – I’d be hesitant to use any marker pens, but might be brave enough to try a light ink or watercolour. I’ll let you know how that goes.