It’s been a busy week in The Studio supervising Harry whilst he was here on work experience – a really worthwhile experience for both of us. I started this page last weekend, and finally finished it this morning. Interesting timing given the ructions going on in this minuscule corner of the world since Thursday’s vote…
More sneak peeks of pages to be featured on my Hochanda shows on Thursday at 11am & 3pm. Don’t forget to tune in to, or catch up with, the shows which will be introducing art journals and art journaling.
I’m busy prepping for my next shows on Hochanda, which will be introducing art journaling, on 16th June. I’ve already shown you the test pages in the journals that will be available, but here are two sneaky peek pages featuring products available to buy during the shows. There will be more sneaky peeks on Hochanda’s social media feeds during the coming week.
In tonight’s art journaling session, we’re going to be playing with paint films. This is my demo page – it’s one of those sort of pages that is inspired by the technique results rather than an artistic intent at the start. The glass is drawn round the paint film, which reminded me of sloshing Ribena and I went in search of a suitable quote. The full quote compares colour to be as essential as water, which is a great metaphor reflected in my layout.
As promised in my previous post, I used spray inks and copious amounts of water on my test journals. I’m delighted to say that all three passed with flying colours. I wanted to check that the paper didn’t become saturated, there was minimal bleed through of colour to the reverse of the page, and that generally the journals behaved themselves when wet. Here are the results, the journals I used and any notes I made:
Frisk layflat Sketch Pad
This is an absolutely perfect journal – it is 300gsm, pretty much A5 in size, with a laminated cover and 20 pages. The pages really do lay absolutely flat with no gutter in the middle fold – it looks like Frisk have managed to fuse flat sheets of cartridge paper together to make the pages. There was no more buckle than I would expect from wetting any paper and no bleed through. A cracking journal!
Frisk Sketch Book
This is a 140gsm, 40 page, A5 landscape format journal with staple binding. It has a laminated black cover, though kraft covers are available as are other sizes. The pages are definitely a lighter weight than the layflat sketch pad, but are no less flimsy when wet. Again, no bleed through to the back of the page. An excellent everyday journal.
Hahnemuhle Travel Booklets
I used the small A6 size which makes for a dinky journal, but handy for very quick pages, or journaling on the go. At 140gsm with 20 pages, the twin pack of booklets features stitched binding. The paper was a little more absorbent, with the wet ink soaking in to the page faster than the other two. Even so, there was no bleed through the page and thus it passed the test. It also comes in various sizes.
As a result of my tests, I was happy to recommend all of them to Hochanda buyers in preparation for my art journaling shows on 16th June 🙂
One side effect of being the probably the first art journaling demonstrator on a UK craft TV channel is that I need to help source journals suitable for sale during the shows. This lunchtime I had unexpected happy post containing four journals for me to test. The timing’s a bit awkward – first thing this morning a delivery arrived with all the products I have to make samples with for my first show a week tomorrow… So for pure expediency, I set up a journal test bench this evening and worked my way down the three journals with the same page layout. The fourth? That one is A3 in size, and far too big to do anything in the timescale!
I’ve done faux leather, faux weathered wood and faux brass – here’s a fresh-from-the-desk journal page featuring a faux galvanised steel paint effect with faux rust. The sentiment is apparently a Turkish proverb. Is it immodest to say I’ve surprised myself again with another successful experiment? Next time though, I’ll not leave the studs until last, which somewhat annoyingly overlapped the end of ‘unlock’ – tI added the wording whilst I was waiting for the image transfer to dry, and I needed the image transfer uncovered to get the perspective right for the door studs.
So you have grand plans to start art journaling, and you’re wondering what your first step should be? It’s important to find a journal that will take all that you throw at it. It has to be able to take wet media without the pages getting flimsy or buckling. It has to be able to lie flat so that you can work in it. You don’t want pages easily detaching, nor a wire-o spine stopping you getting to the middle of the spread. Pages shouldn’t be too absorbent, or too smooth – or be able to take a layer of gesso if they are. Hardback or soft cover – well that’s down to personal preference. Here’s a couple of pages I’ve done this afternoon whilst testing a new journal. Above – Dylusions Paints. Below – Distress Sprays/Inks and pigment inks.
Avid readers may remember a week or so ago I made a couple of handmade journals. I’ve taken this one further, and created a ‘colour journal’. With an unashamed plug for all things DecoArt Media, I have used my own photos of their products as a page background, before adding glazes of colour fluid acrylics using various techniques including ragging, baby wipes, brushes and paper towel. Headings used the same colour, just undiluted. Add gesso, pen work and a smidge of gloss and the book is complete.
I came across this wallet-type 4×6″ journal when I was looking through my Silhouette cut files. I have just been given a pile of kraft card file dividers, and thought they would be a perfect place to start. The mini album design is by Lori Whitlock and available via the Silhouette design store. I’ve added the band for the closure, and rather than six pages, I’ve added five due to the thickness of the card. The journal card inserts are a smidge smaller than 4×6″ and I’ve used a corner rounder so they slide in more easily.
As for the decoration, this journal is a practice piece for one stroke folk art flowers. I watched how a friend’s mother painted her canal boat accessories when I was nine or ten, and the fascination with the way a shaded flower developed with so few brush strokes. These are my first attempts, with a little extra shading added with water-soluble pencils. The backgrounds are a mix of distress paints, whilst the flowers are painted with DecoArt Media fluid acrylics. I’ve edged the journaling cards with Frayed Burlap distress ink – and I’ve no idea at this stage what will go on them! There’s a few more pages to decorate, so stay tuned for updates 🙂
