Junk Journals

Covers made

inside the empty covers

Completed journal

The spine. Looks great if covered up!

Front cover

Inside a skinny journal

The front cover

I love YouTube. You can watch videos on just about anything in the art and/or craft field. The past Saturday I decided to search for Junk Journals on YouTube. Found a 17 minute video for beginners. After watching it once, I went to "the room" full of crap, and started pulling out from the stack of Gelli plate prints that keep growing.

The name of the artist I watched is Lolly Palooza. Her instructions are concise, easy to follow, and her voice is soothing. The voice thing is important, to me, if you want to learn anything off YouTube. Her suggestion was to start with standard 8.5 by 11 papers and cut them in half. You would then fold those pieces in half to form signatures. I used my very old Martha Stewart scoring board to do that for a sharp fold. I then cut a bunch of old bookpages out of books. These were not the same size, nor are they intended to be, because it is a junk journal. Full of junk. Kind of the point. Added into that were a bunch of painted manila tags I had hanging around, and some 6 by 6 scrapbook papers.

At first I put 10 pieces in each signature. That was too thick, so I cut it down to 6. Now that I have 2 of these small journals together and started working in one, I think that 6 pages is too many. The card stock that I use for Gelli prints, and the scrapbook papers are thicker than normal, and the bulk makes it a little difficult to work in. That will be one adjustment.

On Sunday, I watched a video from Ephemera Gardens, another artist. She shows you how to gut an old book, and use that spine and cover to make junk journals. Now that I have completed the cheap, easy way, I am going to try that. For one, using an existing book will hide your pamphlet stitching. I so need to hide any stitching I do. Sewing is just not my strength, either by machine or hand. I make a mess. It works, but not pretty.

I am still keeping the promise to myself to use up some of the crap in "the room". Before any new crap comes in. Except for stencils. Stencils don't count. And maybe.....
Linda