Making Barb's Little Journal
Copyright Barbara Strembicki 2011

If you have a hankering to create a simple little journal for... well, for just about anything, this little journal project is just the thing!

Made from our kit that contains ARPA handmade paper for the signatures and 140 pound watercolor paper for the covers, this journal is perfect for drawing, writing your day's events, doodling, Zentangles and any other "arty thing" you can think of.  Mine began in the summer months of 2010 and some 7 months later, in early 2011, is nearing completion.  You can't rush these things after all.  There are two signatures, each with 4 pages, and of course there will a cover.  I prefer to work on the pages and then bind them to the cover. 

When we received the ARPA papers I was fascinated by them.  The paper is about 70 pound, had deckle edges, and is very slightly textured.  Not like cold press watercolor paper, but there is some character to the surface of the sheets.  I've drawn on, painted on, and glued stuff on the pages and had no difficulty with the paper.  The texture is slight enough that drawing or writing on it is not a problem, and at 70 pounds, it will withstand having papers collaged the pages.

I'm going to demonstrate how to put the journal together then I'll show you my pages thus far.  You don't need to know anything about bookmaking - anyone can do this.  Aside from a ruler and either a large needle, awl, or something similarly pointy, the only other supplies you'll need are the paint, papers, collage images, photos, stamps, inkpads, pens, and other bits and bobs you'll use on the pages.  Assembling the book itself is really, really simple.  Ready?  Let's get started!

This is what the kit contains--> 4 sheets of ARPA paper (5.5" x 11") and one piece of 140 pound watercolor paper (6" x 13")

The four pages will be used to create two signatures, each containing 2 pages.  Two of the pages are simply folded in half, as you see them here, while the other two...

Are folded a little differently.  Measure 4 1/2" from one long end, make a mark, and ten fold the page on that mark.  This creates a signature with one long and one short page.  Cool, huh?  When you  assemble the book it allows for some ways to play with the longer pieces which extend beyond the ones where you folded the paper in half.

Here's the cover.  The kit contains one piece of 140 pound watercolor paper, pre-folded in half, as you see here.

Now it's time to make the holes in the cover.  This is where you'll thread the thread, fiber, or the like as you bind the signatures in the cover.  The center hole is, oddly enough, in the center!  That's 3" from the edge.  Once that one is marked, measure 1 1/2" from the center hole to the top, then again to the bottom, and you'll have something like what's pictured above.  Mark right on the center fold, then using an awl or something similar, bore a small hole in the paper. 
 

Next up is to mark the holes on the signatures.  Take each of the two signatures and nest them inside each other, aligning the edges all the way around.  This does not have to be absolutely perfect, but try and get it close.  Once you've done that, lay the signature on the open cover.  Lay it out in such a way that the fold of the signatures is even with the fold crease in the cover and space the top and bottom so that there is a roughly equal amount of space all around the other three sides.  That space is about 1/4" which you can see above.  Once you're satisfied with the spacing mark the three holes right on the signature fold. 

You only get one chance to pierce the holes in the signatures, so be sure you've marked correctly!  Once you're sure, use an awl and pierce holes in the signatures.  I tried doing all four sheets of paper at once and had a small amount of slippage.  It's best to do two at once so you're sure the holes end up where they ought to.

Once the holes are done it's time to sew the signatures into the cover.  I'm using #8 perle cotton.  If you want something heavier you can use #5 perle cotton or double the #8.  Or... use some sort of fiber or heavier yarn.  The option is really yours.  This is a place where both form and function meet.  Whatever you use will not only hold the pages in the cover, it's also decorative.  Color matters since you'll see the binding material on both the inside and outside of the journal.  I'm using a crewel style needle, but anything that's got a point and an eye will work.  Just make sure the needle isn't much larger than the holes, otherwise it will open them, perhaps too far.

You'll need a lenght of thread that's about 3 times the height of the journal.  That will allow you to stitch, leave tails, and have enough to work with.

I want the tails of my thread to show on the outside (I'll attach beads or something decorative) and so that means I need to start the binding stitch on the outside of the cover.  Insert the needle into the center hole and pull it through to the inside. 

Leave about 6" of tail dangling.

You're working from the inside  of the journal now...  Thread the needle through the top hole and pull it through to the outside, taking up any slack.

Back to the outside now.  Here's the thread exiting the top hole and the excess being pulled to the outside.

Take the tail and lay it horizontally so that it's at a 90 degree angle from the fold in the cover.  You want it out of the way for the next step.  Insert the needle into the bottom hole and pull it through to the inside..

You can see that the needle is on the inside and the slack has almost been pulled taut.  That's just want you want!  Pull up the rest of the slack, then...

The view from inside.  You're nearly done now.  Insert the needle into the middle hole and pull it back through to the outside.

I'm deliberately pushing the thread out of the way so you can see... what you're trying to accomplish is to have the one tail to the left of the long thread that runs down the spine and the other to the right.  That long thread in the middle  should be on top of the two tails.  Why?  Because...

Once you tied a square knot, you'll secure that long thread in that knot and you're done!  See?  I told you it was easy!

Here it is, all finished.  This stitch is called a couple of different things... a pamphlet stitch and a saddle stitch binding.  It can be done with any odd number of holes, depending on the height of the journal.

If you want more pages in your version you can do that by adding more of the ARPA paper signatures.  The size you need can be seen here.  You can add another signature of 2 sheets of paper (4 pages) without difficulty and may even be able to squeeze in another 4 sheets if you choose.

Ok, so you now have a blank journal.  Now what?  Well... that's really up to you.  I'm going to show you some pages from the one I made.  When I journal it's not to vent or write about my day's event.  It's because I like to take the stuff I've accumulated over time and use it to make pretty pages.  Pages with photos.  Pages with quotes I like or that fit the bits of stuff I've glued down.  Pages where I've doodled or drawn Zentangles.  Really, the "what" part is entirely open to whatever my muse is thinking at the moment.  One page I'll show you has the Fanny Farmer Cookbook recipe for banana bread that I've used for 30 years.  If you have some recipes you'd like to gift someone with, this little "art" journal can be arty and a recipe journal at the same time.  Include a sentiment or sentence about the recipe and you've created a gift that the lucky recipient will treasure forever.

I've stacked the folded pages into signatures to take these photos so that you can see how the pages will look once I bind them into the cover.  You can also see how folding the pages at different places causes the pages to be staggered, which I like.  If you don't, then just fold yours in half.  You'll need to trim the watercolor paper that's used for the covers since it was cut to accommodate the staggered pages length, but that's simple enough.

Opening up that first page reveals this spread.  If you're wondering how I got splashes of color on the pages, it was with acrylic paint thinned with water.  I just threw the paint on the paper randomly, without giving much thought to what I was doing.  If you let the paint dry between colors, you can get washes over the top of each other without the paint blending.  Which is useful when you want opposite side of the color wheel colors to play nice on the same page without creating a muddy-color-mess.  On some pages I went for close to 100% of the page having color and on other the coverage was much less.  I think alternating that coverage adds dimension to the spreads, allowing for movement rather than a flat surface.

This is the spread where the page is one full sheet of paper.  I took advantage of that and let them design cover them both.

Can you tell I was messing with the page on the right about the time we received AlphaTangle?

In May of 2010 I went to Mystic Seaport with Jess, Todd & Andy.  One of the highlights of the day was the lobster/clam bake and the first time Andy had even eaten corn right off the cob.  As you can tell, it was a huge hit!  The background has a rubberstamped image randomly and incompletely applied, then I drew some circles and colored them in with Prismacolor pencils.

Here's that Fannie Farmer cookbook Banana Bread recipe I mentioned.  I add some additional spices to give the bread an extra kick of flavor and it's wonderful.  I've tried other recipes, but always come back to this one.  I used watercolor pencils and a Pigma pen to draw and color the viney thing on the side  I don't exactly know what it is, but I like it.

The image of the girl holding a cat is from one of our Joggles collage sheets.  I liked the image and found some quotes that were a great accompaniment to it.

These last few pages are simple, but I like them.  Scraps of papers, a little paint, some colored pencil work, a rubberstamp, and then some doodling with a Pigma or PITT pen.  I have papers that have accumulated over time.  I buy what I like, even if I have no idea what I'll do with it.  Papers have a limited lifespan and the manufacturers don't usually rerun them once the initial order from the factory has sold out.  I learned this the hard way, can you tell?

As you may have noticed, I tend toward curvy, organic shapes.  Hearts are one of the motifs I like the best and so I use them.  A lot. 

I numbered all of the pages, adding little doodles and Zentangles, to make the numbers stand out as part of the page rather than a plain old, run of the mill, page number.

I plan to continue to work on this and will let you know once I've completed the pages and cover.  Stay tuned for additional updates!

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