Making your journal.....

Before we actually start, I thought it might be helpful to let you in on ‘THE PLAN.’  The first step is to actually make the journal ready for journaling.  That is today.  Second, you will learn some texturizing techniques.  Third, additional art techniques.  Finally, you will be given prompts to write about.  If at any time you have any questions and/or comments, please share them with me and I will answer them the best that I can.  We are so excited about spending some time with you.  And yes…we do want to see some pics of your pages.  So here we go….

(Page above is to give you an idea about the finished project)

getting started…

This is a good way to recycle your magazines.  Any magazine will do.  If you want large pages, then pick a large magazine, and if you want small pages, pick a small magazine.

Begin by gluing the front cover plus ten pages together.  Run your glue stick around all four edges and a couple of times in the middle.  Smooth out the pages as you go.

Once you have the ten pages glued together, with the duct tape or packing tape, tape along the three outer edges of the pages


As shown in the above picture, cut your tape a little bit longer than the magazine.  Center the tape on the edges of your pages, then fold over to the other side.

Now cut off the excess tape with a pair of scissors or blade.

This is what it should look like.

Open the front cover and start gluing the next pages together.  I chose to continue gluing ten pages together at a time for my journal.  It is up to you.  The minimum pages I would glue together would be 3 or 4, the maximum 10-15.  Tape around the outside edges as you did before.  Continue to glue and tape bundles of pages until the end of the book.

It’s time to gesso.  Add gesso to your pages, including the front and back covers.  You will need to wait for pages to dry before you move to the next one to gesso.

While the pages are wet, close them together and then pull them apart and you will some texture to get your page started.

Come back next Monday and we’ll make more texture with the modeling paste.