Hello Friends, I hope everyone is well.
So this is the final bit to show you of my first art journal – the cover. I left the cover till last for two reasons, firstly so that I could carry the journal around with the plain cover so it would not attract too much attention (although it did start to intrigue people as it ‘fattened up’); and secondly because while I was working on the journal the cover got covered in paint and dirty marks and by leaving the decoration until the end it meant that I could make the finished journal look ‘pretty’.
One day a friend saw the journal on my desk at work and without asking grabbed it and started looking through it, it felt a bit like he had picked up my personal diary and started to read it. I don’t think he was very impressed. He said “Who’s done this?” and I replied “Me” to which he enquired “And how old were you when you did it?”
On front and back covers there is gesso, collage, stamping, acrylic and watercolour paints and distress inks.
On the Front cover I added a little bit of bling and a panel with the title ‘AJ’s Art Journal’. I found some big cardboard floor dominos made for small children in a charity shop. I actually liked the images that were on the dominos but I also found that I could peel the shiney cover off them, decorate them and for the cover title I used glossy accents to give it a shine. I didn’t know how to make a closure so I sewed a flower bead on the front and back covers and used a bit of fibre to wrap around the beads and form the closure. I also added fibres to the wire spine of the journal.
The panel on the back cover is something I found by the waste bin at work, it’s an identification plate for a pump, and I coloured it with stazon ink, put two brads through the screw holes and stuck the whole thing on with glossy accents.
I’ve shown this image before but this is the finished journal. I really love it and I’ve had so much fun making, showing it and I’ve really appreciated the encouragement, lovely comments and the new friends I’ve made.
Creative people are just The Best!
That’s all for now, see you soon
Big love
AJ