Journals and Journaling

Finished this little journal yesterday ~ it measures 6.25" square and features a sewn tapes binding.  The cover fabric is ecodyed linen, and I fashioned the tapes with ecodyed cotton printed with textile paint that I rolled over a rubbing plate under the fabric...then doubled with fusible webbing between, and free motion quilted.

You can see some books in process behind the journal in this photo.  I'm awaiting a real Japanese screw punch from Bonnie's Art Tools in Georgia.  It should be here later this week.  If you plan to purchase one of these hole punches for bookmaking, don't make the same mistake I did ~ I purchased one for $19 at eBay, and it turned out to be a knock off of the real thing.  The real deal costs upwards of $60 including a set of punches with different size holes, and will cut through leather, book board, numerous layers of paper or cardstock and likely a lot of other things.  The knock off required at least two dozen punches to maybe make a sufficient hole, and the tool kept falling apart as I used it. 

I punched the first two signatures in the journal above with the el cheapo model, but badly, since I had to take the four-folio signatures apart, down to one or two folios, just to get a hole.  By the time I got the sigs back together, the holes didn't line up well.  I finished the project with a T pin and heavy yarn embroidery needle as I'd done with my previous books.  So I learned that with some things, you do need to invest in the best tool available.  These tools are available elsewhere besides Bonnie's, and including Dick Blick ~ but the best deal price-wise, considering that a full set of hole sizes is included (6 or 7 punches) along with First Class shipping, is currently at Bonnie's.  So I'm glad to give them my business.

So, I'm getting quite a collection of cool handmade books and journals, but I've yet to use them.  Except for one little book I made a few weeks ago that I quickly filled with zentangles.  I'll likely take that book apart (it wasn't a great construction to begin with) and affix the drawings to pages of another journal.  I'm good for writing journals at the moment, with hard cover spiral bound grid paper journals that I bought several of a couple years ago.  And I'm still working through my first two visual or art journals -- one hard cover spiral bound with plain paper that I gessoed, the other my first altered book begun in Tammy Garcia's online art journaling class.

I'm not journal writing as much as I used to, but had for many years.  At one point a few years ago when I first began my huge life downsize, I threw away 30 hard cover journals, which dated back to 1979.  And I'm only in my second one now, since the toss out in 2009.  Prior to 1979 I hadn't journaled regularly in a few years, although it was a terrific high school English teacher who started me along the path in 1966.  Journaling got me through some really tough places in life...and still does, when I have deep things I need and want to explore on my own.