Altered Book / Journal

An old credit card was used to scrape
the paint.  Also added tissue tape in a
long strip and short pieces (these had
a calendar on them).

A while back I started playing with the idea of altering a book to make a journal.  My first obstacle was to overcome my horror of defacing a book.  Having said that, I decided that using an old hardcover (fiction) picked up at Wastewise (a wonderful recycling depot in town) wouldn't be too terrible (unless of course you are the author, in which case I give you my sincere apologies).

The first step was to remove some of the pages (randomly throughout the book - not all from one section) to allow for the added bulk that the paint would add.   I then glued together 3 pages at a time and stitched around the edges using a zigzag stitch on my sewing machine.  You can get to within about 1 1/2 - 2 inches from the binding.  This gives you good sturdy pages with which to work.

Brick pattern was created using a stencil.  

Circles (look like page reinforcers) were

made using the wooded handle of an old

foam brush (remove the foam and plastic

part and you're left with a short dowel 

with a hole in it!

The next part was the hardest for me because it required a lot of time and patience.  I covered each page with gesso, but because you don't want the pages to stick together you have to wait for each spread to dry before you can go on to the next.  At this stage I used a light covering of white gesso, allowing some of the original text to show through.

Stamping was done using rubber
stamps with acrylic paint. 

Inktense pencils give wonderfully
vibrant colour.

Now the fun begins.  Using acrylic paint, Inktense watercolour pencils, markers (I like Copic markers), white gel pens, black gesso, etc. I began to play.  Again this takes patience because you have to wait for pages to dry before you go on to the next spread or before you can begin to journal on the fun backgrounds that you've created.

Background ready for some sketching 

and journaling.

I love using white printing on the black gesso for a change of pace.  I really like the effect.  (Note: I found my white gel pen worked much better on the black gesso than it did on black acrylic paint.  I also like the more matte finish of the gesso.

Markers were used to colour in some 

doodles on this page.