“Quick Paper Dying Technique”

Hi Friends,

I have had a couple of extra days off this weekend which has been nice. I have visited my sister in Ballarat with my son, had the first part of my permanent tooth done yesterday at the dentist, got the rest of my porch garden finished today, which I will show you in another post and I am quickly coffee dying some paper for my Garden Journal! Phew!

If you know me I do my craft in between everything else and using my time efficiently is important. As much as I like using the “bath method’ (coffee in a container and soak your paper) of coffee dying my paper, it is mesy and time-consuming for me.

I can get quite a lot of copy/lined paper dyed in an afternoon by doing the “spray method” which is putting your coffee mixture into a spray bottle and spraying over your paper. This may seem messy also, but I use something to protect my work surface and as it dries I can spray more onto it if needed. I get some great staining effects on the paper doing it this way too.  I use A4 binder books which are really cheap, I take the staples out of them the spray a fair few at ta time. I move them around so they are at the top for a while and it helps them dry quicker.

Above is how it dries and I am not really particular with the end colour, but it depends on I what I am using it for. I wanted it a bit rustic but still able to journal on the pages. Sometimes I will sponge a bit of brown in on the edges.

These papers I have torn with my ruler to approx 7 x 9.5″ to fit nicely into my journal.

These are a few different pages I am adding to this journal. Book pages from a couple of garden books I have, a bit of this and that and some scrapbook paper also as I will be adding photos also 🙂  I have kept my plant tags etc to add to my journal etc.thanks for stopping by and I hope to have another post tomorrow for you

Happy Crafting

K x

 

“Altered Book”

Hi Junkers,

You might be wondering what is an “ALTERED BOOK”.  Well…..

An altered book is a form of mixed media or artwork that changes a book from its original form into a different form, altering its appearance and/or meaning.

An altered book artist takes a book (old, new, recycled or multiple) and cuts, tears, glues, burns, folds, paints, adds to, collages, rebinds, gold leaf, creates pop-ups, rubber-stamps, drills, bolts, and/or be-ribbons it. The artist may add pockets and niches to hold tags, ephemera, or other three-dimensional objects. Some change the shape of the book or use multiple books in the creation of the finished piece of art.

Altered books may be as simple as adding a drawing or text to a page, or as complex as creating an intricate book sculpture.

I have started two altered books and this time I have decided to take some of the pages out and replacing them with new, instead of taking all the pages out and just using the cover!

As you can see it has a lovely cover and I am not sure what I want to do with it just yet. The book had over 200 pages and I have removed about 3/4 of them and made some pockets in it and it now has about 20 sturdy pages. It is a lot thinner than it was. If you don’t take pages out it will get too bulky and you will end up damaging the spine and it will fall apart.

The books and pictures I found above on the weekend @ a Book Festival that I went to with my sister and niece near Ballarat.  They have the loveliest drawings and letters printed in them and they were only a few dollars each.  I am saving them to add to other projects and maybe put a few back into the book as embellishments on tags, pockets, etc.   I even found a really old cookbook to add a bit to my Recipe Junque Journal.

This is a smaller one and I have removed over 250 pages and condensed it to what you see above. The marks on the paper are where I am making pockets for extra goodies and so I know where they are when working on it. This is going to be a very textile book using fabric, trims, lace etc.

There is a lovely lady on Youtube called CRAFTYIRINA and I use her method of removing pages, creating pockets, etc. Her video is “HERE”

I hope you will pop back and check out my progress on my books. I am hoping soon to be starting a YouTube channel of my own, which will have lots of what I create, ideas, tutorials etc!

Happy Junking

K x

“Nameless Vintage Art Junk Journal Class”

Hi Friends,

I am taking part in a YouTube Junk Journal Class run by Johanna Clough. It is a class to make a Junk Journal with her and use the photos of people in our families, that we do not know names of and anything about them. You can also use stock photos or ephemera.

I am really enjoying this different creative outlet working along with her class and I am really happy with my results so far.

You can find her YouTube Channel here and have a go it also HERE! Johanna first inspired me to stop making endless scrapbooking layouts and work in Junque Journals. I love the freedom and the fun process fo scrapping like this now, and I have been making a few!

PART 1 – Making The cover – As you can see Johanna did hers very vintage looking. I used her tutorial but did it a little different to my style.

My first attempt didn’t go quite to plan so I started again and I am very happy with this cover. I used an old book, took the pages out and used the cover. Instead of cutting out a window I used some ephemera as my cover was very thick and I didn’t want to chance to wreck it with a knife!

THE TECHNIQUE – To create this texture on my book cover, I Gessoed it all over first to prime it. I then used my glue/sealer to adhere crumpled baking paper over the top making sure it was well covered under and over it. I then used my Dylsuions Inks and sprayed over the top with one colour, then when it dried I added a bit more of another colour and some stamping paint that I used with my fingers over the creases. Once dried I added a bit more of sprayed ink and sprayed it with water and let it run. Once it dried thoroughly overnight I painted it with another coat of sealer. 

On the inside of my book, I made sure the paper went inside a little and I adhered it down and tidied up the corners. I then used some Prima paper from an A4 pad I have to finish the inside. The black you can see is cloth tape that I always use to strengthen the spine.  I used my crop-o-dile to punch the holes and add the large eyelets. This is where the pages will be bound in. Once the book is together you won’t really see it 

PART 2 – Making the Pages –  Johanna made 4 lots of paper into her signatures and I also coffee stained my A4 copy paper, added bits and bobs from my scraps as she did, but instead of sewing on a machine, I went with faux stamped stitches.

I chose to use pattern paper for the cover of each signature instead of cardstock. I added a few more pages to mine as my spine is a bit thicker.

 

You can see above, I used some brown twine to bind my signatures the same way Johanna has. I have left long strings on them for the next part of our class.

Stay Tuned!

Thanks for stopping by

Kerri x