Handmade journal pages and origami folded cover
Margherita
Mar 2013
Notes made from
- DVD Art journaling fast and easy, Pam Cariker, from “Interweave”
- Making books and journals. Weekend crafter. Constance Richards.
You can use any techniques you like to decorate your paper.
Below is how to set up your paper.
Requirements
For pages (paper):
Water colour paper large piece
- square or rectangle if making a grid page size
– paper size is a grid, the page size X the number of pages you want
(the pages are cut to fit in cover eg you cut 2 pages at once and
fold ready to stitch in cover SO grid must be even layout of
squares)
OR - long rectangle if making a folded page size ready to insert in a cover
– this is what we did for the day
– paper size is slightly less than cover size and is square
- height is square height and length is 8 X the height of the page
This gives you 2 tucked in pages and 3 folded pages to use. If
you want more pages just add more length in divisions of 2
eg 12, 20 etc
I didn’t have any watercolour paper large enough so used a large piece of
plain paper that I tested first and it passed the below guide
1) test done on the corner of large piece or on an A5 size
2) water painted on, soaks in a bit
Not beaded on the surface
Or totally softens the paper.
3) It doesn’t distort too much when the water dries,
a bit of curling is ok and can be sorted by weight
Not suitable, are papers that curl very tightly when damp or dry.
Water colour pencil in your chosen colour scheme
Baby wipes
(these are gentle and strong enough to work with all smudging and cleaning
needs. Keep a large box of them and clean all your brushes, stamps
stencils etc in all your creative times and you will be rewarded with lovely
texture sheets to use in lots of other art.
And they are for free – as made with the paint and ink etc that you usually
rinse out in a jar of water or wash down the sink)
Spray bottles, inks, stamps, rollers, brushes, stencils
Paint, and “graphite” paint
(graphite paint can be bought but I made some myself with black and a bit
of white added till it looked a graphite grey colour. It is softer than a black
paint. And when written or squiggled with by squeezing thru a thin point of a
bottle, it looks like pencil but with more options.)
and anything else that will add texture and colour
Steps for pages
Lay out your large sheet of paper
Spritz paper with a fine spray of water
Draw with water colour pencil a grid about the size of the pages you want.
Page size considerations
On the day we used the first technique
- a length of pages that are folded like a concertina to fit in a book
- the page size can be a single size
- a double which is folded and sewn in as a signature (a collection of folded
pages sewn to the spine of a book)
The drawn line is not too light or too dark – just enough as a guide.
Spritz the lines to activate the water colour pencil, smudge if wanted with baby wipe,
keeping the lines intact.
This grid helps with decorating your paper, as you can make sure that something
interesting is happening on most pages and that the interesting bits aren’t on the
lines which is what you will be cutting.
Now use any paper colouring techniques you want.
Some guidelines
Press paper towels onto the paper to help speed up the drying and/or use a hair dryer
or heat gun to dry.
Some considerations
Paper towels can lift off some or most of the colour or paint effect so a
hair dryer (or just leave to dry in its own time) may be better if
you don’t want this to happen.
Blotting with paper towels etc will leave the towels embossed pattern
impression in the paint
Dried paint towels can be collaged to pages.
A hair dryer or heat gun can push the paint effect around and change
how the colour looks due to the applied heat so just leave to dry
if you don’t want to risk this happening.
Have some clear areas on each page for any journaling
- leave some areas un coloured
- paint over some of previous colour work with white / light colour paint.
- glue white / light colour paper over some previous colour work
Some colouring options
Lay down a stencil and paint thru it
Then turn stencil over, to lay the paint on it, down on another area of paper, this
gives a negative and positive pattern.
Squiggle a thin stream of paint from a bottle all over
- leave some as lines
- blob some to spread it out
- smear some for a softer look
Squeeze paint on the paper (or on another surface – each will give a different look)
- use rollers to spread around. Foam or brayers will give a different look.
Roll in 1 continuous line or lift and roll in different areas.
Dab colour on with ink stamp pads or daubers (pieces of foam - dipped in paint)
Water paint down very thinly for an almost transparent colour wash.
Use stamps or shapes (a takeaway coffee cup base for circles)
Pages:
When finished and dry, cut and fold to the size you want or to fit cover below:
Cut thin paper – rectangle 11cm X 88cm (4 ¼ “ X 34”)
Fold paper length into a concertina of 8 panels .. see cover steps A – D below.
Origami folded journal cover
See the end below, for patterns for embellishing or surface treatment before sewing
Requirements for Journal cover
See pdf link on website for the images and text print out.
If measurement is too long for your tools to cut then you can
fold in ½ wrong sides together and cut
eg 11cm X 44 and 11cm X 44.75
Finished sample size is 11cm square
All papers (or fabrics if using) MUST hold a strong crease.
Cutting
Cut thick paper (wallpaper etc) - a rectangle 11cm X 89.5cm (4 ¼ “ X 35”).
You can make any size you want but can only be square
– size is height you want and length is 8 X the height + 1.5cm to allow for folding.
You can glue lengths together.
Make a trial small version with other paper first so you can choose where you
want the join to be – either well hidden or to make more of a feature of it.
See patterns at end of information to see how this is done.
Folding
With all folds, make sure long outside edges meet accurately then press gently on the
crease line. If all still correct then crease sharply along the line.
See the Pdf book copy for steps.
And I have added my notes below in case you need more info.
Steps for cover:
Fold paper length into a concertina of 8 panels, A – D below
How to fold the concertina
More info on Pdf step 1
a) fold length in ½, wrong side together – mountain fold ^
b) unfold, lay wrong side up (mountain fold ^ is now a valley v) and fold ends to v
c) unfold, lay right side up (3 mountain folds ^ ) fold outside ^ to the centre ^ right
sides together = 3 mountain and 2 valley
d) fold ends up to the closest ^ = 3 mountain and 4 valley
More info on Pdf step 2
e) Lay paper right side up. Working out from the centre ^, and in the square after
the first v, fold the rest of the length behind and down on a diagonal so square
is folded in ½ as a triangle. If you line up the first v fold with the edge of the rest
of the length going down your square will be accurately folded in ½.
It looks like an upside down U.
More info on step 3
f) fold triangle pieces to the centre ^. Shape now looks like a rectangle. Outside
edges folded in make a diagonal flap from the top points down to the centre
More info on step 4
g)holding the flaps, lift the whole section up and flip the long ends under and up
away from you. Crease the fold along the edge.
If the paper is too inflexible – hold the flaps and lift whole section and turn
over so flaps are underneath and pointing away from you and wrong sides
are facing up. Fold the long ends down over the section and are then
pointing to you. Squaring off all the edges, crease. Holding it all together,
turn it back over so flaps are facing right side up again and the long ends
are pointing away from you
More info on step 5
h) fold long ends from its centre top point down to main section left edge
More info on step 6
i) fold long end triangles under the flaps
Cover can be used either way
Triangle flaps on inside or outside
– slip your 1st page of the paper signature (group of pages) behind the 2 flaps or
the slits.
The flaps can hold a pen, other things or embellish the cover
Finishing the cover
You can colour the exposed edges (see below) or slip a
folded piece of card inside over the edges to cover the
wrong sides showing. Keep one side of the card edge
straight to slip in first, then fold 1 corner back to help the
other edges be folded over the exposed cover edges. And
the angle fold will fit in the triangle flap in the front.
To stiffen the cover if it is still to flimsy, cut some card the
same size as the cover and slip inside the 2 sides on the cover side that has the slit in
the middle.
Images below show:
Journal cover numbered and marked to show what is exposed on each side of the cover
Pattern opened to show where to put your made “fabric” eg insert (allow plenty of space
around when you make for cutting out and inserting seams) or collaged. Or use as
whole cloth but only embellish slightly larger areas than what is marked.
And on the wrong side - black lines show where the wrong side
edges will be exposed on the outside edge of the journal, after
folding.
You could colour over these stripes to match the journal cover
colour.
Signatures – a stack of pages
– either tie in with cord
– or stitch in place
Tie in with cord
- leave a length of cord at the end
- for tying and some extra for a tassel if wanted
- hold cord, run down length of outside cover, up first concertina valley fold
(fold of paper which has been slipped into the cover) and tie to the long
end (cord is now a tied loop around cover and first page)
- repeat running down the cover and up valley’s of the signature till all done
– OR down cover, up first page and tie to the start (a loop as above step) BUT
now go back down a page, tie to the cover loop at the end and back up a
page.
Repeat till doing the last page and IF it work out run cord up the cover to
finish and tie off at the end with the long cord.
– tie beads or decorative macramé stitches up cord on cover, to finish off.
Stitch in place - these notes are from a book I made but steps are the same
Cut a strip of card, the height of your book spine.
Decide how close to the edge you want your end stitches to
be. Mark it with a dot. Then cut a strip of paper as wide as
the distance between the 2 end stitch dots.
Decide how many stitches you want to hold each
signature. You can decide based on how you want the
spine to look, length of the spine and how much support the
signatures need to be secure. I decided on 3.
Fold paper into equal 1/3’s (fold differently if you have more
or less stitches). See paper in image for guide to text
below.
Make a dot on edge of either end of paper, which is the 1st
and last stitch hole (this will line up with holes on card).
Mark a small line at each1/3 crease.
Make a dot either side of the crease line to show 1st and
last stitch – make sure they are equal length.
Dot the inside of the crease lines to mark the middle stitch – make sure it is equal
length to the other 2 stitches.
Use the paper as a template to make the dots onto the card
Place the card in the fold of each signature and punch a hole at each dot. This made it
easier for me but you could also just mark the fold and sew straight thru. Repeat for
each signature.
Sew each signature in individually.
NOTE: confirm you have:
Pages in the signatures - are in the order you want
Signatures are in the cover - in the order you want
Book is upright with front facing
First signature is in the front of the book
(I learnt this the hard way as I sewed my first signature in the back of the book and the
inside of the cover material, I wanted at the front, finished up at the back.)
Sewing in signature – lots of different ideas on Google. I have listed 1 way below.
https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=sewing+signatures+into+journals&rlz=1C1CHMO_engbNZ473NZ473&es_sm=122&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=KhsMVLbjJNCdugTH8YH4Cg&ved=0CAgQ_
AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=643
Confirm the needle you want to use will go thru the cover. Thread the needle with
strong embroidery cotton or other yarn / thread.
Don’t knot it.
Make thread long enough for each signature + extra for knotting with ease.
Open the cover with the 3 signatures inside and get a rough guide of where you will
stitch the first signature in.
Hold the first signature in place and remove the others, keeping them in order.
I left the thread at the beginning of stitching, hanging out about 5cm.
Start stitching the signature to the cover spine, with long stitches on the inside down the
fold of the signature, using the dots as a guide.
Start the needle on the outside and push thru the hardcover and signature, in line
with the first dot.
Leave a long thread hanging on the outside.
Take needle along the long stitch in the signature fold to the
next dot. And push needle thru signature to the outside of the
hardcover spine and back thru the short stitch thru the
signature fold to the inside again. Image shows inside
signature fold – 1st long stitch done inside, short stitch done on
outside and needle back into the signature ready to stitch 2nd
long stitch
Repeat steps till all stitches done down the spine and signature.
Place next signature in and sew up the spine and signature.
Repeat till all signatures are sewn in.
Decorate the stitching how you want
If you want to use fabric then laminating or stiffening it may make it
suitable.
http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2012/01/sewing-tipsdefining-using-interfacing-fusible-web-fusibleadhesive.html
http://www.pinkchalkstudio.com/blog/2008/10/27/fusibl
e-interfacing/
To laminate or stiffen, the easiest is to use iron
on fusible fabric or glue sheets. There are
many brands and options and are usually very
similar. Your choice will depend on what you
are going to do with the fabric in the end.
2 types
– 1 sided glue
– either as a soft fabric with glue dots on 1 side
– good for ironing on large areas with no size or
shape requirements eg stiffening
– or as a paper backed fabric
– good for drawing shapes on the paper and cutting out
shapes before ironing to fabric
– 2 sided glue
– a thick or thin sheet of glue wrapped or backed
with paper
– good for drawing shapes on the paper
and cutting out shapes before ironing to
fabric. Then cutting fabric shape out
and ironing to another surface
eg appliqué or fabric laminating
Laminating is a term taken by the textile arts to mean fusing 2 pieces of fabric, wrong
sides together with iron on fusible.