In the midst of getting work done for my Colors of Happy Show , I created some little projects to distract myself from the stress of show prep. Two of my very dear friends at Artful Dimensions Gallery were in need of special journals for various uses. I really had no business taking on new projects but it felt really good to do so and to allow myself to work freely for no other reason than it was what I wanted to do at that very moment. My wonderful friend Barbara was about to embark on a two week long trip to Rome with her husband and her brother and sister in law. She was so excited and would be in Rome over her birthday. I wanted her to have a special journal so she could make notes store bits and pieces of ephemera from her trip and do some sketching if she felt like it. I wanted her to be able to relive the trip once she got home with as much delight as possible and the journal would allow her to do just that. Barb and her husband Bobby have been studying Italian with a native speaker for about two years and she has been sharing her lessons with us in the Gallery. I used fabrics with the colors of the Italian fag for the cover and red happens to be one of Barb's favorite colors. I practiced my free motion stitching skills in green thread to spell out various words along with the date of the trip and the city. Above you can see the cover that is held closed by a hand made bit of cording made from various yarns and fabrics wrapped around a vintage deep red button. ( My journal design is based roughly off a design shared in a class taught by the amazing and wondrous Mary Ann Moss! Mary Ann has several delightful one line classes in journal making that I cannot recommend highly enough!)
Inside front cover with fabric paper pocket on left hand side. September is significant as it is the month of Barb's birthday and also the month of her fabulous trip!
I included many pockets throughout and lots of tags and bits to write things down upon.
At a library used book sale I had purchased an adorable little Italian cook book that was full of three color wood cuts. I now had the perfect excuse for using the images!! Above you see one of them.
More pages and pockets and hand done papers.
The page on the right was printed on a gelatin plate using a plastic doily as a mask.
I think this is my favorite image from the Italian cookbook- It must be the black and white checks!!
And finally the inside back cover.
- The whole cover spread out . I used a vintage dishcloth with the red single petaled roses for the majority of the cover: and true to form, I misspelled one of the words. If I had listened to the nagging voice at the back of my mind and done a bit of research, had I the time, I would have know that the phonetic spelling of Si Certo is not correct as I spelled it!!! ( Si Cierto is incorrect!!) As it turned out I finished this project at 9 pm on the evening before the departure for the trip and I ended up delivering it at 10 pm!! Done in time but just barely!!
This next journal was made as a gratitude journal for another friend who was having a rough go of life. I felt a Gratitude Journal might help with attaining valuable perspective.
I lined the inside front cover with a deep brown Starbucks Coffee bag as coffee is a favorite beverage.
Each signature cover sheet was made with hand painted papers that I happened to have in my stash. These pages had been lazer copied as I was so fond of the colors and collage techniques.
I used a special vintage linen piece with a pansy embroidered on it to create a special back pocket.
This return to journal making has inspired me to create some more special books with my sun prints as covers. I will share these pieces with you as soon as I finish a bunch of them! Thanks for visiting !!
