A while ago, I received several smaller faux leather upholstery fabric samples. During one of my many trips to my local craft store, I came upon a small travelers journal they were selling for $10. It was made of really cheap plastic that mimicked leather and had two notebooks made from kraft paper and one folder also made from kraft paper. All of these were held inside by very thin, cheap elastic. I purchased it, took it home and made a much better version of it.
I really love the size. It’s more compact than the other travelers journals I make. I have this fabric in lots of other great colors, so I will definitely be making more just like it.
My 11 year old daughter asked me to make a junk journal for her as a Christmas gift. I asked what theme she wanted it to have and she replied “monsters, vampires, ghosts, witches and wizards.
I immediately thought how appropriate this was, since we love Halloween and all things scary. It also reminded me of lines from one of my favorite Blink 182 songs titled I Miss You:
“Hello there
The angel from my nightmare
The shadow in the background of the morgue
The unsuspecting victim
Of darkness in the valley
We can live like Jack and Sally if we want
Where you can always find me
And we’ll have Halloween on Christmas
And in the night we’ll wish this never ends
We’ll wish this never ends”
Front cover made from an altered book
Side view
Inside front cover
Embellishments from vampire book
Ephemera and one of my daughters drawings on tea dyed paper
My obsession with dyeing papers has not waned. This is a stack of various papers that I dyed in coffee and tea to use in a new journal I created. This time, I used all sorts of papers, including drawings, book pages, scrapbook paper, etc. instead of just plain paper. I did not dry these outside, but baked them in the oven instead. I love the texture that the heat gives the paper. It’s a more labor intensive process, but it works great if it isn’t hot and sunny outside.
First Batch of Eco Dyed PapersSecond Batch of Eco Dyed Papers
Next, I tried eco dyeing for the first time and I quickly fell in love. This is something I’ve wanted to try for ages, but it just sounded too complicated. I finally discovered a method that was simple enough for me to give it a shot and I’m so glad I did. The first time I did it, I didn’t use watercolor paper, but mixed media paper and the paper did not hold up as well. I also didn’t have a large enough cover, so there is a lot of dark space on the pages.
I learned from my mistakes the second time around and I love the way it turned out!
Below are pictures of the journal I made using my dyed papers.
Butterfly JournalFront coverTea Dyed Book Page with Fabric TabCoffee Dyed PagePocket Made From Scrapbook PaperPocket and Handmade TagFabric CollagePocket Made From a Security EnvelopeBack CoverBeginning to Add Fabric Tabs and Ruffles
This entire process was new for me. The journal construction itself was a completely different method than I have used before.
Full disclosure – I originally created this journal with the intention that it would be donated to a silent auction at our church, but I became too attached to it and had to create another one to donate.
One of my favorite things about the Internet is that it allows me to connect with like-minded artist from all over the globe. One of my favorite book artists is Liz Constable and I’m very fortunate to have received her new book “DIY Notebooks made easy”.
In it she describes how she creates the amazing paper she uses in her notebooks, so I just had to give it a try.
Dyeing Paper in Coffee
The longer the paper sits in the coffee, the darker it gets.
Paper drying with cookie cutter shapes on top
If you place things on the paper while it’s drying, the area under them will be lighter. It looks like I finally found a use for all those cookie cutters I bought years ago and never used.
Stack of dry papers
Here is a stack of the finished product. They smell as amazing as they look!
DIY Notebooks made easy
To learn more about this technique, as well as how to make some amazing notebooks, head over to www.bookartstudios.co.nz and order a copy of DIY Notebooks made easy.
