Friday, August 13, 2010

While It Is So Hot

I have been busy making a journal.  I was inspired by an email that is going around about trees. I just adore trees. The tree that inspired the front of my journal is this picture...
I drew it with white pen onto the cover as a negative. I guess that is what you call it. I don't really know. I just had the urge to do it this way.  You can see that I made a closure for the book with a button that looks like an acorn and a piece of rawhide to wrap around it.
I tore up a sheet of 140#cpArches WCpaper to make the signatures. I sewed them together with waxed linen thread using the coptic stitch. This way all the pages open flat for easy use.
For the first page I typed out the poem Trees by Joyce Kilmer. This is one of my all time favorites.
Here it is in an easier to read size. I hope you like it too.
I am not sure what I will use this journal for exactly but I am coming to an end of another store bought journal so I thought I would try my hand at this style of journal. At least I know I will like the paper to draw and paint on. Last but not least I made a bookmark to help me keep my place when I start plowing through these 30 pages.
I learned a lot doing this journal. How I could have stacked the papers a little better. How to make the stitches tight to make a neat book. How I should make the bookmark a little longer. But all in all it is going to work out well. What have you been doing during this long heat wave?

18 comments:

Laure Ferlita said...

This is positively GORGEOUS, Lisa!! I love the cover and the inside cover, and the stitching and poem and the paper and the bookmark....!!!!!!!! WOW!

How in the world did you learn to do this type of journal making? This is what I would like to learn to do!

WOW!! (Can't wait to see what you put in it!)

ArtistUnplugged said...

This is amazing!!!!! What an outstanding job....I love trees too.

soulbrush said...

i agree with laure, it is amazing. wow!!

Teri said...

Oh WOW Lisa, this is totally fabulous!!!!
Oh now I really have to make one also. lol

Cheryl said...

Lisa......absolutely beautiful. I really really love it. You are so clever and talented. I read the poem, very moving. The bookmark is lovely.....I love the one you gave me, I touch it each day as I open my garden journal.....

It has cooled here and it has been raining. I spent the day on the beach with Riley and Poppi. Camber Sands is stunning.....the children ran and ran till they could run no more. It was incredibly magical.....we all got wet, and it was great.....

Cris, Artist in Oregon said...

What a super great tree to copy. I like what you did. This will be a fun book to work in.

SandyCarlson said...

That is very, very beautiful. I took a book-making course once and learned how to make stab-binding books. We love them here.

SandyCarlson said...

That is very, very beautiful. I took a book-making course once and learned how to make stab-binding books. We love them here.

SandyCarlson said...

That is very, very beautiful. I took a book-making course once and learned how to make stab-binding books. We love them here.

ArtPropelled said...

Positively Wow! I love everything about this journal, Lisa. The white pen drawing on the cover, the rawhide wrap and the delightful acorn.

christine said...

This is truly beautiful, Lisa. What a piece of art in itself. I bet you'll fill it up quickly. Wonderful!

christine said...

This is truly beautiful, Lisa. What a piece of art in itself. I bet you'll fill it up quickly. Wonderful!

Lynn Cohen said...

Oh I Like this book/journal. I like everything about it. The fact that you made it yourself #1. Then the drawing in white of the tree on the cover...the way you stitched the pages/signatures together with the cover. And the bookmark with pretty beads, the acorn door nob. and the leather latch. I want to be brave enough to make a book. I imagine I need some special tools. I got two books this weekend about making books. Seeing yours inpires me greatly. I look forward to seeing your drawings and paintings in the book. Thanks for sharing it and do enjoy using it.
The poem is beautiful.

And to answer your question we have not had a heat wave here, instead we have had unusually cool weather and are all liking it very much.

Julie said...

This is probably one of the most beautiful journals I've ever seen! Believe me when I tell you I am perusing them online, all the time!!! I LOVE your cover art on top of that marbled surface! It is just exquisite, Lisa!

Love your bookmark too! Well, I tell you right now you could sell these like hotcakes on Etsy!!!!!

That poem is just the best. I adore trees as well...they are so magnificent!

What have I been doing in all the heat? Playing with grandkids...indoors, of course!!!
Hhehehehe!!

Margaret Ann said...

Lordy lordy Lisa!!!...you are on fire here girl...I adore your book...i want to make one! What a treasure it will be for you! Spectacular!!!!!

steviewren said...

I've done nothing nearly as impressive as your new journal. It is lovely.

yoon see said...

Lisa, you are the journal expert.
Wow! The beautifully free flow texture is truly very very unique.
Thanks for sharing your talent and I am so glad you sent me one too, I am thinking how to use it as i cherish it so much that I hesitate to use it.....you know it's a real tresure!

Caroline said...

What a wonderful book! I love the tree on the cover - I wonder what you will put inside?