More Altered Composition Books

 In June I did the notebook to journal post. I used a dollar store composition book to create a personal journal. Here are a few more examples of the same idea. This is a fairly long post but I wanted to share these ideas.

For this project, I bought four composition books at the Walmart because they were on sale for back to school. Each was under a dollar. Two have regular lines and two have the graph paper.

I started the same way as the previous one, by covering the cover inside and out with some white paper to hide the black lettering and designs. My plan was to use some of my own artwork on the covers and I didn’t want the original designs to show through. I did find that using the 28 lb. heavy white printer paper hid the original cover. But the standard 24 lb. paper did not. Since I typically use the 28 lb. for the coloring book pages I had some on hand. I was able to print my artwork on the heavier paper and did not have to use extra paper to cover on two of the books. Cardstock also is heavy enough to hide the original cover but may be too stiff to use on the outside. It can easily be used on the inside. I just use my home printer with regular ink, nothing special.

If you use fabric on the cover it will most likely hide the original designs and words. But always check before you glue it down to make sure.

Once the books were covered with white paper I cut the copies of my drawings and artworks to the right size.  

The artwork for the outside cover was about ¾” bigger than the cover to allow it to be folded to the inside. Separate pieces were used for the front and the back because a strip of fabric is needed to cover the spine. The fabric is better because it allows the book to open and close. Gluing paper down makes the spine hard. (see below for that step)

The corners are glued down first and then the long edges folded over it. This gives the corner a nice finished look.

Instead of cardstock on the inside I used more of my artwork. It was cut to be smaller than the size of the inside of the cover. It covers the edge of the paper used on the outside and give a nice look to the inside.  It was glued (with ModPodge).

I noticed that the ink on the printed art work would smudge when touched. I used some Aqua Net hair spray to give it a little bit of a seal. The hair spray works similar to Workable Fixative that is used on pastel and pencil drawings. It dries quickly and put a layer on that keeps the art from smudging when you add more to it. Since I don’t have any fixative right now, the hair spray was a good substitute.

I also wanted to do some watercolor washes on the covers and I didn’t want the ink to run too much and muddy the colors. 

The steps for the spine are the same as in the June post:  For the outside spine I cut a piece of contrasting fabric approximately 3” wide and about 2” longer than the length of the spine.

The ends were folded and glued. Then the sides were folded about 1/3” to 1/2” and glued down. Then this was glued to the spine. It hides the edges of the artwork on the cover and gives a nice look to the book. It is important to keep the book closed when doing this step so the book will close properly when finished.

Once the spines were glued on and dry it was time to embellish them. This called for ribbon, buttons, polymer clay pieces, etc. This is the fun part in this type of project. The cover is just a background for all the fun embellishments.

Each book would be different, so I started by going through my decorative papers, fabrics and clay pieces to find the perfect embellishments. I found some great pieces from the papers. Glossy cardstock that I had colored with alcohol inks, handmade paper I made at least five years ago, beautiful scrapbooking papers, all were the perfect backdrops.

These papers give me the colors I used to put acrylic paint washes on the front of each book. Each book now had its own color scheme which then would lead me to the other fun embellishments.

I layered net and papers and cardstock to create each of these looks. The books changed as I worked and ended up a little different from the first photos you see.

This first one, with the polymer clay sun face, has gold net, handmade paper, fabric, ribbon, and muslin that I painted with acrylics to match the color scheme. A copper wire spiral and some washers (some painted with hammered copper spray paint) were added as accents. It is one with lined paper to be used as a journal.

This second book has graph paper pages. It could be used as a journal or a sketch book. It has specialty tissue papers with fibers, fabric, glossy cardstock colored with alcohol inks, copper wire and a painted washer. The polymer clay focal piece was created by using a rubber stamp pressed into the clay. The image on the clay is from a photo my husband, Bill, took when we visited The Valley of Fire in Nevada, north of Las Vegas about an hour. The landscape is beautiful and the Native American petroglyphs are fabulous. This particular one is hidden behind a very, very large slab of rock on the side of another rock. Bill used to be a professional photographer and likes to climb to find unique photos. This image that had been carved so long ago was well preserved, but hidden from most people. I used the image to make my own stamp.

The third book has the same type of polymer clay focal piece (in different colored clay). The book has fabric, gold net, scrapbook papers and cardstock, and glossy cardstock that has been colored with alcohol inks and metallic pens. Creating these cardstock pieces is a fun process and may be a perfect project as a future post. Hemp cord was used to add more interest.

This fourth book has more of the glossy cardstock colored with the alcohol inks and metallic paint pens. It also has fabric,  ribbon and gold net. One of the pieces of glossy cardstock was created with acrylic paints. That process is simply putting dabs of paint on the cardstock and then laying another paper or cardstock on it and peeling it away. This creates some interesting designs and textures. It is a perfect way to create background pieces in corresponding colors for scrapbooking or art journaling projects. I found the white feather in my stash of goodies and thought it would be perfect to compliment the polymer clay Steampunk style heart. The black clay heart was dusted with embossing powders to create the colors. This book has graph paper pages and could be used either as a journal or sketch book.

I used E-6000 glue and Alene’s Tacky Glue throughout to adhere the embellishments and the spine fabrics. I used ModPodge to glue the artwork on the covers and inside the covers.

This is a fun project and I think the kids would have a great time decorating their own journals. A journal decorating party would really be a fun event for a group of friends.

I so hope that these books inspire you to create your own journals. Be wild and creative and experiment every chance you get with paint, papers, glues and lots of embellishments.

Til next week.

Terri

Hey: Check out the composition books at OfficeMax/OfficeDepot. This week they are 1 cent each. Woo Hoo. What a bargain. Perfect for creative projects.

1KrazyRtist

www.etsy.com/shop/1krazyrtist