Making a watercolor journal

[Sandra Gilbert]

I prefer to paint in journals and I really like 100 cotton paper. Finding them together at a price point I am happy about is tricky. So I made my own. Even better the two bigger ones I made to fit in my leather journal cover.

I used arches 140lb paper.

[Sandra Strait]

Oh, yours look so much better than mine.  I suck at sewing them together.  I used a wide range of paper, sometimes all the same in one journal and other times I mix them.  In the Schut Drawing Journal, I used the covers from the drawing pads as well as the paper itself.

[Pamela Smith]

I make journals with all watercolor paper and other mixed media and junk journals,I bind them using my cinch machine..

[Pamela Smith]

I like your covers,I like doing something to the covers…

[Pamela Smith]

I love seeing others journals,,nice.

[Sandra Gilbert]

Ooh, I like both of your guys journals too. I often use whatever is at hand for my journal or notebook experiments. I just happened to have scrapbook paper to cover the covers this time. I have used my various binding machines to put my journals together before. But this time I was trying to make journals to fit in my leather journal cover, so I learned how to do the coptic stitch method this time,

[Debra “Kate” Powell]

Your journals look gorgeous!

[Sandra Strait]

How cool, Pamela! I usually just sew mine into signatures with a pamphlet stitch and then sew the signatures together.  Then I spend hours trying to cover up the lousy sewing job, lol.

[Sandra Strait]

Sandra, I’ve tried to master the Coptic stitch without much success.  Occasionally, I go the easy route and just punch holes and use rings, lol.  I use various things for the covers too.  For this one, I cut up a cardboard box, glued newspaper over it, and painted my picture with acrylic.  I think it might be my favorite cover.

[Sandra Gilbert]

Oh wow that is cool a cool cover. The coptic wasn’t too hard but I found some good photo instructions.

[Pamela Smith]

I love this cover Sandra,,the rings work,easy to remove a piece if you want to,removing a piece to use as a card or frame is one of the reasons I choose to bind as I do..

I use a heavy cardboard for the front and back covers.,the dark colored book has a crumpled napkin glued to it then painted with a couple of different acrylic paints and then coated with mod podge,,I don’t usually put that much time into them,but I was having fun.😁

 

[Sandra Strait]

Pamela, I agree about easy removal, and it also lets you add more if you wish.  I just have a handheld punch meant for printer paper.  I keep thinking about buying one of the machines — keep trying to win one, lol.  Does your Cinch work well?

 

[Pamela Smith]

It works very well,it punches through several pieces of paper at one time,I do 3 pieces of arches 140 lb cold press at once and it will do heavy cardboard for the covers.I have the cinch that punches square holes.I really like it..

[Mary E Roff]

Love all of your sketchbooks!!!  I did bookbinding 20 + years ago and then gave it up to pursue other projects.  Tried making a couple of journals recently and have forgotten everything I had learned…thank heaven for YouTube!  Here are a couple of books I did recently…have a long way to go.

[Mary E Roff]

Love your journals! Do you like your Cinch machine? Almost bought one a while ago and then couldn’t decide if it would be worth buying.