Midnight Garden Journal

For this one, I used another scrap from the Take and Pick Table at Quilt Guild. It feels like some kind of nylon upholstery fabric with an interesting sheen / lustre.

Th "button" closure is a piece of paper clay pressed into something around our house, dried and painted. It's remarkably light and airy. It can also be stitched through ... I found it is better to pierce the needle down where the paper clay piece is supported by the cover. A little piece chipped off when I tried to come up and through all at once. Live and Learn.

Faux Leather Journal - Sealant Issues

Outside of journal cover (shell only)


Inside of faux leather journal cover (shell only)



I've been a little slow in posting this one. I got the basic shell finished and went to the local art store to see what they recommended for a sealant/finish. The guy there recommended Kryla Soluble Matt Varnish for Acrylics. I applied it over the weekend and left it outside to dry in the sun. It went on clear, but when I checked on it a little while later, there were all these white bits in the valleys of the crevices. On the outside, they weren't so bad, so I decided to try to fill them in/cover them up with a brown Sharpie. On the inside--the whitening reaction was much worse ... sort of like a moldy cheese rind. Here's a closeup of the inside cover :



If I had been trying for this look, I'd feel better about it. On the inside, it has a gritty feel. The outside is nice and smooth--it is actually the feel I was looking for. Too bad about the white specks.

I took it back to the Art store tonight after work, to see if he had ever seen such a reaction before ... He had not, and didn't really have anything else he could recommend as a sealant. He thought it looked like there was some kind of chemical reaction between the Kryla Varnish and the Liquitex acrylic paint (and whatever else I had on the paper) I had on the paper. I guess the lesson here is always test a sealant/finish on a smaller piece ...

Any suggestions?

I was thinking there might be something that would dissolve the varnish and melt that white crust. But it's sufficiently sealed. Anything I put on top probably won't penetrate to the lower layers now ... I could maybe paint over it ...

I guess I can still peel off the inner lining paper and replace with with a new piece of crumbled brown paper ... That might be the best option.

Then I can go on and finish it, stitch in the signatures and add a clasp of some sort. Or just start over ...

Sticks & Stones Journal - #3 in Sue B's Class

I finally finished Journal #3 in Sue B's current Journal Making Class. So far my journals have been pretty basic. I thought I'd spice this one up a bit ...

* I made the brown and black fabric a few years ago during Mess-Making Night for my local art quilt group. For this piece, I used a commercial foam stamp brushed with Soft Scrub with bleach which I stamped onto flat black fabric. This proved to be an effective color discharging combination. I affectionately called this fabric "Clay and Wattle" with a nod to W.B. Yeats in "Lake Isle Innisfree" ...

* The stone fabric is a commercial fabric. I free-motion stitched between the rocks to add definition and interest--though it's difficult to tell from the photo ...

Then I added the leaves and sequins for flowers and free-motion stitched a vine to tie them all together. Only then did I fuse the backing fabric for the front cover.




The back is just the unembellished wall. What can I say? The focus is on the front.

Trials and Tribulations : I had a heck of a time punching the holes through the paper this time. My paper punches have been "used up." They are dull as paint now. Time for a new one?

April Showers Bring May Flowers Journal

Here is my completed Journal from Sue B's Journal-Making class, Lesson 2.

April Showers ... Bring May Flowers. As the weather outside this week has been frightful, I know Spring is not far away ...

The outside cover is made from a pole-wrapped Shibori I did a few years ago when I had an Indigo dye pot set up. This Shibori pattern is also known as "rain." I think it would make excellent flames if done in oranges and reds. Something else to experiment with!

[Aside : My undergraduate degree was in African Literature & Languages with a healthy dose of African Arts and Culture thrown in. One of my favorite topics was the Indigo Dying industry of Yorubaland in Nigeria, West Africa. My most prized possession is a starch resist Adire Olokun ...]

Inside the journal, I used some leftover fabric from this quilt :



The satin stitching at the edge used a dark (black and blue) thread, with a varigated rayon on the spring inside. I went around twice for more complete coverage, and a cleaner edge.

I had some trouble with the grommets--especially the middle two holes. My grommet-setter is more like a pair of pliers. There was no good way to do the middle set with my equipment. Now I wish I would have just done the button-hole method--or purchased the more versatile set in Sue's PDF tutorial. I did do a few practice ones ... Any ideas on how to remove a grommet gone bad? Or is a grommet forever?

The closure is a hint of things to come -- a pink shell cut into a flower with some ribbon yarns. The flap reflects the "rain" streaks of the Shibori pattern. I sat there for a while letting the fabric "speak to me" about what the flap should be like. This is what it told me to do ...

If you want to see a sampling of the other creative journals people in the class have made, check out our Flickr group, Sue B's Journal Making Class Mar 08.

Moon & Stars Journal

I finished the Lesson 1 Journal in Sue B's current Journal-Making for the Fiber Artist. This one is called Moon & Stars (for obvious reasons) ;-)

Here's a tip I figured out only recently : Use the edge-stitching foot to do the satin stitching along the edges. See picture at Nancy's Notions : Edge-stitching foot :



This foot has a bar or wire that zigs over the edge of your journal (or postcards, or whatever). It finishes the edge cleaner than just doing a plain zig-zag satin stitch. It pushes down those stray threads. I've had that foot for years, and it just now occurred to me that this would be an appropriate use for it!

I didn't add any additional pockets to this journal, but I did add some bookmarks with some machine-stitched cords. I tried to use some flat magnets for the closure, but I think I need to get some stronger ones. These dots don't seem to hold it shut.

Joggles Mixed Media Class - Torn Paper Surface

Lesson 1 is complete! Here is my surface.

Last Sunday, I had a start on the surface :

base fabric of non-woven aisle runner fabric (as seen at weddings--makes a great pattern fabric as it's studier than just tissue paper)
+ Gel Medium
+ Torn Newspaper
+ Gel Medium
+ Cheesecloth
+ Dye-na Flow Paints

It had to sit for the week while I brooded on what else to add to it ... Today I added :
Misty Fuse
+ yarns + confetti (ribbons, candy bar wrapper (blue))
+ silk flowers daubed with ink
+ dark green tulle
Free motion stitched to hold everything secure
+ a little Iridescent Green Radiant Rain for a little more sparkle
+ a few iron-on crystals for the flowers



I lined the back side of the pages with an ivory flannel. It has a nice soft feel to it that matches the paper inside. The yarns in the binding are some of the same yarns drizzled over the surface.

I don't think I like the nylon feel of the tulle over the top. I might try a version that uses something silkier, but still sheer ...

Joggles Mixed Media Class - Pattern Tissue Surface

I finished one of the projects from the first lesson of Sue B.'s Mixed Media class at Joggles.

This is the "Pattern Tissue Surface" made into a "Sewer's Notebook."

It is successive layers of Muslin +Misty Fuse + Torn Pattern Tissue + Misty Fuse + Tissue (again) + Glimmer Mist + walnut ink (for color)

I'm a true convert to Misty Fuse now. I used to always use Steam-a-Seam Lite 2. But even that can build up and get stiff with successive layers. Missty Fuse stays soft and supple even with multiple layers. I'll have to get some more ...

For the color, I watered down a little Terra Cotta walnut ink, and then a layer of Glimmer Mist Rose Tea to make it a little pinker.

The project was to turn our composed fabric into a notebook. The Pattern Tissue Paper Fabric was fused to a base of wool felt, then topped with a gold sparkley tulle with a few sequins trapped underneath. (I tried black tulle, but it just didn't make the piece SING. It's kind of hard to see it in the picture, but it makes a difference.

I just put in the signatures (the paper). That was not nearly as difficult as I thought it might be ... Poking the holes with an awl first was a smart idea.

As a Librarian (by day), bookbinding has long appealed to me. Although I've repaired many a book, this is the first one I've made from scratch. I'm really pleased with it!

The pattern tissue paper fabric is nicer than I expected. It looks old-timey and antique, but it has a soft, almost leathery feel. It's full of body, too, with the support of the wool felt base. I know that Sue B., the instructor is working on a journal-making class for next fall. I'm very interested in doing more of this!

Now to figure out how to post my results to the class ...