The Victorian Romantic Visual Journaling Study Group - discussion thread

darwinia

HearthCricket said:
Question...anyone know the best kind of glue to use on a project like this? Glue sticks, perhaps, or is there something better?

I use Golden Soft Gel Medium in a matte finish to glue collage things down. It seems a bit more flexible than white glue. I also use white PVA glue for some things--depends how heavy it is--I think "Yes" brand glue is good. Aleene's tacky glue is good but it needs to be thinned.

PVA stands for Polyvinyl Acetate I think--supposed to not yellow or crack. I'm not sure if Elmer's is PVA glue or not. I started using gel medium because it is recommended for collage because of its flexibility and it's translucent when it dries. It's also easy to wipe off and clean brushes--I use a small nylon brush to apply glue or gel--more control over where it goes rather than trying to use the glue bottle tip.

I also use methyl cellulose a.k.a. wallpaper paste--you can buy it premixed in tiny tubs.
 

baba-prague

Bat Chicken said:
The Hi-Rez images for the journal are great Baba - thanks... now hopefully I'll have the journal by the middle of the month to get started!!

When it's not quite so mad yet I'll try to put up some more. I thought it would be good to have them for some cards at least - they add depth in both senses I hope.
 

devilled egg

update on journaling

Yes, Jewel-ry, I will happily dematerialize to the UK. The people at the post office are my best friends. It might be a small box of ....surprises.

And my idea was to take apart the journal coming with the deck and rebind it using Coptic binding-it always lies flat and much ephemera may be added.

I have been working on a journal/altared (spelling intentional) book from an Eden Grey-I have at least a dozen copies of the black hard bound for this purpose. The old home of Weiser is down the road a couple of hours, now it is mostly Antiquarian esoterica, all the 19th century tomes of Swedenbourg your heart could desire. (I digress) Anyway it occured to me last night to take two apart and make a new journal with a page for each.

So clearly I am currently in love with the possiblities of Coptic.
Elizabeth
 

Jewel-ry

Darwinia,

I wanted to ask you how your mitred the papers for your book covers, they look so professional and 'sharp'. Do you have a special tool or is it a technique that you have learnt and thanks for the info on the glue too. I have some PVA but not sure if that will be sufficient to stick say...fabric. Do you think the Golden gel medium is better for that?

Hearthcricket.

I love your idea about the books. We have a shop in town that specialises in cheap books so guess where I am going tomorrow?

Thanks Elizabeth!

I look forward to receiving your little gift. I shall pm you my address. I had to google 'coptic binding' as I had no idea what it is. Looks really interesting...again it seems that you need a lot of patience but I really look forward to seeing the results!

I have spent a lot of time (far more than I should do!) looking at other peoples art journals...and I am so impressed with what I have seen. I feel so inspired and excited about this. I think its made worse because I am having to keep a tight lid on it for another two weeks. Boy am I gonna celebrate when this exam is over...I feel like I shouldnt do anything that doesn't involve sticking my head in a book.

And Baba,

Just can't wait for the deck. As I said somewhere else, I have been forced to order from Amazon this time because I have a gift voucher so I know I will have longer to wait than everyone else but just want to thank you and Alex in advance. Oh and thanks for the high resolution images too! Will you be journalling with us?

:)
 

darwinia

Jewel-ry said:
Darwinia,

I wanted to ask you how your mitred the papers for your book covers, they look so professional and 'sharp'. Do you have a special tool or is it a technique that you have learnt and thanks for the info on the glue too. I have some PVA but not sure if that will be sufficient to stick say...fabric. Do you think the Golden gel medium is better for that?

Mitering paper--use a bone folder with one end pointed. I got mine in an art supply store for $3 or so. It is the greatest tool for gluing things and smoothing things out.

The technique: you need a picture, but you glue the cover on the board front, then cut each corner at a 45 degree angle before gluing and turning in:

http://diybookbinding.pbwiki.com/CoveringTheCover

http://www.nsd.org/education/compon...17&PHPSESSID=8c9787379a5fc36c29876a67388fc5e3
Covering boards--the illustration with step #8 shows it pretty well. you fold the paper corner down against the cover corner after cutting the angle, and then turn about 1/8 of an inch in along the short side before folding. So easy, but so hard to describe in words--it's like a little finishing hem.

Here's another picture:
http://www.csparks.com/Bookbinding/cover.xhtml

Go down to where it discusses the corner hem.

***************
I've also used wallpaper paste with fabric--works very well too.

Sticking fabric--fabric is woven/porous so you can use white PVA glue or gel medium--I've used both. It depends how pliable you need the page to be. Elizabeth mentioned using a Coptic binding so the book lies flat--so in that case, the page wouldn't bend much and need not be pliable.

Hovever, if the page is in a bound journal where the pages, particularly near the middle, are going to be more rounded as you turn them, you need to use a pliable adhesive like the gel medium, or you'll get a rock-hard page where the adhesive might crack with handling.

Does that make sense? It really depends on how much gluing is on the page and where.
 

bleuivy

For some reason it hadn't occurred to me to look for images in used book stores. I'm heading to a used book store tomorrow to drop off books, so I'll pop in to see what they have on offer.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Also, darwinia, thanks for the advice about glue. I hadn't a clue which glue to use. :)
 

HearthCricket

I wonder how thick and how unable to close these journals will be, once filled with all our fun things??!!!
 

lark

I just read through this thread because I had a dream about it last night...and never having read through it before I thought I should.

In my dream I walked into a big room filled with long lunch room style tables like those in a school.
And sitting all around them were ATer's cutting out of big thick books with scissors.
An attendant (very angel like being he was too) at the door told me that you were all working on your scrape books...and that you were cuting up big books of Victorian wallpaper for some of your designs.

The funny part was you were all wearing wigs and dressed like little old ladies...and some of you very badly at that...bright lipstick not quite on your lips....roughy red cheeks...aprons and fuzzy slippers...big plastic jewelry and hats with droopy berries and flowers on them. Littlebuddha you were the worst, your wig kept slipping because you nodded your head a lot as you cut those tricky parts of the Victorian designs.

That's is all I remember, but I thought you'ld all like to know....you must be making a wave or a jiggle in The Big Divine Pudding of the Universal Collective Unconscious. :D
Which by the way might be a good name for your group.

(see darwina I read your posts :))

To keep this on track I ordered the Gold edition and will also be decorating my new journal in this way...if you're in the US a great place to find scrapbooking stuff cheap is at the dollar stores that are everywhere.

I did my tarot journal in this way ...kind of by accident it came about.
I just started adding bits and pieces ...pictures, drawings, things that reminded me of a card meaning that I cut out of magazines or off of cards.
Fortune cookis fortunes, ect.
And I am quite attached to my little tarot journal because of it.
It makes for a very intimate experience.
Also I have many drawnings and doodles in it all along the edges of the pages that I did with color pencil.
 

Bat Chicken

Great ideas... lark - and I agree about Dollar Stores!
I am hoping my Gold edition is one of the ones that was sent today!
 

darwinia

lark said:
(see darwina I read your posts :))
Hahahaha.

We could be The Divine Puddings for short. Gender neutral, we accept all as members, as long as they speak softly and carry big scissors. LB can be our leader, Noddy Divine.

My journals came out well and are ready for the fun stuff--collaging covers. I have printed and sprayed a fixative on some nice Japanese prints to go with my theme of understated Victoriana.