Preparation

I am at the time of preparation again after my splurge of page producing last weekend. Last night I collaged scraps of paper as a base on two new spreads. I hope to do more tonight and then I need to start gessoing sometime soon.

I bought a pot of clear gesso which I can tint with acrylics last weekend. I have discovered that this has a very different texture than my home made pva coloured with acrylic. It is much more chalky and transparent than the pva. I have used it on a few bare pages but discovered it doesn't have the omph to cover over the lines.

Last weekend I started creating some other pages with out collaging to begin with. These have some way to go! I cut a hole in two pages and sandwiched some clear cellophane in between. I then stuck newsprint around the frame. It provides a window between two spreads one is silver tissue paper and blue gesso and the other is metal tape and reddy gesso. I need to build up the layers and the art on these pages....

I also hope to start making the journal for my neice soon. I realised I have binders full of high quality paper punched already with four holes. These would make a good basis for a book for her... I just need to find some large thick card for the cover now I think. I know F has some old cotton shirts I can nab to cover the board and if I punch holes in the board I can use the existing four holes in the paper to bind it all together... I think...

I also discovered that my supermarket had some lovely tissue papers in their card section for wrapping presents. There is an irridescent one, pink and blue gingham, lilac, turquoise, white with silver stars and butterflies... A lot of them were reduced and I really look forward to playing with them!

I read somewhere (Kelly Kilmer I think) that some people prepare whole journals before starting the more fun parts. I read somewhere else (Quinceberry) that some people have multiple journals on the go... I need to look into this!