Recently our daughter, Laura, achieved her yoga teacher training certificate. Knowing she likes to keep notes on her yogic journey I purchased a ready-made, lined journal (because I couldn't find any craft covered journals) to alter for her birthday ...
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| Altered cover of the journal, mixed media, 9" x 6" |
Now that it has been gifted I can describe the trials and joys of creating this journal! Not wanting to change the back of it, I opted to go with its colour scheme. On the front, I masked off a border and covered the centre area with white gesso ...  |
| Start number one |
On the gessoed area I created texture using a cell stencil. Once dry, I painted it to match the colours of the back.
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| The foreground shows the embellishments I coloured with assorted alcohol inks |
When I peeled away the frog tape (masking the border) the textured panel lifted too! In pieces! Had it come off intact, in one large piece, I'd have been able to secure it back down - once the original surface had been sanded that is. I hadn't thought to sand first and without sanding there is no tooth for adhesion.
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| A sad looking mess! |
After I had coloured it, I felt the cell stencil pattern was too busy, too dense. Having to begin again gave me the opportunity to change stencils.
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| This time I used the petite pods stencil. |
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| Second background adhered and finished! |
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| Toying with the placement of the embellishments |
The embellishments were a wild array of materials in different colours, none of which (except some of the tiny roses) were right for the journal. When it comes to colouring anything - metal, plastic, wood - alcohol inks work magically! All these trinkets could not be adhered at once. It took a lot of heavy gel gloss medium, slowly building multiple layers (with plenty of drying time between them) to secure them all down.
The idea for Laura's journal was inspired by this one ...
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| Together Laura and I saw this beauty at The Queens Ink near to where she lives in Maryland |
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA!
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| On News Years Day 1978, at 11:17am, Laura Anne Marshall was born |
And now our baby has a baby of her own ...
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| Laura and Amira, who turned two, December 9th, 2013 |
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