2017 #11: Art Journal {by Anneke de Clerck}

2017 Topic 11: Books - mini, maxi, binding

It's wonderful that every night during this topic our creative team are showing such a wide range of 'book' ideas. Tonight Anneke is using pages of all shapes and sizes with a really cool binding idea! I bet you can't resist having a go at this method!

Hi everyone, it's Anneke with you today, and I'd like to share an Art Journal I've made. I decorated the covers as well as the inside pages using paints, stamps and mini masks.
I love making books but lots of bindings are quite complicated. Measuring, making holes, using all kinds of difficult stitches....Non of this is necessary here!  For the binding I've chosen to work with tape, a super easy way to assemble a book!

The journal measures 14 by 18 cm. I decorated the front cover of the book with flowers from the EEG22 stamp set. They were stamped on gesso-ed book text.

I started by coloring 10 sheets of paper (front and back) by picking up paint from a gel printing plate. An easy way to quickly make a bunch of backgrounds.

After drying I decorated each page using PaperArtsy Emma Godfrey mini masks. I used PM002, PM006, PM007 and PM008. I alternated white stenciling and colored stenciling. 

Finally I overstamped the painted backgrounds using PaperArtsy EEG stamps (EEG22 (shown above), as well as EEG02, EEG07, EEG14, EEG15). 

 

I stamped with white paint and Distress Oxide inks in matching colors. Oxide inks do work well on paint but I noticed the ink stays wet for quite a long time so that's something to hold in mind.

To attach the front and back cover I used duct tape. In order to make room for the inside pages it's important to create a spine. That's the reason I provided a gap in between the front and back covers. I measured the height of my inside pages (0.6 cm) so the gap here measures 0.6 cm.

I put a strip of tape on the inside as well, trimmed to size with scissors.

The arrow on the picture shows were to put the first page before taping.

I flipped over the first page and added tape on the back as well. I continued taping the pages one by one. 

To avoid the spine from getting too thick I alternated duct tape and washi tape.

I  only used black and white tape, love the contrast on the colored pages.

For an interesting look I worked with pages in different sizes.

This flower mask (PM002) is one of my favorites. 

The EEG stamp sets contain lots of small stamps, ideal for background stamping.

Love how the stamps Emma Godfrey designed match perfectly with her mini masks!

I finished each page off with a white pen.

Duct tape is very strong, perfect to use for book binding.

I wanted to use a binder clip as a closure but I only had a red clip in my stash so I customized one by adding a strip of tape. 

When making a 'filled' book it can be difficult to start. How do I fill all those blank pages, how do I start? I tried to avoid the 'fear of the blank page' by working in steps (painting, stenciling and stamping) and by limiting my supplies. Before starting I picked my paint colors (lime, orange, pink, turquoise plus white), masks and stamps and I repeated working with the same supplies on each page. This helps to end up with coherent pages as well.

I hope you'll look out for pretty duct tape and give this binding a try. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Thanks for stopping by!

Anneke

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Your explanation is perfect, and that duct tape binding is such a smart idea! I love the pop of black and white that brings too! And binding decorated pages has lots of benefits! Great idea! Thanks Anneke for so much inspiration! Leandra

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