ALTERED ART NATURE JOURNAL
I have been working on an Altered Art Nature Journal for several months now, in preparation to teaching a class on the various techniques March 26, at the Missouri Nature Education Center in Cape Girardeau. I am close to getting done, and wanted to share some of my hard work. I spent 3 days getting all of the dried oak leaves onto the front of an old animal encyclopedia volume. I soaked the tried leaves overnight to make sure they were supple, then started layering them on. Mod Podge is a life saver! I cut a hole through the front of the cover in order to place a hand painted stone owl in for decoration. I also used a cotton fabric to bind the book in place of a disintegrating spine. I have made templates for pockets, sewn pages together with twine, and glued feathers and trim into a frame for poetry. I did a few illuminated letters to begin some of my journaling, and struggled madly with a variety of adhesives. I learned some valuable lessons, such as 'start out with a quality paper book', and 'don't cheap out on the glue. Get the best.' The really fun part of the whole project was the journaling, however. I wrote about learning how to fish and the trials of catching eels and bullfrogs. I wrote about my encounter with my first opossum....I thought it was an incredibly huge rat! I put pressed flowers from my own wildflower garden in the book, along with prints from my own paintings. This was a fun project, start to finish, and I learned a lot about living artfully through doing it. If you have done some journaling of your own, and learned what works, or better yet, what DOESN'T and would like to share, please comment. We would all love to know more!
I have been working on an Altered Art Nature Journal for several months now, in preparation to teaching a class on the various techniques March 26, at the Missouri Nature Education Center in Cape Girardeau. I am close to getting done, and wanted to share some of my hard work. I spent 3 days getting all of the dried oak leaves onto the front of an old animal encyclopedia volume. I soaked the tried leaves overnight to make sure they were supple, then started layering them on. Mod Podge is a life saver! I cut a hole through the front of the cover in order to place a hand painted stone owl in for decoration. I also used a cotton fabric to bind the book in place of a disintegrating spine. I have made templates for pockets, sewn pages together with twine, and glued feathers and trim into a frame for poetry. I did a few illuminated letters to begin some of my journaling, and struggled madly with a variety of adhesives. I learned some valuable lessons, such as 'start out with a quality paper book', and 'don't cheap out on the glue. Get the best.' The really fun part of the whole project was the journaling, however. I wrote about learning how to fish and the trials of catching eels and bullfrogs. I wrote about my encounter with my first opossum....I thought it was an incredibly huge rat! I put pressed flowers from my own wildflower garden in the book, along with prints from my own paintings. This was a fun project, start to finish, and I learned a lot about living artfully through doing it. If you have done some journaling of your own, and learned what works, or better yet, what DOESN'T and would like to share, please comment. We would all love to know more!
1 comment:
catching up with all your posts, you never cease to amaze me with your work and orignal thoughts. Such a beautiful thoughtful journal, so many places to tuck in a inspiring thought to be reread days or years later. You have a muchroom book , I need to do a bead book...hehe.Thank you tons for all the inspiring art. Linda
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