Having found a slightly improved mental head space lately has allowed me to get back to some crafts. Before this I dropped a lot of my self care pastimes in favour of just surviving day by day.
In the past I have done a lot of miniature house builds as part of the crafting self care. I am having a little break from that right now and instead am working with paper and old books. Scrapbooking, Junk journaling and altered book junk journaling.
Repurposing the stuff we throw out.
This is a whole craft movement of its own, one I accidentally came across while scrolling Pinterest. It is an ideal pastime right now. Specially since everyone is feeling the pinch of the cost of living crisis here in NZ.
Making something out of nothing
This lipstick holder was made from a small box that Peter was throwing out. It held a small light fitting he uses when he converts old phones into table lamps. I started collecting these small boxes. I was unsure exactly of what I will do with them all at first!
The first one has been made into a lipstick holder. I was storing them like this in a drawer, bound with a headband, which kept sliding off. This is a much better solution!
This was me playing about with an old coke can and some odds and ends! Viola: a hidden miniature study! Hahahah
This is a small book I made myself! My first go at making one from scratch. I used an old shoe box for the covers, the pages were stitched into using regular needle and thread. The pages themselves were made from pages torn out of a previously made junk journal.
Junk journaling
I have two versions of this on the go. One is in a shop-bought spiral bound book with blank pages. The other is in an old book I found at a second hand shop. It is actually the 1953 Pears Cyclopedia. I see it as giving i a new lease of life!
Junk journal
This one has been made in a blank book. It is actually my third junk journal now. I have been experimenting with different media and uses of media more recently. I went a little crazy at first, learning how to make 101 different types of tuck pockets and so on!
In this first example, I read somewhere that using old tea bag paper was a thing (!) so I decided to try it! I carefully unraveled the tea bags, emptied out the tea. I then flattened out the bag paper rinsed the remaining tea of it and hung it to dry.
The final result was drawn using a 6B pencil, watercolour pencils and a water brush. I then framed it with scrap paper strips to strengthen it, adding another teabag paper behind for strength. The border on this page example is an unraveled paper-bag paper rope handle, flattened and stuck in. I can certainly see myself trying more of this! Although very fragile to work on, the end result is slightly translucent.
Altered book Junk Journal
Once I mastered the various ways to use pages and create pockets I wanted to try an altered book journal. What this basically is, is an old book turned into a journal. This can be done so many ways. I am using the Pears 1953 Cyclopedia. I started by tearing out around half of its pages (which I kept). It has some fabulous old black and white art work in it and such. I wanted to use some of this in the journal – to respect the origins of the book itself.
The pages of the book are very thin so I have needed to strengthen them in various ways. Most commonly I did this by gluing two together (at the very least).
Here are some pictures of my progress so far.
Check out this little video to reveal the hidden tuck on that penultimate page spread!
I have used all sorts of different techniques I have found online and different types of junk. I love how its coming together so far.
Things to note
- Stamps / inks to make the pages look even older
- Where possible the folds, tucks, pockets etc utilise removed book pages
- Here and there I have included original information from the book / art work from the book that was removed.
- Some of the junk I use has included things like clothing tags, bags & packaging from online purchases. The lettering was cut out of junk mail and windows were from discarded envelopes.
Blank book junk journal
This was done in a spiral bound book with blank pages. I use stitch markers to clip in additional pages made from other materials.
here are some page examples:
- Old clothing pattern paper and cuttings from a media flyer
- Basically, a load of scrap paper stuck onto a blank piece of A4, sealed then trimmed into pages, tags etc.
- Random holes punched into scrap paper.
- Scrap paper plaited, stuck & sealed. fabric items hand sewn on. lettering cut from junk mail.
I am having a heck of a lot of fun. It is costing me very little, which is an added bonus!
Possible Search terms if you wanted to find out more online
- scrap booking
- junk journal
- altered book art
- altered book journal
- altered book junk journal
