These boots are made for walking

As I surveyed the mess in the playroom I decided to tackle the 'next thing first' wisdom.  I grabbed my DYLP and caught it up.  I realized I was using my daytimer as a diary and not as a planner which means I was double entering again and planning was back on scraps of paper.  grrr.

So I put those walking boots back on and started again!

Ideas are not my problem but remembering them and doing them at the right time needs planning and it actually saves time when I am doing 'just in time delivery'! lol  I am back planning and I even got my 'puter desk cleaned off, again!  lol

I think I have a general plan for the DYLP and doing the preliminary on the pages on Sunday night has me ready for the daily entries.  I need to keep a place cleared for working/journaling in it daily.  Having it at the ready and happy with the way it is going means I can dance through it in the Ruby Slippers instead of stomping through in my mud boots!  I do like a skinny sheet of loose leaf or two depending on what's noteworthy that I can attach to a slim flap which leaves the 2 page spread for art! The journaling is easier when I'm not confined to square footage!

I got a head start on the weeks ahead as I tried a technique I'd seen while cruising my blogs. Not wanting to hide my circles I will put the flap on the other page.  I have my little flap ready to adhere and a slip of paper to remind me of the plan. :)

I had started with gessoing the pages but then decided to skip that set as the monthly tab's position bothered me.  I thought they were dry enough for my feeble attempt at keeping them separated.  NOT!  But happily they weren't totally stuck and I really hope next week's prompt has something to do with texture 'cause I got a lot of it!

Speaking of texture...  During a coffee run I glanced outside and saw SPARKLES!
 

 What great hoar frost!  I balanced my cup on the stair post, skipped outside in my flip flops and used my zoom to record the sparkle!

Today I am changing back into my 'boots' and clearing a space for the DYLP where I can have daily access and then moving on to the next thing which is sewing.  Here's to a sparkly day as I kick up things in the playroom!

Which glue?

The Altered Book 101 is slowly coming together as I experiment with various methods for gluing pages together. This strengthens them for the various applications of colour and embellishing.

First option is a glue stick. It has the advantage of being relatively tidy. The pages dry flat.

Another cheap school product is white glue. This is messier and doesn't dry as flat. I used my finger to spread it and then the Kleenex stuck to my finger! lol


Gel medium is the one I've been using and I now realize I can spread it much thinner if I use an old credit card. It also dries flat and can be used as an adhesive and a clear finish. This is not as cost effective as the first options but I do find it kinda multi purpose.

Gesso is a substance that can be used as a glue as well as a substrate that is much like a primer. It dried fairly flat.

I used it to prime a page and glue down another paper. It worked fine but...

The pages curled quite a lot.

The cure for that is to apply more gesso to the back of the curled page.

It certainly solved the problem but I'm wondering if I would have had to do this extra step had I done this with the gel medium. Something more to try. I should also think about the amount of drying time but it is a good idea to do a lot of pages at one time for when those those creative times strike. Glue needs to be spread evenly, giving special attention to the spine as well as the edges.

EDITED: I did do a second trial with the gel medium as a glue. The pages did not curl even though I used the same paper colour wheel as with the gesso. I suppose there are different ways to do various things. The trick is knowing when to use which one!

Getting in step

This NOT a tutorial. This is in line with the Process Pledge. My intention is to get started journalling and I need to start preparing the pages. This is what I'm doing and I can't claim to know what I'm doing. And I'm less than sure how things will turn out. But, I am creating. Messes? Well, maybe. But this is the first layer.

I opened up my work table as big as I could and covered it with plastic. Next time I would throw on an old blanket, the plastic and then an old sheet or possibly some fabric I'd want for later dyeing as the top layer. I have learned to put larger pieces of paper under the smaller ones to get the slops, spills and missed swipes.

The hard cover notebooks have lined pages that are too thin. I am gessoing them together. I use wax paper to put behind the page. I gesso it, turn down the proceeding page, add a sheet of wax paper and brayer it smooth. I close the book, stack them up and add weight. Inside one cover I tried to get a textured effect with gesso.

After an hour or so I grew impatient so I jury rigged my doors and drawers so the books can have their pages dangling and maybe dry faster. Some curl but I can stack and weight later, I guess. The picture is blurry but then I'm trying to get as much done as I can.

The three albums are nice heavy paper and there is rice paper (?) between each page. They were a sale item from some place that escapes me now. So I'm slapping acrylic paint in various and sundry ways. I'm leaving some blanks for some future bright ideas. These dry fairly quickly.

I like the effect of spray. But this isn't really great here in my sewing room. What a mess I make! One container had a crack and ... well, at least I didn't step in it and get it All over. This will take some practice. I have to hold the spray bottle upright but get the paper down before the drips happen. ;>)

I can see this being a perfect job for using The Shed To Dye For. Especially this preliminary stuff. I can then fine tune things on my wet counter in the playroom, it is at least on one side of the room and not dead centre.

So I am 'doing'! I can see there are lots of steps and even more options. I will probably need to get some more 'inventory' happening and then I can begin to think about the second layer. The gessoed pages have not even the first layer as they are only glued together.

I also want to make it known that I have quite the spring in my step, says she, with a few little fancy shuffles and a hop!