I don't particularly like the Dylusions journal - I have the small one and it simply doesn't agree with my style and personality. [to be politically correct] The big one is not available where I live and shipping it from abroad is a bit too expensive (even Dyan informs you on her page that it is "considerable weight and this will push the postage cost up")
[warning - rant ahead]
I am tired of paying a bloody fortune on postage! You get a free postage if you spend over a certain sum of money. As an international shopper, the more I spend the more I pay on postage. Postage usually constitutes up to one THIRD of what I pay for my order.
[end of rant]
So I'm sticking with my Moleskine! Anyway, I will be covering it all with gesso or tissue paper so it doesn't matter that it's not a "proper" art journal.
Week One
Challenge "Book paper"
Journal Prompt: Be Your Own Goal Keeper
I used my hand-made tissue/deli papers for the page on the right - I usually colour the papers with distress inks and stamp (or print) on them. I made several tutorials on this - it is my trusted technique that always works for me. On top, I used a bit of gesso and various acrylic inks. I also tried watercolour inks but they didn't work well on gesso. The rest is just doodling with paint and markers.
I had this bold idea - to use my hand-made "tissue" tapes for the planner part on the left. It seemed like a great idea, at first... but I'm not so keen about it now.* But I'm going to give it a couple more tries before I come up with a different idea.
* It looks great but the individual tapes wrinkle the page a bit differently when I use wet media on it - sort of regularly, if you know what I mean. I might try to strengthen the page first before applying the tape.
I don't set goals for myself - it simply doesn't work... ;-) So I used some "neutral" goal-like phrases all around the page.
Week Two
Challenge "Gesso"
Journal Prompt: “The beginning is always today.” - Mary Shelley
Unlike the previous prompt, I struggled a bit with it because I use gesso on almost all projects. Does this mean that I can paint anything? Well, that didn't help me much... Even the prompt didn't exactly inspire me.
In the end, I decided to start by glueing down a piece of deli paper from my stash - it had some blue and yellow distress ink on it. I added some stamping. Then I used several circles as masks and applied gesso all around. I added some word stickers and stamped the words in the planner part. The rest is just playing with my black marker. (Uni Ball Posca paint marker - it works on all surfaces)
Other pages:
As the first prompt came on the New Year's Day, which was on Thursday, I had a free weekend with nothing to do.
When you get a planner/diary, you have all these month-at-a-glance pages, personal details, time zones etc. I covered most of the pages with various tissue/deli papers to strengthen them. So they are now ready whenever I want to create a page. I was overflowing with inspiration in the first days of the new year so I created several backgrounds. The muse didn't tell me what to do with them next, so they are waiting there for me...
There is one problem for me to solve. I don't like working in bound journals for one reason - the pages stick together a bit more than they do in ring bound journals, especially near the seam in the middle. I'm trying various mediums to find some that would make the pages less sticky...
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