Monday, September 03, 2012

Turquoise and Rust Journal



I made a new journal today.  I have a head-full of ideas again--lots of scenes I want to set up, lots of "stock" photos I want to capture, lots of quotes I want to file away to use with images ...  Time to set them down in a journal before they get lost along the way.  So here it is ...

The fabric is from my stash : A piece of Complex Cloth that was dyed, rust-dyed, dyed turquoise, then treated with a flour-paste resist and covered with purple paint to seep into the cracks.  After sitting in the stash for a year, it finally feels done.    So far, I haven't used my hand-dyed fabric on my journals (except for the rust-dyes).  I guess I've been saving them for something special ... like this!


Here's a detail shot of the closure and some of the rust and crackle texture on the surface design.  The button is made from black polymer clay, rolled into a ball, and pressed into a texture sheet.  Then baked according to the package instructions and painted.  Since I pressed it into shape with my thumb, it's a custom fit for my own hand. 

For the paper signatures, I like to use an antique laid paper in the stationary aisle of the local office supply store.  It's about $28 for a box of 500 sheets, but it feels so nice!  It's worth it to me!  Makes me want to run my hand over it and fill the pages ...    Now -- to fill these pages!

3 comments:

Terri Stegmiller said...

Love the way you did the fabric and button on this journal cover. It's beautiful.

Julia said...

This is a beautiful journal - love all the little details and especially the button

Michele Matucheski said...

Thanks for reading, Julia. I was really going for an earthy Turquoise look. I'm pretty happy with it--but only after I put it away for a year. I'll bet you see that sometimes with your creations, too? You make them, and they don't quite feel like yours until they've been around for a while. Or is that just me?