Retrospective Junque Journalling

 Now that I have made a Junque Journal I am very discontented about my discovery journals ...

 I think they are a bit like glue books maybe? As they are just a home for all sorts of images, quotes, news clips, patterns - just anything that interests me, but there is no journalling... I also paste in whole pages from newspapers and magazines  with reviews and with things that interest me...

So I decided to retrospectively turn my current book into a junque journal instead.

The current book is just a cheap lined A4 ruled book with a ring bound spine.

I reinforced each spread with the sticky tape you use for the back of picture frames... this was essential as the weight tears the paper off the spiral binding.

I also removed a few pages to take the pressure off!


 I used scrapbook paper and bits and pieces to fill around pages that already had things pasted in -





and I used watercolour crayons to colour around the pages where there was just blank space. Because the paper is thin, it is already cockled by the paste so once the crayons are wetted there is a nice grunge look to them...



New pages had a mixture of scrapbook papers, or were coloured in with the watercolour crayons...



I found some dramatic images to dress the pages...

And I also added a page of borders...

Now I will carry on with it and maybe dress it up a bit more with clips, ribbons etc...

But I can't get over how much more interesting it has become and how quickly and easily I could do it, it just took yesterday evening and was great fun...

Now I am wondering whether to just continue this with every new book I use, or whether to go back and grunge up all the ones I have already done! Or both of course!

Junque Journal - first go

I keep hearing about Junque Journals and have been intrigued to find out more about them....

For several years I have kept a series of "Discovery Journals" inspired by Sarah Ban Breathnach's Simple Abundance - I keep clippings, quotes, mementoes - just about everything but they are very utilitarian, as making a full art journal spread for each page would have been too slow for the amount of sheer stuff I want to keep...

So I wondered about using a Junque Journal instead as this sounded like the kind of thing I want..

First I had to find out what a Junque Journal is.
The Art Journalling thread on atcsforall.com has links to this summary on You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpZ-tv5TsjM  Uploaded by tangiebaxter on Jan 17, 2010

"At the request of the Art Journal Caravaners, a quick glimpse at Tangie's Junque Journal made out of a composition notebook."

Well I don't know what a composition book! is but I was keen to get started...


First I found this A5 Red and Black notebook which has stitched seams and seemed similar. (Yesterday I also bought a pack of exercise books from Morrison's which may also fit the bill...)

We were about to go to London to cat sit for our daughter so on Friday night I put the journal together very quickly, using ribbons to tie around the spine to reinforce it in several places, and added pasted in scrapbook paper, scrumpled up pages  inked with stamp pads, and added mini bulldog clips - all as shown on the video.



We went down to London on Saturday and normally we would have stayed in London for all 3 nights  and gone to shows and out for meals - but we went down to Dorset to a hotel  for Saturday night to go butterfly spotting instead.

Thank goodness we did.

We heard about rioting in London on Saturday and Sunday but we had no idea how bad it was!

We found out on Monday night when the riots were in full swing.

We decided to go into London through Croydon as that would be so quiet!!

We  missed the turn for the M25 to Croydon - and the riot there! - but drove straight into Clapham where all the riots were kicking off.

So the Junque Journal starts off with things we did on the way to Dorset and back...

and then turns in to a record of the most obscene rioting and looting...

Emotionally Challenged Journal

 Back to my book of feelings... 

I did "Feel the Fear" and  "Anger" some time ago
and I made a page in my Journal of Prompts for more ideas for the "Emotionally Challenged" Journal

I had already made a background, using some left over acrylic wash, as I am trying to make sure I always have some journal backgrounds ready to go (as I explained in an earlier blog).

The background was shades of green but I felt it was about time I did a positive emotional spread in this journal as I get agitated when I look at the spreads I have already done! So I resisted going with Green-Eyed Monster and I wanted to make a page using the Calm prompt instead.

I found some quotes off the internet to get some good thoughts - as calmness is not one of my greatest attributes -

For collage images first I found a howling wolf so I thought that was what I should try to escape from,
and gave him a moon (taken from a pack of mirrors I am intending to use for Indian Shisha (mirror-work) embroidery - one day...).

I love horse imagery so I found a very free, galloping horse, He is charging off through some white gates I cut out and carrying on into the next page which has flowers, candles, a calm arch through into the green of the natural world, and Tim Holtz chipboard letters telling me what I should be trying to do.

I coloured all the lettering and quotes with tones which blend with the flowers and added some white lettering to summarise the feeling of the whole spread....

Now to calm down!!

More of Using Backgrounds for Art Journal Every Day

I am now onto a sketch book with ready to use watercolour wash backgrounds that I did some time ago.
I am doing a swap on ATCsforall.com on  Everybody Loves A Parade so I thought the wide format of this book was ideal for getting some ideas down. I like the idea of doing more of these to march across more of the pages.
This year's Britain's Got Talent  had a wonderful act called The Circus of Horrors - I love them! - so this was the starting point for my own Circus of Shudders...

I used the Inktense pencils.

I have now got to decide which ones to use to make articulated dolls to send off, or whether to make some more acts first.

Moleskin Journal - using backgrounds for Art Journal Every Day

This is a return to my moleskin journal of ambiguity (in an earlier post) using pre-prepared backgrounds...

I have used image transfers, collage and stamping for this page, which is an introduction to some pages about  mazes and labyrinths.
I am also interested in the "green man" - a figure of a head emerging from greenery which appears in churches and is suspected to hark back to the imagery of pre-Christian/pagan times

Mixed Media Techniques Journal - Image Transfers

I am still using the ready made backgrounds I made for Art Journal Every Day

This one is in my ongoing journal of mixed media techniques.
I made a page as an aide memoir for one kind of image transfer,showing how the end product appears,

This is the packing tape/bookfilm technique. I hope to demonstrate some other techniques in future posts...

New Pencils!

Mixed Media Techniques Journal


We were in the Lake District last weekend,to climb up above the Honister Pass to see the rare butterfly the Mountain Ringlet.

En route we stopped at the Keswick Pencil Museum shop. It is like an Aladdin's cave of different art pencils and sketch books. With a birthday this month I did go a bit crazy... but there were lots of  discounts!


I used my journal of techniques to record the colours and effects of the pencils.

Inktense pencils have a waterproof outliner pencil, and then numerous colour pencils which create an intense ink/paint effect when they are wet.Once dry, the pencils are waterproof so you can add extra layers...

There are some drawing pencils which turn into a monochrome wash when dampened and then Graphitint pencils which have a subtle tint to them,again when water is added.

Aquatone are watercolour crayons,which work like watercolour paints when water is added, and are good for controllable washes.

Then I bought a set of  tinted charcoal pencils, again blendable and water soluble.

I also have a box of metallic pencils - these work well on dark paper and again, they are water soluble... I am making articulated dolls for a swap so I played with one of those on one of my ready made backgrounds.

And finally I bought a panoramic sketch book, with 12" x 5.5" pages - it is quite a different scale to work with, so I am looking for some ideas now....