Posts Tagged ‘handmade journal junk journal’

Handmade Books. Recycling.

Monday, April 14th, 2014

Jenny Davis_ Handmade Book

I love to recycle packaging, junk mail and advertising materials into books

 

Jenny Davis_ Handmade Book

I like the freedom of designing my books as I make them, discovering ideas along the the way

 

Jenny Davis_ Handmade Book

Its amazing how much packaging can be saved over time

 

 

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For this book I used cereal packaging with a peephole and pasta boxes with acetate windows for the interior pages

 

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and sealed the pages with white Gesso

 

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only on one side because I liked the dark look of the cardboard ( later I painted them with Parisian essence to age )

 

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On the cover I used double sided tape to stick down the tabs

 

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to make it more sturdy

 

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The little window will have something inside

 

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Taking a load of baguette bags I bought back from France

 

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I scrunched them up into balls and wrinkled them

 

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opened them up and stuck them to the cover packaging with pva glue

 

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This gave the cover an oldish feel with a lovely rough texture.French text shows through the window

 

Jenny Davis_ Handmade Book

 

I covered the inside with some French text from a 1900’s magazine, stamping and my hand drawn doodle drawings.

 

Jenny Davis_ Handmade Book

 

I didn’t like the brightness of the gessoed pages so aged them with washes of Parisian essence

 

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When dry I cut off some of side flaps from the inside pages saving them for tags and pockets later

 

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I didn’t have an awl to make the holes for binding the book, instead I used a hammer and nail. It worked fine

 

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I punched 3 rows of holes weaving in and out with cotton mop thread

 

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leaving a tail inside I then plaited the threads and added a piece cardboard for a bead thing

 

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The extra holes seen were a mistake and can be covered up with more baguette paper and glue later

 

Jenny Davis_ Handmade Book

 

Jenny Davis_ Handmade Book

 

Side flaps on some of the pages hold piles of water colour papers for collage and drawing

 

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They are tied with cotton mop thread

 

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The loose water colour papers are white and hand dyed with Parisian essence

 

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See through windows add more interest

 

Jenny Davis_ Handmade Book

 

Jenny Davis_ Handmade Book

 

Pockets and string hold found papers and tags. The book is still not finished and I will probably add more tags and pockets

 

Jenny Davis_ Handmade Book

 

Toggles were sewn on the front with a string to close

 

Jenny Davis_ Handmade Book

This book has a Japanese feel to it and measures 24 x19cm. 5 pockets hold 40 pieces of water colour paper with another 12 pages. Some have windows.

I try to keep on top of my collecting by making something with the packaging every few weeks.

What do you make from your junk?