Junk Journal Obsession

I’ve discovered junk journals back in 2015 and since then I love to create and refurbished old *junky* journals that otherwise were meant to join the trash bin. 😁

I knew this kind of ‘journaling’ is going to be my favorite {and it’s been so ever since} just because I can practically use whatever materials I have at hand.

Making your art (junk?) journals

But lately has grown on me even more, because I’ve discovered so many journals that can be transformed into junk journals, so much so, that I can’t wait to paint in all of them! But hey, because I tend to start and work in too many journals at the same time, I’ve decided to pounder a little bit in the hope I’ll finish the ones I already have started.

Here is just an example of how you can sew your own art/junk journal in no time. Many tutorials show you step by step how to sew each signature and bound the journal, so just a Google search will offer you a bunch of different techniques. Here is what my journal looks like after I’ve created a cover for it. The whole process took me less than an hour – it depends on how fast you can sew or how many distractions you have (read children that want your attention).

And if you’re curious about the process, here are some photos I captured while sewing the signatures together.

I had seven signatures in total, each signature with three watercolor papers. The sewing process takes some time, but it’s well worth the effort because the journal won’t fall apart as one I bought and has pepper glue to keep the pages together, not thread. So instead I chose to sew them and keep the journal together. Be careful on how well you sew them together, otherwise, you’ll get gaps in between the signatures. When that happens, you’ll only have two options: repeat the sewing process or choose to use a piece of paper to re-align the pages and close the gap, so that when you paint on it, you’ll have a fair spread to work on. However, if the gap appears, don’t let yourself be discouraged and continue to build your journal. And remember, this is a… Junk journal! So it’s supposed to look worn, not tidy, clean, and all that… It is meant to look uniquely yours! What do you think happened with my first junk journal? It felt apart in some areas… But I still love every page of it! 🔝 And hey, ⤴️ the post about the junk journal project has more than 13K shares on Pinterest! 🔥🔥🔥 That says a lot about it!

Another art journal that I had put together needed a cover, so what I did is simply glued some cardboard on the first and last page of the journal, and there you have it!

A piece of sketchbook paper of 120 gr. has helped me to bound the journal even better, now it only needs some…embellishment. That if I won’t decide to leave it as is, why not? It serves the purpose of protecting the inside of the journal, so… This one is almost ready to be completed, so I might very well consider painting the remaining pages and call it a completely painted journal. 😉

And there you go! Now I only have to paint a few pages and it’s all done!

Would you consider making your own art/junk journal? Do you already have one or maybe two? Leave your comments/impressions below, I would like to hear from you!

See you soon,

Cristina