I am generally a pretty crafty person, so when I saw that my yarny friend Treasure Goddess was hosting a journal making class at her barn I was ready to sign up. The class was taught by local fiber and textile artist Barrie Mason, who has been selling her wares at local shows for years.
Barrie was delightful and made the class very easy for us by doing the hard parts in advance! We showed up on Saturday morning and among mimosas and muffins, got down to the business of journal making. Barrie provided the signatures of 80lb drawing paper, already folded and precut to size. She also brought a huge selection of covers, papers, threads and adornments for us to choose from, in addition to a bag of tools for each participant to use during the course.
Our first task was to select a cover and optional origami papers to separate the signatures. For covers, there were tons of different colors and options – leather, faux leather, indigo dyed canvas, and what I chose, which was cork. Materials aren’t as hard to come by these days as you might think. We were using heavy weight fabrics designed for bag (and journal!) making and they’re available at many independent fabric stores. Barrie also brought a beautiful selection of origami paper, in intricate patterns and solid colors that we could use to separate our signatures.
Once we had selected our materials, it was time to start. The first thing we needed to do was punch holes in the signatures. I should explain: signatures are groupings of pages that have been folded and trimmed down to size. For the journal that we were making, we were given three signatures. I chose to wrap each in origami paper as shown above. To punch holes in our paper (which would match holes already punched in the covers, and make sewing things easier), we were given a cardboard template (showing the location of the holes), an awl (a sharp pokey tool!) and a thick catalog to use as a cradle. Basically we opened the catalog and place the fold of the papers in the fold of the book. Then we lined up the template and used the awl to poke the holes. It was much easier than I thought!
Once our signatures were prepared, it was time to start sewing. Barrie brought tons of waxed linen thread colors to choose from. Once you had selected what you wanted, she led us through the process of sewing the book together with a blunt tipped needle. In and out and through and round and over and under…. very technical! And after adding each signature, we used a bone folder to keep the creases neat and tidy. And in the end our signatures were firmly held in place by the waxed linen thread and our book was close to done.
The final step was to choose a closure. Barrie provided snaps to those who wanted, but she had also told us we could bring a button or bead that we had in our collections. I had purchased some large purple buttons years ago and had one left – it was perfect. She helped us place it and then our final thread served to wrap around the journal and the button and hold it closed. She also provided a selection of beads – I added one at the end for a little extra weight and decoration.
The final journal is approximately 4.25″ x 6.25″ (11cm x 16cm) and is the perfect size to carry along or throw in a purse. Overall the class was super fun and now I need to decide what to use my new journal for!
