Aesthetic – The Paper Journal

Rebinding a Composition Notebook with Coptic Stitch

J. Lewis — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 19:45:04 +0000

I have had this beat up old composition notebook collecting dust for years. The cover design was meh. I didn’t want to waste the book though so I decided to try something new and rebind it with a Coptic stitch. The benefit of the Coptic stitch is that the book will lay completely flat when opened. I also love the look of the open spine. The first step is to deconstruct the notebook.

Source

Collaging Your Journal Cover

J. Lewis — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 15:23:17 +0000

In my last post I wrote about using collage in your journals. For this post, I thought I would walk you through my process of actually using the collage method on a journal cover. This is a journal I did last year and one of my favorites visually. I started with a word. Saudade. I forget how exactly I came across this word. I suppose I was feeling a bit nostalgic and melancholic at the…

Source

Collaging in Journals

J. Lewis — Sat, 19 Dec 2020 03:10:12 +0000

Collage is one of my favorite ways to decorate my journal covers and pages. Magazines usually have the best images to use. You can even get your collage materials from old books, mail, trash found on the street, food wrappers, you name it. I get the majority of my images from magazines in the free bin from the library. My absolute favorite source is National Geographic. During the pandemic…

Source

Corona Borealis: A Journal Build

J. Lewis — Fri, 18 Dec 2020 22:43:54 +0000

This is the 24th journal in my current series of composition notebook sized journals. I chose Corona Borealis as the title/cover as a reference to the current pandemic and my favorite coffeeshop which I really miss being able to sit down in for my journal practice. Plus, I love anything astronomy related. The design and my notes. I’m using the constellation Corona Borealis for the…

Source

The Making of a Commonplace Book

J. Lewis — Fri, 18 Dec 2020 20:07:01 +0000

My Dad recently sent me a couple of old toiletry bags to repurpose. This particular bag was crumbling in parts and had holes and disintegrating stitching. Even so, it had tons of material for me to use. I will use this reclaimed leather for the covers of this commonplace book. I removed all the stitching and hardware. There’s enough leather here for 3 small books. This first book will…

Source

Journal Aesthetics: Themes

J. Lewis — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 22:24:09 +0000

I think most of us have this desire to have journals that look “cool.” When you see journals like Jose Naranja’s journals you can’t help but want something like that for yourself. My current series of journals was inspired by the journals of fashion photographer Peter Beard. I came across one small photograph in a magazine of one of his journals. It was one of the most beautiful things I had ever…

Source