The No-Travel Journal

Make your own free photo slideshow You asked how I am doing with making pages for the journal inspired by Mary Ann Moss's "Ticket to Venice" class.   The short answer is GREAT.  I am having a  grand time assembling pages, and I have loved watching her videos.  Now that I am on my own, I was quite inspired to see Mary Ann's travel plan -- taking a trip alone, walking and exploring and photographing by day, journaling by night.  It looks quite feasible and very, very fun.   But as I do not have any big travel on the agenda soon, I decided to take a more general approach to the journal.  I could not resist also watching the videos for Mary Ann's "Remains of the Day" class which involves a similar journal but using more daily ephemera and piecing the bits together without an overall theme.   So, as I've said (and as you can see in the little slide show of pages above) I've really been having fun mixing paper scraps and random items.  But I would find it hard to make a travel journal for a specific destination.  I think I would be inclined, while traveling, to gather up lots of papers, take lots of pictures, keep notes or journaling bits on separate cards or in the Midori Travel Journal, and then assemble it all when I get back home.  But then again, what you are doing looks quite perfect for your Italy trips -- just means leaving a lot more blank pages for insertion of photos and souvenir bits and journaling.  But then making the book doesn't seem like it'd be as much fun.  I will be going up to Washington State in a few weeks and my plan will to be take lots of pictures and collect papers and make a book about it all when I get home.  We'll see how that goes.   By the way, Mary Ann says in her videos that she prints photos on Staples Matte photo paper.  I bought some and I LOVE how it looks and feels. The photos take on a different look and the weight and texture of the paper makes great book pages.  I can second her recommendation. I now find myself looking at papers everywhere, seeing it as a potential book page part.

Making my travel journal

Hi Diane,

How are you getting on making your journal for the Ticket to Venice class? I am so glad we signed up for this together. I thought I'd spend an hour today starting to make my signatures and was rather surprised to find when I came up for air it was over three hours later. This is very fun indeed. If messy. My studio was so beautifully tidy when I started....

I have now also signed up for Sketchbook Skool ( despite the irritating name) and as you know that will start just before I go to Bath for a fortnight. So what I wanted was a book that would reflect the kind of holiday I will have and which will have plenty of space to tuck sketches into pockets and to glue them in. I think working on loose scraps and/ or in the perforated sketchbook in my Midori Travellers book will free me from the terror of 'spoiling' a sketchbook. I will have fun combining my urban/ everyday sketching into a scrapbook style visual journal. That gets everything in in one go!
I still need more neutral pages (I think an visit to an art shop for sheets of watercolour paper might be in order one day soon) but here is some eye candy of all the fun I have had so far collating pages and adding pockets and flaps galore. All I need now is for that order of washi to arrive....!

I have some paper bags from previous trips to Bath to use ( above you see the Charndos Deli where we get bread) and I also have memorabilia from when I did a Reading Year at Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights ( below you see a bookmark sent with a note by Mr B himself about the book choice he sent). As I shall be treating myself to a reading spa next time I go, it seems appropriate to use the wrappers and seals in which my books were posted for the journal covers.

I have stuck to my usual brown and green colours, but that suits the colour of Bath stone too. I will be doing a lot of reading so I have added scrapbook papers with letters and have ordered some similar washi tape.

Next to think about covers. I have to wait for my order of linen thread and booktape to arrive before I can bind it anyway.
So, I want to see your pages please!!

Helen.

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