Roz Wound Up

A Video Flip Through of My 2013 Fake Journal Is Finally Up

I was finally able to shoot a video flip through of my 2013 fake journal. I've embedded it here for folks who don't read the Official International Fake Journal Blog.

My 2013 fake journal represents 19 days of journaling and a few days more of prepainting those backgrounds so it was the piece of creative work I did mostly from March 31 through April 18. 

I would love for you to see the video so I've embedded it here as well as on the other blog. If you are interested in the contest connected with the video you can read about it in the original post—but do so before Sunday evening because the contest is only lasting 48 hours from the posting of that post.

I had great fun selecting royalty free music from Kevin MacLeod's incompetech.com. If you aren't familiar with his site be sure to visit it and look around.  

At the end of May I'm going to have some photos taken of the pages of this journal. I should be able to post some detail shots of various elements of the journal. All that, and more about my character for 2013, will happen over on the Official International Fake Journal Blog. I hope you'll stop by and check it out now and then.

Also, in a couple days when I've compiled it, I'll have a list of links to various other artists who have done an end-of-project write up about their participation in IFJM 2013. They share some thoughts about how the project went for them. (Right now on that blog there is a list of participants in the right-hand column so you can go visit their work.)

This is the craziest thing I've ever tried to do during all my years of fake journaling—the tightest deadlines, the most intense production, and a character who is only superficially similar to me—it's that nearness that almost made my head explode. But it's also a journal from which I've taken a lot of energy and joy back to my regular journal. It has planted new seeds of thought in my mind and made me think anew about something so indelibly a part of me. It was worth all the almost sleepless nights.

Catch Up—Why I Haven't Been Posting

Left: All of today's sketches are 8.5 x 11 inches and made with the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen. The first two images and the fourth image are on coquille paper. The third image is on Richeson Recycled Watercolor paper. You can click on any image and view an enlargement.

 

It has been a killer week as I sort through Phyllis and Dick's home of 59 years (they've been together 64 years or so). All my time has been spent on this process and blogging has taken a back seat. So today I've put up a couple face sketches, all of which were done early in January while practicing for the Portrait Party. All of today's sketches were drawn while I was watching episodes of Perry Mason (which sadly I haven't had time to do in the past several weeks).

But I did manage yesterday before going to meet the packers, to post about the Gelli Arts Printing Plate process I used in my 2013 Fake Journal. You might want to go over there this morning and check it out. It might be something you'll want to try in your real journal.

If you scroll back through past posts on the Official International Fake Journal Blog you'll find other posts I've been making there this April about the tools and materials I used in my 2013 fake journal. (DaVinci Gouache, inexpensive acrylic paints, rubberstamps, rubberstamp inks, pens, stencils, collage, etc.)

The fake journal is so huge and unwieldy that I can't scan the pages and haven't had a moment to record a video flip through. However, I hope to do that soon so that people can see the finished encrusted pages.

In the meantime I have a series of posts coming up on that other blog which will show some of the steps and stages of the process as well as photos of finished pages that I managed to take before life got so very, very busy. I find that fake journals always teach me something about my regular journaling process. You might find some ideas to take into your own regular journaling process there.

I am also continuing to draw Phyl and Dick in darkened rooms when they nap—but none of those new images have been scanned either. It is an interesting time for my artwork outlets.

I did escape one day to go sketching at the zoo with my friend Bill. I'll share images from that trip when I get them scanned. 

In the meantime I ask myself daily, "WWPDD?" and move quickly and decisively forward. I hope you are all doing the same.

Another Peek into Roz's 2013 Fake Journal—A Dog Portrait of Course!

Above: Page spread in my 2013 fake journal, April 2, 2013. Read about this image and see detail photos from the process in the post. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Yesterday on the Official International Fake Journal Blog I posted a bird-related page spread peek into my 2013 fake journal. This journal is impossible to scan and I haven't had time to video tape the thing yet. (At the rate I've been going the book will be filled by April 18, at which point I'll have some free time to video tape it!)

Most of my extracurricular art time this month has been spent working on this fake journal. Because of that, and certain family circumstances, I won't have time to write on both blogs—especially on an almost daily basis like I do here at Roz Wound Up. 

I wanted to give you all a heads up, that even though fake journaling isn't your thing, you might want to wander over to the Official International Fake Journal Blog from time to time in the next few weeks. It's there that I'll be posting not only more peeks into this journal, but reviews on the materials I used to create it. Materials like—gelli arts printing plates, various acrylic paint products, rubberstamp inks, a variety of papers, pens, and Da Vinci Gouache. I'd hate for you to miss any of that.

I'll continue to post here as time allows. I have lots of faces to show you from an on-going project, as well as other updates and art. But if you don't see something here, you might want to check out the other blog for interesting news on a variety of topics.

Perhaps of greatest interest will be in how I took a totally unlikely and unsuitable (for mixed media) journal—the Leuchtturm 1917 Notebook—and filled it up with mixed media. The results were surprising. (The link in this paragraph is to my original review of that commercially bound journal. The results will be upcoming on the Official International Fake Journal Blog.)

Briefly, because if I explained here everything that is going on in my fake journal everyone would simply pass out or miss his bus, this journal was about layers, and using inexpensive materials. (Though it is arguably the most expensive journal I've ever produced since I didn't have any of the inexpensive materials to use in it until I went out and got them in order to use them in this book!)

Since the approach was layers I had plans to take photos of everything each step of the way and compile it into a number of posts and videos. Personal time constraints are making that impossible, but I do want to look at some of my approaches and I love this spread so I thought I'd do that here today and if you're interested in more you know where to go.

Left: The spread with the Sumi paper and collaged papers in place. The lavender is acrylic paint. I created a monoprint using the Gelli-Arts Printing Plate. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

First off in the above spread I used a Gelli-Arts Printing Plate and some cheap acrylic craft paints (all reviews will eventually run on the other blog so this is just quick notes about the process) to create a monoprint on Sumi paper that was larger than the page spread. That's the purple paint you see everywhere. I glued that complete sheet down over the spread. When it was dry I trimmed the edges (you've seen me do this in a video—if you missed my Strathmore Visual Journaling class in which I also demonstrated this you can see it on a smaller scale in this video here).

In a departure from my usual practice I used PVA for gluing the large pieces throughout this journal. (My rationale for that choice will be described in a future post on the other blog.) I didn't worry about weighting things or bubbling of paper. This journal has an absolutely scrumptious bulky-crackling to its pages.

Next I collaged some decorative papers at the top and sides of the spread. At the far right you'll see gold metallic paper under the dog's ear.

Left: A detail showing the line work sketch. I drew directly on the page with the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen. (It doesn't like to dry on the type of metallic paper I was using at the right edge, but I knew I'd paint over it.) I was using sketches I made from life and a couple photographs as reference. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

When I came to this page on April 2 I decided to draw and paint a dog portrait. (This is my muse Sophia Grace, only I've changed her color a bit. She's so lovely.)

I struggled a lot deciding on whether or not to paint this sketch or leave the line work. I loved the background and wanted it to show, not be painted over around the dog. Conversely I didn't want to hide the line work. But the driving force of this year's fake journal was letting things go, and not being precious about things like line work. My character dove in and painted over the line work with Da Vinci gouache (after giving me a moment to photograph it!). I used that gouache because it is less expensive for the volume I was going to go through, wanted to try it, and wanted to experiment with a different set of pigments (they don't make a PB60). I'll go into my findings about this gouache when I review it on the other blog.

Left: A close up photo of the painted dog-portrait so you can see some of the brushwork. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Once the painting portion was completed I decided to rubberstamp in the background. Some stamps were used as background texture (dots, squares, lines, and text). But I also used a large alphabet to stamp my character's thoughts on the page in large pink letters. "Letting things slip." Before stamping the letters I cut and positioned a mask of tracing paper on top of the painted dog.

My character ends her journal pages with a stamped red dot and the date written around that dot. You can see this at the bottom of the right-hand page.

There you have it, a close look at the construction of one of the page spreads in my 2013 fake journal. In the coming weeks I hope that you'll take a moment to venture over to the Official International Fake Journal Blog to see other spreads and reviews of the different materials and products I used to create the journal. Maybe next year you'll join us?

Life's so short, why live only one?

 

The Leuchtturm 1917 Notebook

Left: Test page from a large Leuchtturm1917 Master Slim notebook. Various pens and paints. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Note: For reviews on other Commercially Bound Journals please see the "page" so titled, in the left-hand column of this blog under "Pages." There you'll find reviews and links to reviews of other commercially bound journals I've used. Today I've also started a category "Commercially Bound Journals" because I didn't realize I didn't have one, though you could have always checked under "Reviews."

Update May 2, 2013: For images of this book after it was subjected to extreme mixed media abuse please see "Starting My 2013 Fake Journal—Before and After Photos."

People reading the Official International Fake Journal Blog already know that I mentioned the Leuchttrum 1917 Notebook as a possible for my 2013 Fake Journal.

How I found this journal is a weird series of happy accidents. I was looking for custom made journals that were commercially available. (Books with writing paper that Dick could use for his engineering design books—for patent record keeping reasons he needs something that is durable and sewn and of course he has he own criteria for his fountain pens; he doesn't need the art papers that I use. And it's difficult to find paper that he likes to write on for me to then make into an economical book…)

Somehow I found a link in a Google search that led me to a comment in a blog that led me to this commercially bound journal.

After some more poking around I found a blog where someone was writing about this journal and it seemed like something I might be interested in as well as Dick. I clicked away from the blog without keeping a note of it, but I got to Kikkerland's page for selling the book here.

I ordered one and waited with great anticipation for its arrival. 

And after testing one of the 8 tear out sheets at the back of the book (which you see here) it is definitely going to be my book for my 2013 fake journal!

And Dick tested a tearout page as well and he loved the paper for writing on with his fountain pens. He has several that he carries everyday—different colors and brands, from Noodlers to Namiki and so on. Dick doesn't need to wash over his writing with watercolor. He does need permanency and he does want a certain paper feel. When he writes he keeps his pen moving and he had none of the problems you'll see I had in just a moment. 

To sum up from Dick's perspective as a writer and sketcher of diagrams and devices this is a great notebook for use with his fountain pens and if he had not just ordered a bunch of books from someone else (without mentioning it to me) he'd be ordering some of these.

Now that little miscommunication (he thought he'd save me time and trouble) is a good thing because it meant that I ordered one of these books, and because of that I found out the following about the book.

First, I love it. I love the way it is made. It's like a giant (I got the 9 x 12.5 inch Slim) Moleskine—WITHOUT the funky smells!!!! It has a similar black cover, the standard elastic band and round corners. There is an inside back cover pocket that is better made and more useable. The paper seems heftier than the writer paper versions of the Moleskines, but I haven't used one of those in a long time except in the soft covered versions. It is not stiff paper like the Moleskine sketch. 

The paper is fantastically fun, with a light dot-grid pattern (you can also get blank, gridded, or lined sheets).

It is also a complete dream for sketching on with graphite pencil.

But because it is a lighter weight paper for writing and not sketching it may not be suitable for the mixed media work that many of you who read this blog do.

For instance if you paint on the paper it will buckle.

Now a little bit of buckling doesn't bother me (especially if the paper doesn't smell and it retains its integrity and doesn't pill). This paper does just that—the watercolor didn't seep through and I could stroke repeatedly on the surface and the paper didn't pill—unlike many so-called watercolor papers in commercially bound books these days.

However, when I worked on the paper with the pens I normally use like the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen, the Staedtler Pigment Liner, the Aquash with light black ink, and such the pen lines often were visible on the reverse side of the sheet.

Is this a deal breaker for me. Nope, I use Arches Text Wove (Velin) in books I make all the time and the heavy blacks of the PPBP show through when I turn the page. I love working on that paper so much that I keep using it despite that. 

What is a problem however is that as I'm sketching I often rest the tip of my pen on the page, while I decide where next I'll go with my line—I'm looking at the model and not the paper. I found that when I did this often the ink pen in would bleed through the page.

Since you don't do that when you write like Dick when he's working it's not going to be a problem for writers. If you work with ink pens and sketch like I do it may be something beyond which you're willing to deal with.

Left: Flip side of my test sheet. Note that this was scanned without any black backing sheet which is a standard approach for minimizing the see-through properties of some sheets. It's not a practice I use for my other journals so I didn't use it for this test journal. Please read the text to learn what's happening here. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

What will be obvious immediately to the viewer of the second image is that when the paper gets wet there is buckling. You can see this in the scan shadows. The buckling is not so severe that you cannot work on the next page so I don't find it impossible. If you like a flat surface this is not the book for wet media.

Next you'll be able to see that all rich ink lines will show through, but that also where I rest my pen (on the man's nose bridge and eyebrow for instance) the ink will actually bleed through.

I wondered why the paint I was using didn't bleed through and Dick suggested that the pigments in my paints were too thick to do so, whereas the inks, even pigmented, are more finely ground to flow through a pen and therefore can seep into the paper.

But that is speculation. 

I was totally surprised when I went to smear gouache on the page and found that I could hit the paper again and again, especially when the paper was wet, and it would take the reworking.

So I looked at the back of the worksheet and had a long talk with myself and slept on it.

Something that helped me decide to adopt this as my 2013 Fake Journal is the way it took the acrylic ink from the marker pens I use. It doesn't seep through at all and gives a nice effect. Also the acrylic ink, when applied in a large area like the light blue is in this example, provides a wonderful surface for another layer of ink or paint.

I'm going ahead with this journal for exactly that purpose in April.

Will I use another of these for a mixed media visual arts journal? Probably only rarely (let's see how the 2013 Fake Journal pans out).

I would DEFINITELY USE this journal for a DRY MEDIA SKETCHING Journal.

Dick would use it for a written lab journal when writing with fountain pens.

I would use it for writing with only some pens—my gel pens and other writing pens, not some of my art pens.

If you're accustomed to using any of the paperback Japanese notebooks you'll find this paper a bit thicker and about the same or better opacity.

If you decide to give this journal a try because you use dry media, or want to keep a written journal I can recommend it as a sturdily made journal. (I've done some other pre-Fake journal tests and it has really held up well). The journal opens completely flat, and as I've written above, has no offensive or off odors.

In a perfect world the paper would be just a tad thicker and I would use it for all my mixed media journals because I really love this journal.

But it isn't a perfect world. This journal deserves to be judged for what it was made for and that's to be a notebook. It's a finely made notebook. I'm glad for the chain of events that led me to it and I'm looking forward to using several more of these in the years to come—for special purposes as delineated above.

If you would like to see how my use of this journal unfolds you'll be able to see pages from my 2013 Fake Journal posted over on the Official International Fake Journal Blog after April gets underway (which is international Fake Journal Month). My journal is too large for my scanner (something I told myself I wouldn't keep doing to myself, but hey I like to work big these days), so I won't probably start posting pages from the journal more than one time a week, or maybe with a week delay, until I can find a block of time to do some scanning and "joining" of the page spreads. You get the idea, you'll be able to find more about this book and what I do to it over on the other blog. I'm feeling very good about 2013 International Fake Journal Month—this journal is just what my character wanted and needed. 

Did I tell you the pages were numbered? They are—sweet little numbers at the bottom of each page. It's an elegant and well-designed product.

International Fake Journal Month Is Almost Upon Us—April 1, 2013 It Begins Again

Yes, it's that time again—time to start prepping for International Fake Journal Month April 2013!

Before I could start prepping for this year's effort in April, I had some old business to attend to which you can read about in a post I put up on the Official International Fake Journal Month Blog  Saturday.

In the coming days and through the rest of March, I will be posting about my own plans for my 2013 fake journal over on that blog. I'll also be writing helpful posts to aid you in building a project.

Once April arrives I'll be posting my fake journal over at the Official International Fake Journal Blog. My pages from this year's journal will probably start going up about April 7. I'll work in the journal for a few days before I start to scan it. Depending on other obligations with the family I might just post once a week—we'll see how it goes. (Right now I seem set on using a rather large journal which will increase my scanning time.)

I'm encouraging all past participants to re-up and join me again. I will post a list of current participants at the side of the Official International Fake Blog so that blog visitors will know where else they can check for fake journals.

Remember that you don't have to post your fake journal entries to participate in this event. You can create a project with specific goals and execute it from the privacy of your own home. I encourage you to to that. 

I just realized today when writing this post that there is no Fake Journal category in the category list on this blog. If you would like to find past posts on this blog about fake journals please click on "IFJM" in the category list. (IFJM stands for International Fake Journal Month.)

In the next week, check over at the other blog to find out about this year's button, slogan, and my plans for my own fake journal and what I hope is an interesting new participatory twist this year. 

Remember:

"Life's so short, why live only one?"

My 2012 Fake Journal for International Fake Journal Month Is Now Being Posted

I finally got to scan the first week of this year's fake journal. It has been going up over at the Official International Fake Journal Blog.

If you don't see something posted here on Roz Wound Up on a particular day (from now through the middle of May or so), you might want to hop over there. You'll see what I'm up to and what my thoughts are on journaling—well my other thoughts, beyond what I write about here.

The first post for April 1 is here. You can find all of the 2012 selections for my fake journal by clicking on the category "Roz's 2012 Journal."

(There is a second category called "Roz's 2012 Journal Selection," and I'm sorry for the confusion, that's just posts about how I went about selecting my journal. There's some overlap, but that's the difference—not always clear as the category name doesn't always appear on one line.)

In the right-hand column there is also a list of IFJM 2012 Participants who are posting the journals somewhere public that you can check out. Hope you visit them and give them encouragement.

It's not too late to start a fake journal for 2012. You can find tips on how to do so on the blog and see what this year's drawing prize is.

Fake or real, I hope you get a lot of sketching done in your journal this April!

International Fake Journal Month Begins Today

Above: Some fantasy people. A soft 2B test taking pencil (with a rectangular lead) and light washes of gouache that were left over on my palette. (8 x 8 inch, approx., handmade journal with TH Saunders Waterford High White 90 lb. Hot Press watercolor paper.) Click on the image to view an enlargement.

No, the above sketches are not from my 2012 Fake Journal. As I prepare this post to remind people the fun starts today I haven't even decided on the actual journal I'm going to use (I still have three days as of this writing).

But to take a break from all the thinking about my character, my topic, the paper, the media, I picked up a pencil and started fiddling. I didn't so much paint these as dab on paint, swipe it away, dab on more paint. It was fun, relaxing, and I came away with a bunch of ideas for other projects, and maybe an inkling for the fake journal too.

If you are wondering what IFJM (International Fake Journal Month) is I encourage you to check out the link. April is IFJM and so today the fun has started and will run for 30 delicious days. Think about busting out of your regular journal practice and jostling things up. You'll come back with insights and freshness.

Even if you don't participate this year, you can check out what other people are up to at the Official International Fake Journal Blog. As people get going I'll be posting links to their fake journals for 2012 in a list in the right hand colum of that blog. And of course, as the month progresses I'll post my own entries for my 2012 fake journal on that blog.

Life's so short, why live only one?

Don't Forget about International Fake Journal Month, But Do Find Some Balance

For people who don't know April is International Fake Journal Month. (Come on, the reason I picked April is obvious isn't it? That link will take you to an explanation of the event.)

A friend emailed me this morning and suggested that I'd been rather silent on the subject of International Fake Journal Month (IFJM—you can find it in the category cloud of this blog). I thought she was silly, because of course I've been posting about it. But then when I searched the category I discovered I haven't posted about it here since JANUARY 17!

I haven't even posted much over on the Official International Fake Journal Month Blog because I feel, in the past few years I've posted instructions on prepping or not prepping, selecting a journal, selecting media, developing a character—all the stuff you need to think about (and then forget) in order to have a great IFJM. (My last post on that blog was March 6!) 

I've pointed that blog's readers to the various helpful posts and have just trusted that they are taking appropriate steps.

Perhaps I thought I was posting more because I have been thinking about it a lot through March as I typically do. I assumed I must have posted more about it.

It has been a truly crazy early spring for me (both in weather, I'm going to go ride my bike in a few minutes!) and in work. Taking 3 classes at the Atelier has taken up all my "free" time. Which leads me to my plan for IFJM this year—something very simple.

I never explain the actual plan before the project starts, but let's just say that at the beginning of March I came up with an hilarious plan that the friend who wrote to me and Dick both loved. I've been doing mental gymnastics all month long trying to figure out how I could execute that plan and still participate in the rest of my life. IFJM has to be about balance in some way for me.

This past week I came up with an easier approach, something in the 30-minutes-a-day range. (I'm sorry Terri, the Frank idea would have taken 60 to 90 minutes a day—but he is going to make a cameo, and I may work with him next year because Dick has totally bonded with Frank in a way he never has any of my "acquisitions." And for people who want to meet Frank I'll post a cross post here when he makes an appearance in my postings on the Official International Fake Journal Month Blog.)

The new plan seems doable but it also requires some paper testing. So I'll be doing that this evening.

In the meantime I can tell everyone that the buttons have arrived. They are actually going to be available at the start of the month (details to follow on the other blog after I get information from the post office on mailing costs). You can see the button at the other blog—it's at the top of the right-hand column. "Details Matter," is this year's catch phrase. (Yes, that mirrors my life, the buttons always do.)

And there will again be a drawing, from participants, for a journal prize. Details on that will be posted in the next few days as well.

So things are moving a long here, and I seem to have found a nice bit of balance. I hope you'll pop over to the other blog and participate in the fun. Keeping a fake journal for a month can teach you a lot about yourself, your journaling practice, and your life, even though you aren't the person keeping the journal. (I've written a lot about this on the other blog, and that's for sure, not my false rememberings.)

Think about joining in—it's not too late to grab a journal and channel another character.

Life's so short, why live only one?

A Look at Clairefontaine Notebooks over on the Official International Fake Journal Month Blog

It's time to start thinking about participating in International Fake Journal Month for 2012 (April of course). And I've been looking around for a commercially bound sketchbook/journal that my character can use. I'm not sure at this point that I'll use a French ruled Clairefontaine journal this April, but I note the possibilities and qualities over at the Official International Fake Journal Month blog. Even if you aren't going to be keeping a fake journal in 2012 (and why is that exactly?) you might find these well-made, commercially bound journals useful.

International Fake Journal Month Ends for Me Today

If you are interested in what I did for art in April 2011 please stop by The Official International Fake Journal Blog today to see a video flip-through of my 2011 fake journal

Due to a unforeseen time crunch, I was unable to post my written wrap up at the same time as promised. Please check back there on Saturday for my summary of my experience of this year's celebration of International Fake Journal Month.

If you participated this year I want to thank you again for doing so, whether or not you shared your journal publically. I hope that you will join me again in March 2011 at that blog, to prepare for April 2012!

And if you haven't participated in IFJM before, think about all the fun you're missing and consider joining in next year.

Life's so short, why live only one?