Day 27/365

In the spirit of talking about some of my favourite projects, I couldn’t resist a post about these watercolour travel journals.  Originally in two colours, only the pink is left.  This book was designed to be a tough and rugged workhorse of a journal.  I wanted to create a beautiful yet functional sketchbook to take along while travelling or hiking.  I put in a pen holder on the spine and a braided linen tie-around closure.  It’s sturdy and solid, and beautiful all at the same time.
The hot pink paper is handmade (not by me) with a lovely scattered seedpod-like pattern on the front, and solid, bright, hot pink on the back.  I’ve had many discussions with papermakers about how this technique was achieved; maybe the hot pink paper was pulp painted, with rice as a resist?  Maybe it was a lamination of sheet forming?  I don’t know the answer, but it’s fantastic either way.

The second journal uses hand-decorated paper that I picked up a long time ago. I wish I could remember the artists name, I’d love to get more!  It is a textured wallpaper, that has been painted and distressed and then flecks of gold applied.  It has the effect of a dark, starry night.