A Book Review and My Elephant

In February, Etsy broadcast a success symposium featuring speakers talking about various aspects of creative business. I particularly enjoyed April Bowles-Olin's "Achieving Your Creative Dreams." (You can still see that talk if you like here.) She spoke in part from a book called "Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard" by Chip and Dan Heath. I highly recommend this book! Though it has a somewhat "business-y" slant, I took away some great personal application that has really made a difference in how I approach my business and other areas of my life as well.


This very engaging book is a study of change, why it's hard, why we fear it and what might be done to make it easier in multiple contexts. A metaphor the authors use throughout has stuck with me. They suggest that in order to make successful change, we must have our Rider (our rational side) and our Elephant (our emotional and instinctive side) working together to make progress on the Path (the environment where the change will happen). If my Elephant isn't on board with my goals, my tiny little Rider won't be able to keep him on the Path. Which is why you will eat that cookie even if you're "on a diet" unless your motivation is very strong. There must be a strong "why" that motivates on a deep level. We have to engage our mind, will and emotions and tweak our environment to make positive change happen. Of course, there's so much more than that! Read the book.


Here's my Elephant as he was: Old Mossback George. Half asleep, rooted to the ground, not exactly nimble and lithe. Having worked with him for a few months now, he's getting much more lively and engaged in the business at hand. We've been able to set some ambitious goals and actually accomplished some of them! More on that soon . . .

Read more...

The Big Brother Travel Journal

**January 2013:  I have retired this design for now, in favor of the Expandable Journal you can find here:    Expandable Travel Journal.   

I've had several requests over the last few months for a larger version of the versatile expandable travel journal. After chewing on the possibilities for a while, I've created its big brother!


At 9-1/4 x 6-7/8, this journal is sized for an epic trip or multiple smaller journeys. It has 52 pages (104 front and back) and lots of pockets and envelopes for all the little bits you collect along the way. It lies flat for easy sketching and writing, and the luscious Italian paper I used is acid free and heavy enough for art, collage and holding your precious photos.


As with the smaller version, the front cover has a window cut in it. This one is about 3-1/2 inches square. Any photo, artwork or text you affix to the first page shows through and becomes your cover design.


The accordion structure of the original journal really doesn't lend itself to a large format book. So I decided to build this journal on a concertina spine. Made from substantial 200 gsm paper, the concertina allows for room for some including by providing heavy tabs between each signature. Two of the four tabs have been left open and can be used as is or cut lengthwise or crosswise to allow for taping or gluing in postcards, itinerary and the like.


I've used the other two tabs to sew in some envelopes for more tucking away of treasures. Here two business size envelopes form four 4-3/4 x 4-1/4 pockets, perfect for ticket stubs and other small items. The reverse of the envelopes inside the fold also form a nice surface for writing or art.


The other group of envelopes starts with a 9 x 12 clasp envelope cut at the bottom and folded in half to create two 5-1/4 x 9 envelopes. Inside is stitched a 6 x 9 envelope, also cut and folded to make two pockets. I used a piece of linen tape to attach a coin envelope alongside for the smallest inclusions.

They all fold together, nestled inside the flap of the outer envelope, and fasten with a button and string closure made from circles punched from maps fused with kraft paper and tyvek to make them substantial enough for the purpose.


One last pair of pockets is made from folding and closing in an extension of one of the pages of heavy paper.


Now about that paper. I've used my favorite Velata paper in two different weights for the text block. If paper matters to you, you will find this to be really special stuff. It's produced at the Cartiera Magnani mill on the banks of the Pescia River in Italy. Among the oldest in the world, the mill dates back to the 15th Century and counts Napoleon Bonaparte and Picasso among its past customers. This subtly-textured, ivory paper is a delight for both writing and art. Out of the 52 pages, 22 are from the heavy 200 gsm paper I used for the concertina the book is built on. This paper is almost like watercolor paper and is strong enough for pretty heavy collage work. In fact, I use it with watercolors in my own art journals. It curls a bit if you really soak it down, but it dries flat, and there's never any bleed through. The remaining 30 pages are from the lightweight version of the same paper, identical in color and texture but not as thick. It is still excellent for most purposes, including all of the markers I have personally used and even watercolor and acrylics if you use a light hand. I have a number of artists who return for my books time and again just because of this paper. Of course, the pages are all ripped by hand to provide a the texture of a lovely deckled edge.


 

Read more...

Class Over

I finished up Laure Ferlita's Artful Journaling Foundations class this week. This scan is kind of the "first fruits" of my class. I discovered a wren on my screened porch yesterday morning and got such a great picture of captivity and freedom in watching his struggle to get out. Six weeks ago, I would have been frustrated in my attempt to illustrate my insights, but I was able to sit down and quickly make this page.

Here are the last couple of pages I did for the class itself:

I highly recommend this class for anyone who is drawn to a certain type of art journaling. It's far more precise than a lot of things out there right now. It's not the deeply layered, collaged type of journaling where it seems you just let the page take you where it wants to go. She teaches the foundations of drawing, presents super helpful video lessons on the basic principles of watercolor and walks you through borders, backgrounds and planning a layout for your pages.

I wasn't sure how I'd do in the class, but soon discovered that I had more drawing and "seeing" skills than I'd given myself credit for. Again I know this is not great art for publication or anything, but this is exactly what I had hoped to be able to do. I have a long way to go, but Ms. Ferlita has given me a place to start. I definitely plan to take the followup course in the fall.

Thanks, Laure!

Read more...

Art Journal Page: Your Inner Critic Part 1

Continuing through "Journal Spilling," the next few exercises involve "Taming the Critic." It's an old cliche that we are often our worst critic. We analyze our work in excruciating detail and stamp it "Not Good Enough" compared with some vague and indeterminate vision that we alone possess of what it "should" be. While we'd never dream of judging someone else's work by that same ethereal standard, we discount our own without prejudice.

Since I am a great lover of words, I did a little study of "criticism" and related words. We generally think of the first meaning: judging harshly or finding fault. But it also has an evaluative meaning as in simply making an assessment. A critic evaluates and issues criticism, which can be negative or positive, as in "critical acclaim." Another interesting word from the same Greek root is "criterion" which is the standard by which something is judged. When a critic evaluates, he is measuring against criteria, broad or narrow, specific or general, for success.


It's really not possible to "silence the inner critic" as some suggest. We will always evaluate our own efforts, and we should! Without reflection on our work, we will never have the insights needed to learn and grow.

What we can change is the criteria against which our inner critic judges. If my standard for success is to create, learn and enjoy the process, then I only fail if I don't create, don't learn or don't enjoy.

Read more...

Reinvented Journals in Action

One of my wonderful customers sent me some pictures of journals that I have made for her to show me how she's using them. It made me so happy to see the blank pages filled with stories and pictures from her life! Living in the Boston area, which is apparently the used book mecca of the US, she sends me the most amazing books to be made into journals for her own particular purposes. Always beautiful and often with a sense of humor, they portray a woman with a sense of her own personal style.

She and her husband took this journal . . .


on a trip to Germany last year for her 40th birthday. She said it was great to write about the trip and store memorabilia WHILE the trip was happening rather than try to do it after the fact.



I like to use "found pages" in my journals, themed with the book's title or purpose if possible. She sent me some pages from an old German child's book to include, and I added some maps and pages from the Germany section of an old encylopedia. Generally these pages aren't big enough to form a complete folio, so inserting them results in a 1 - 2 inch tab in the signature opposite the page. She said those turned out to be really useful for attaching brochures.

I understand that even in the big city, she's quite the farm wife, growing and preserving her own veggies a la little house on the prairie. This is her garden journal . . . .



She also has a journal for use at work meetings, one to record the bird action in her yard and, my personal favorite, one for she and her husband to keep track of compromises that they make so it is "in writing." I'd keep that one in the safe deposit box just in case!

Her husband is running scared these days, since she recently sent me nine (yes, NINE!) more covers to make into journals. Judging by the titles, most of them obviously intended for travel. I'm trying to make a deal with him on the side to dole them out slowly as his travel budget allows!

Thanks, Lisa! I'm inspired by you!

Read more...