Making & Keeping Creative Journals [Hardcover]

Suzanne J.E. Tourtillott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2001

“Through extensive line-art illustration and full-color photographs of custom journals, it encourages the artist and record-keeper within you.”—RubberStampMadness. “Imaginative crafters...will find projects here for 15 journals constructed from a variety of materials. Public libraries will welcome this to their crafts collections.”—Library Journal. “A mouthwatering menu of intriguing one-of-a-kind journals, whimsical to historical.”—Tabellae Ansatae.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Many people find journaling a gratifying pursuit, a way to gain insight, refine observations, or express feelings. Although it really takes no more than a simple blank book to begin, how much more rewarding to the whole creative process to record one's innermost thoughts in a special book invented expressly for that purpose, perhaps geared to reflect a special interest or to chronicle a particular mental journey.

Suzanne Tourtillott's Making & Keeping Creative Journals is a stunning mentor for this process. With lovely photos, articulate text, and good directions, the volume actually functions on three levels: as an exploration of the art of journal keeping, a thorough introduction to basic bookbinding techniques, and a step-by-step guide documenting 15 extraordinary collaborations between book artists and journalers following a specific pursuit. The leather covers of the bird lover's journal, for instance, open into a bird shape, with a place to hold found feathers; the text block becomes a space for writing and drawing. The sculpture journal is an accordian-fold construction that can be closed like a traditional book or displayed as a sculptural object in its own right.

Other creations include journals on the themes of travel, dreams, relocation, and quilting. These highly personal statements are each a work of art, in a book that provides a wellspring of inspiration for experienced crafters seeking ways to stretch their imaginations. --Amy Handy

From Library Journal

The handwritten journal may seem like an anachronism in our computer-oriented age, but it is still the perfect medium for recording daily activities or indulging in creative expression. Imaginative crafters who want to create their own blank books will find projects here for 15 journals constructed from a variety of materials. A section of basic bookbinding techniques precedes the step-by-step projects for topical journals, such as a quilter's journal with a leather cover and graph-paper pages or the unusual girdle book that hangs from a waist belt. Public libraries will welcome this to their crafts collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Lark Books (December 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579902146
• ISBN-13: 978-1579902148
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,120,449 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #65 in Books > Self-Help > Journal Writing

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Making & Keeping Creative Journals, October 10, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Making & Keeping Creative Journals (Hardcover)

This is a lovely and inspirational book for making interesting journals. I was pleased to see that the projects in this book were fresh--not the same old thing, revisited. The photographs and examples are so beautiful I found myself thinking, "I want to make this one and this one and this one..."

This is probably not the best book for beginning book makers. I would describe myself as an intermediate book maker with several years of experience in binding different types of books. In making the Gardener's Journal, I had some difficulty interpreting some of the illustrations and one of the templates is flat-out wrong; however, these problems did not prevent me from completing the Gardener's journal and the finished product is really beautiful.

Also, some of the bindings and materials suggested are tricky. For example, several journals include leather covers and the instructions seem to gloss over what type of leather to use, how to prepare it, etc. For the less commonly used book binding materials, such as embossed metallic foil and dollhouse nails, a list of suppliers would have been extremely helpful--even if I had to go online to access it.

On the plus side, this is a great book to get ideas on keeping different types of journals: bird watching journals, gardening journals, etc.

Another fresh idea this book provides is the viewpoint of both the journaler and the book maker. The journaler defines the purpose of the journal and the book maker creates a journal to meet that purpose. Very cool.

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extensive for what it is..., July 23, 2002

By 

R. Tiedemann "Sunnye" (Bellevue, NE USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Making & Keeping Creative Journals (Hardcover)

...but what it isn't is a book about writing journals.

This is mainly about crafting journals -- that is, putting together paper and covers, stitching and gluing and the craftsy part of creating a physical book. It does give lip service to information on why keep a journal and the different kinds of journals people keep: external or internal journey, healing and insight, confessional, chronicle for future generations, catalyst for creative expression. Techniques like freewriting and list making are mentioned along with narrative description, dreams, and poetry but the emphasis here is on putting together pages and covers; how to make booklets from different kinds of papers, etc.

Illustrations are photographs of journals people have made and drawings showing various methods of folding, stitching, joining and binding. There are specific projects that include intricate instructions on how to make different journals: a travel, dream, yoga, poet's, grandmother's, painters, gardener's, bird lover's, etc. journals. The child's summer journal even has a spiral binding. The covers of the reunion journal are two gloves.

If you want to hand craft books this should show you how. Each would make a special gift which you could give with pages filled with your own writing or as a blank book.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great - especially if you already know the basics, February 21, 2005

By 

merrymousies (Waterford, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making & Keeping Creative Journals (Paperback)

I've only been playing with book making for a little while....took one class at a rubber stamping show and really enjoyed it. I found this book shortly after that and having been using it, along with a few others to teach myself techniques. The pictures throughout the book are inspirational as well. The first chapters talk to things like the materials you'll use in book making (choosing papers, threads, tapes, adhesives) and how to actually do the book making (stitches, how the binding should look, etc). The nice thing here is that the author gives you leeway saying you could substitute this for that etc. Then the rest of the book is focused on creating specific types of journals/books: travel, introspection, confessions, dreams, poetry, grandmothers book, etc. Material lists are given as well as step by step instruction with both hand drawn pictures and photos of specific parts of the book like the binding. The only thing that I had a little trouble with was some of the terminology since it was new to me but as with other things, we pick that up as we learn. I think this is an excellent book for someone who has the basics under their belt or who has made a book to two before. For the beginner it's a book you can easily grow into, just need some patience. The results are well worth it.