Making Journals by Hand: 20 Creative Projects for Keeping Your Thoughts [Paperback]

Jason Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2000

Is your journal collecting dust instead of keeping your thoughts? Have you gotten out of the habit of writing on a daily basis?

Making Journals By Hand will get you excited about keeping a journal again, with fresh ideas on how to make and keep your own daily journal, travel journal, garden journal, art journal, recipe journal, and more. Use art studio techniques such as rubber stamping, wax resist, leaf transfer, paper cutting, and plaster paper, to enhance and really personalize the pages of your journal.

--Know How: More than 20 journal projects, with lots of variations.

--Writing Tips to keep you writing every day.

--Creative Sparks: Practical advice on changing points of view, with prompts to get the creative juices flowing.

--Inspiration and Ideas: Ideas for themed journals to record travel adventures, gardens, dreams, baby events, weddings, and family events.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jason Thompson is the founder and president of Rag & Bone Bindery, and author of Making Journals By Hand (Rockport Publishing 2001) and Playing with Books (Quarry 2009). He is highly regarded as a book designer with integrity who creates unique handbound books and other fine bindings, as well as a popular blogger who writes about bookbinding, book arts, artist books, and paper craft.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Quarry Books (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564966763
• ISBN-13: 978-1564966766
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #327,296 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #54 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Crafts & Hobbies > Papercrafts, Stamping & Stenciling > Book Making & Binding

More About the Author

Jason Thompson is the founder and president of Rag & Bone Bindery, and author of Making Journals By Hand (Rockport Publishing 2001). He is highly regarded as a book designer with integrity who creates unique handbound books and other fine bindings, as well as a popular blogger who writes about bookbinding, book arts, artist books, and paper craft.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Creative and Inspiring August 10, 2003

By Ann

Format:Paperback

I loved this book, but when I got "Making Memory Books and Journals by Hand" I was surprised to find "Making Journals by Hand" is actually included in that text in full: word for word, page for page, project for project .

Instead of buying "Making Journals by Hand" and "Making Memory Boxes", save some money and buy one book: "Making Memory Books and Journals by Hand". This book combines all of the projects above and then some.

All of these books have great projects and instructions.

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh & Creative ideas for decorating journals April 30, 2001

By Angel Lee HALL OF FAMEVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Do you have tons of unadorned journals that you have made? Have you ever wondered what to put in them? If so, this is the book for you. It is packed with fresh ideas for decorating all those blank journals.

The book starts out teaching the basics of creating books. This includes making a spiral bound book, and rebinding a store-bought journal or vintage book. The instruction here tends to be a bit incomplete for a true beginner. If you want to make a journal from scratch, buying a true bookbinding book is highly recommended.

There are great ideas on variety of journal styles including daily, travel, recipe, garden, artists' sketchbook and triptychs. Each one has a different and easy-to-create binding. The instructions are step-by-step and accompanied by photos.

Where this book really excels is in turning your book into an artistic masterpiece. There are lots of creative project ideas and techniques that I have not seen used in this way before. Some include wax resist, image transfer, plaster paper, emulsion lifts, and creating carved stamps.

The examples though the book and in the gallery are stunning. The resource and book list is very helpful. It's nice that it also includes a list with email address of all the artists in the book. If you want to turn you journal into a true work of art, this is the book to get.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Making Journals By Hand October 3, 2000

By C. Miller

Format:Paperback

Making Journals By Hand by Jason Thompson - 125 pages, over-size paperback Published by Rockport Publishers

From the publishers of Making Memory Books by Hand also comes this wonderful book - Making Journals by Hand - which enables you to leap tall mental buildings in a single bound and become SUPER-CREATIVE & ARTISTIC PERSON!!! I'm not exaggerating (at least, I don't think I am). Lists of supplies needed and suppliers, detailed instruction for creating journals from scratch or for reusing old hardback books or spiral notebooks, lots of photos of fascinating and unusual journals, reasons to keep your own as well as theme ideas (recipe, travel, garden, and nature to name a few), curious ways to fill them (Remember the wax resist technique from grade school? It's in here, simple to use with wonderful results.) that are not complicated, how to choose lasting supplies and care for the finished product (Did you know newspaper clippings will cause acid free paper to degrade over time? See page 11.) a constant flow of tips and `jump starters' and . . . well, it made me want to start a journal just for the journal ideas I was getting while looking through and reading the book! Good, good book.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Way Cool Ideas! August 16, 2000

By A Reader

Format:Paperback

A beautiful book. I love everything about it: crisp photography, nice paper, great ideas, an abundance of inspiring bon mots, lots of resources listed at the back of the book. After flipping through its pages, I wanted to jump off the sofa and begin journaling! But I didn't. I felt a little overwhelmed by the creative journal pages I saw. I just don't know where people get some of their amazing ideas. I wish my mind were half as fertile as those whose works are featured in the pages of "Making Journals by Hand." I will, however, continue enjoying the visual feast between its covers and hope for a divine intervention that will get me off the sofa and into the craft room to create a fabulous rememberance, just as the featured artists have done. If you like books, paper, art, rubber stamping, writing, color, cool ideas, and peeking into other people's journals, buy this book.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars inspiring and informative July 3, 2000

By Lori K. Ludwig

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Making Journals By Hand has a slightly deceptive title; the book really inspires you to become more involved in your journals by incorporating visual elements or trying new techniques.

The examples are gorgeous. I love being able to look at (or is it into?) other people's journals, and this book allows me to do just that. There are travel journals and pregnancy journals and nature journals- but these aren't merely text entries- they are journals with lavish layers of collage & illustration. The projects are interesting and really make you want to get up out of your chair and into your work space to try out these techniques. I think beginners will come away with a sense of what is possible and more advanced visual journalers will come away with inspiration & maybe a little jumpstart!

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars this book needs two separate ratings... September 12, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

one for the projects and one for the art. my rating for the projects would be a TWO. While it has some good ideas for making art in your journal, it is called "Making journals by hand" and the instructions for making journals are terrible. things like, "get a stack of paper and take it to kinkos to have it bound." NOT how to do it yourself. This book will NOT help you learn to make books. It also has a lot of terms that it never defines, and if you're not an experienced book maker, you won't know what they mean.
On the other hand, I would give a rating of FIVE stars for the art and inspiration. the pictures and journals are absolutely gorgeous. They're too small, though, and you want to see everything closer.
But, since this book is called "making journals by hand"... it is NOT helpful for that, and so I give it three stars.