Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Making Journals By Hand is an excellent introduction to artistic techniques that can enhance an artistic journal, not to mention directions for actually making the journals in which you might use these techniques. This is a very unique book because so few how-to books give information about ways to make your journal more artful. The techniques described lend themselves well to edgier, more artistic journaling, rather than cookie-cutter scrapbooking. I was especially excited to see explanations of emulsion lifts and image transfers. As a fan of the journals of Dan Eldon and Sabrina Ward Harrison, I felt that I could make journal entries more in keeping with those styles by using the ideas in this book. Plus there are many inspirational photos of artfully done journals by artists such as Teesha and Tracey Moore. All in all, this book was a great find and I would highly recommend it.

The title of this book is slightly misleading...I think it's more about creating the visual aspect of a journal's pages than binding a journal by hand. That's not to say that there aren't any instructions at all for creating your own from scratch, just that the projects presented are on the simple side and not what someone looking for a bookbinding manual would necessarily be looking for.

Now, if you are looking for a book that will inspire you to keep a true visual journal, then you can do no better than to purchase this book! The photographs are beautiful and the amount of creativity contained in these pages is awesome.

There are many instructions included for designing the pages of your journal that would put this type of record-keeping in the league of scrapbooking. If you want to make a memorable legacy for yourself and generations to come, then you will want to put the ideas in "Making Journals By Hand" to use.

I have spent hundreds of dollars of my hard earned money on Amazon.com's art books this year. This is easily the best book out of all the books I have bought. The layout is excellent, the photographic quality is wonderful, and the choices of the pieces is well thought-out. Beginners can get many ideas from this book, and all of us more advanced Somerst Studio Magazine types will find lots of inspiration. A lot of books can be checked out of the local library, but this is one you'll definitely want to own!

Most books that I rave about, I expect people to request at the public library. And, in most cases, that's fine.

However, now & then someone puts together a book that I refer to often for inspiration, affirmation, and the pure artistic energy it provides; "Making Journals by Hand" is one of the latter. (Other books on that short list including SARK's earliest books, and Natalie Goldberg's "Living Color".)

"Making Journals by Hand" has superb, simple, and detailed directions for even the most complex and professional journals. However, what charms me are the ideas that involve simple techniques and found materials... the kinds of things that are kicking around my house anyway. (You know, that box of stuff in the closet that's being saved because, "someday this might be useful," ....? *LOL*)

Sure, make certain your public library owns this book. But then, get your own copy. You'll want it on your bookshelf, and--more often--open, at your elbow, while you work on the many glorious and original projects in the book!