AAJ1 Back & Front Covers

We did this WRONG.

Learn from our mistakes.

This is what you are supposed to do and what we've done with every altered book journal since.

1. Decide if you want to have a hollowed out storage space at the back of your book, or even if you want to leave that option open.

2. Flip through the book.  Every 10 pages, remove 2 or 3 pages.
Yes, this could take a long time.

If you're leaving the back third to half of the book as is to make a hollowed spot, just do the page removal process on the first half of the book.

3. Do it again until the book looks very thin and "gap-py".

4. If you're doing the hollowed out storage section, do that first.  With the wear and tear of crafting in the first half of the book, you'll have a good idea how sturdy your "box" section is.

Or, ya know, don't.  I can tell you that I was very uncomfortable digging out the back of my book with all my finished pages in it.

Because we did it wrong, by the time we had 12 Challenge pages done, the book was already getting too thick.

oops - guess we should have pulled some pages out

One of us had the idea to hollow out the back half and use it to store all the cards and things we'd mailed to each other over the year.

I don't remember if we glued the pages before the hollowing or not.  I think we did not.  I just marked an outline of where I wanted the sides of the box to be, grabbed my craft knife and started digging.  This was my least favourite part of the whole book.

I do know that I glued and double-sided taped several pages together to be the "lid" of the box.

The covers

Front Covers
Left = Zoo
Right = Red Bear

I had an old calendar that had these beautiful floral photos printed on black backgrounds.  I chose two pink and Red Bear, of course, chose two red calendar pages to hide the original cover of the books.

I had a mask/stencil that I put on my front cover with the idea of spraying it, changed my mind, pulled off the stencil and was left with what you see.  I stressed for a long time trying to figure out a way to fix it until I just decided to let it be.  Lesson Learned.

Left = Zoo
Right = Red Bear

Under my back calendar cover, I glued a length of bias tape to use as a closure method when the journal was finished.
You can see that after a year of playing, the bias tape began ripping up the photo from the bottom. [left pink cover, bottom left quarter]

All of the edges of both of our books are worn.  Partly because it was glossy photo paper and partly because these books spent a year bopping around our craft rooms.  Getting crafted in, getting stuff piled on top of them, in my case for sure, tossed onto the floor to make room, having wax and parchment paper wrapped around them as protection from paint or other crafting processes. Red Bear's book also travelled across the country at least twice.

There is no way that just looking at a finished book will exact anywhere near the amount of wear and tear these books went through.

Do the covers last.