6.18.2007

Collecting Journals

I think more about journals now than I ever have. The reason, mostly, is a Creative Journaling class I took at BookWorks with textile artist -- and journal queen -- Heather Allen Swarttouw. I wrote about it here. And while blogs are a form of journal, they're nowhere near as deliciously tactile as the three-dimensional variety.

There's an item and a photo in a recent post in Notebookism that reminded me of how much I've enjoyed buying journals over the years. I now make many of my own, but it doesn't diminish the pleasure of finding just the right journal, and like the author of the post, I particularly like to bring back journals from places in which I've traveled. My favorite to date (I guess this means I'll have to take a photo of it and post it here sometime soon) is a dark leather journal from Venice, with a small piece of round millefiori glass set into its cover. The endpapers are a subtle patterned paper, and each creamy white page has small illustrations of Venice across the top.

And here's a different take on journals (and the people who fear them!) from artist Kelly Kilmer.

1 comment:

Riverlark said...

Ah, BG, you've hit another favorite topic. Ever since I wanted to impress a teacher in sophomore year, I've been journaling. When I did the big purge this spring, I found at least 50 notebooks. I couldn't dump them, but friends have strict instructions to burn them on my death.
For years, they were simply a place to vent or dump emotions that were too obsessive to share with the world. But recently they've gotten interesting...and diverse.
One of the more interesting problems in book arts is creating beautiful blank books and being afraid to write in them (both the maker and the buyer!). Book artist Emily Martin always has a self-made book with her for notes, instructions, thoughts and ideas. It's a wonderful collection!