Welcome Back
Today I would like to share some pictures of an art journal I made. Before I had my own leather, I bought a bag of scraps from Jackie to see how I got on. Amongst the pieces she sent me was the most gorgeous sulphur yellow piece of leather. I have been saving this for ages and finally decided that it would make a very good art journal.
The other think I wondered whilst looking at this lovely piece of leather was…. would acrylic paint dry on the unfinished side of the leather. Jackie had coloured the piece yellow and the reverse side was still natural leather. In the interests of trying new things, I applied a couple of coats of Cryla acrylic paint to the piece to see how it would get on.
It looked very nice, but was a bit ‘bright’ considering the outside was such a strong colour. Next I wondered if alcohol ink would dry on top…
So I put a couple of coats of alcohol ink on top and really liked the result. A very interesting alternative to marbled end papers I though.
The paper in the book is water colour paper so it would hold up to washes of watercolour or acrylic paint. I assembled the book and bound it using Long-stitch, which is perfect for this as it opens completely flat. I am very pleased with the finished book…the only drawback is….I like it too much and worry about using it! DOH!!!!!!
Let me know what you think.
Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon
Billie 🙂
Looks good! Let us know whether the paint flakes off over time
And don’t be shy using it! I’m sure it will only look better once it is filled 🙂
As Buechertiger says you have to use it so the rest of us know how your methods hold up on the leather over time 🙂
Thanks Buechertiger and Kiley
I’m sure I’ll get over the ‘too nice to use’ thing in time. The book is on my shelf at the moment, calling to me.
My art is at the ‘What if I wreck it?’ stage, so maybe I’ll save the book till I’ve had more practice with the mixed media stuff.
Give it a few months, then the book won’t be so ‘new’.
Best wishes
Billie 🙂
Billie,
I’m glad you found a good use for the leather scraps. Your book looks really nice. I really like the painted insides. I may have to try that. I’ve got some inks lying around somewhere.
Jackie
Hi Jackie
I applied the acrylic paint using an old credit card, this meant I could ‘butter’ a nice even layer of paint, without brush strokes showing. I hope I did the superb colour justice 🙂 Its one of my favorite books.
Best wishes
Billie
Really nice, Billie! That leather IS beautiful…what a GREAT BOOK!!
(I have painted on leather before..but not as a book cover..more of accent pieces.)
Happy Sunday! xo
Hi Julie
Thanks 🙂 It was such a vibrant colour of leather, I just HAD to use it for something creative. The longstitch should allow for layering, collage etc as it give the pages room for expansion.
Best wishes
Billie 🙂