How I use books as journals - Altered books, covers & creativity
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- Опубликовано: 27 янв 2025
- Hi all, hope you like this look at how I use books for journals and some of the books in my collection.
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I am one that believes in giving old papers and books second lives by cutting them up and using them in my art and books and journals. I have had people gasp at the use of 200 year old documents used as substrate collage for a painting, but after seeing that it has gained a new life as a piece of art, they are able to better understand and enjoy that document rather than arguing about whether I should have used it in the first place!
Wow where did you find the 200 year old documents?
@ I was lucky enough to start collecting antique business documents many years ago on ebay to use before the junk journal craze started. I bought them wholesale from businesses in huge lots and found the lucky odd early 1800’s documents in the lots. My paintings featured the old documents in the substrate with a new modern “hippie” design on top to represent building a new life on the old.
Well if the item had monetary value, then it was foolish to destroy it, but if it had no monetary value then isn't it better to utilize it than let it go to waste?
Love this! How wonderful to use such treasures which with history in art and a collage. It gives the pieces so much depth and meaning
@@SarahMarie-j2n I bought them in lots for hundreds of documents for $50 or so. They were of no value. Just to odd balls like myself!
I love books too. I have some that are for enjoying to look through, and some are for taking apart and making journals out of them. Thanks for sharing.
Love that, me too
As a child, I used to walk across town in the 50s to the huge, elaborate library in Des Moines and read the books and look at the huge paintings on the walls. I rode the elevator & entertained myself by reading, but I didn't know about library cards or checking out books, or I would have done it. I just thought people went there to read! Now I go to the library & check out 3-4 books each time. My library card is very old. A couple of times, I needed some assistance, and the librarian was very surprised upon seeing my card. I buy used books at their book sales for vintage photos or poetry for my journals. Used books eventually get disgarded to trash so I don't feel bad, reusing something that nobody else wanted, and creating journals that I enjoy.
Aww how wonderful! I love borrowing books from the library. It feels like Christmas that I get to read these books for free and they don’t take up space in my room - hehe
I was raised to respect all books. It took me two years to be able to cut up and alter a book. My grandmother was in the readers digest book club in the 40s and 50s. I am so lucky to have most of those books. To appease myself, I read her books before I tear them apart. 😊
Aww that’s so cool you have most of those books - how fun!
I read at least one book per week and often two or three books per week. I donate many to Friends of the Library, a group of volunteers who gather donated books and have semiannual book sales to fund non budgeted library projects. There are many books that they do not accept - Reader's Digest Condensed Books is an example. I have no problem cutting into the book, using the illustrations, and of course using the covers.
My Dad would roll over in his grave if he knew I was hacking into books. He subscribed to the condensed book series four or five years after the first book was published. Over the years he sought out and found first edition books dating back to the first book published in 1950. In 1997 the series was renamed Reader's Digest Select Editions. Dad died in 2006. He had a first edition of every book in the series. Mother continued the subscription for a couple of years after Dad's death.
My youngest brother has custody of the books. I am the only one who occasionally borrows and reads a book.
I am new to journal making. When my brother sees that I am serious and creating works of art I hope that he will be willing to part with some of the books - especially the older books.
I love National Geographic for beautiful images. Dad had decades of National Geographic magazines. Three years ago (before I started journal making) we, the siblings, remodeled our family home for our Mother, adding a fully accessible bathroom and shower. In the process we took a lot of books and magazines out of the house. What could be donated was donated. Encyclopedia from the 1960's, University textbooks from the 1050's, dictionaries, and - unfortunately - decades of National Geographic were not accepted for donation. All of that went into recycle.
I wish I had kept at least some of the magazines, one or two volumes of the encyclopedias and a couple of textbooks.
My family has been warned - DO NOT get rid of any books, magazines, catalogs, textbooks, reference books, etc. without checking with me first.
When I worked at HarperCollins Publishers there was a huge metal cage where all the unwanted books went for destruction... let's just say I spent a great deal of time rescuing books! I now am comfortable with cutting into some books, although I always have to take a deep breath first!!
Oh wow, sounds like a bit of a gold mine for books - hehe
Oh my gosh... heaven.
I'm like you. Some books are too beautiful to cut up, so those are safe. Others are OK because you are giving them a second chance. Your journals are beautiful.❤
Thank you so much! Books and journals are the best
So creatively beautiful 😍
Thank you! 😊
I love books also, I'm so happy to have come across your channel today.
Aww thank you so much
What a great way to give old books a new life. Thank you for sharing what you do.
Thank you so much. You are most welcome
Love the readers digest book so pretty blue colours and the white cover book . I love books too, and yes sometimes I find it hard to pull apart a book, but I think of it as giving the book a second chance in life.
So good, love giving new life to books and finding beautiful covers
I adore books. Reading them, looking at them, creating art with them. Like you, I have some that I will likely never use because I enjoy them so much just as they are. I hope to come across some wonderful finds like those you shared in this video. So, far, I’ve had no luck (at least not for $10!)
Ah you sound like a bookish kindred spirit - hehe!
New friend here❤ I love Junk Journal ing. Love to turn book into some new, & recycle old books is so fun.
Anything goes. ❤
Hi friend! Yay me too. Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing
@JuniDesiree You are most welcome 😁
Your voice is so calming❤
Aww thank you
That leather-bound flower book is valuable as inspiration. It might be inspiring your other books.
It’s stunning!!!!
@@JuniDesireeI love that gorgeous book.
Thank you so so much for sharing Juni ❤So inspiring. I would alter a fallen apart book aswell as not very special book from thrift store, common books made in big numbers. Not the most precious ones, guess we are in the same spectrum.
You are most welcome. Love books and journals so much and so glad so many others do too
Beautiful. Thanks for the tips.
You are most welcome!
I am a book collector and librarian. I think I am about where you are. If a book is falling apart already why not use it. That pretty garden flowers book of yours looks as though it has been altered or rebound already. Very pretty.
Ooh how fun to be a librarian. I’d love to work in a bookshop
that step between preserving your books and using them for making art is soooo hard to take but once you take it, there's no going back.
So true, glad to say I’ve never regretted it before - hehe
I am also a book lover and have been for my entire life! I have not done an altered book but I do create most of my journals out of book covers. There was a period of time when they made editions of childrens series with pictures on the covers almost like paperbacks today. They are always fun. For collage covers I almost always choose readers digest condensed books as I like the size and feel no guilt.
So fun! I went thrifting yesterday and found a bunch of books I’m so excited to use in various ways for journals
Yes, I am a book lover; I love love, love books...📚📘📗📕📔📒📓I never had acces to my own when I was a child, now I collect them, I look throughout them, I am not such I good reader I must confess, but like you I go for beautiful vintage covers, pictures, images, even I smell them... 😂😅😊 I enjoy their texture, color in paper. The fact to have them close and touch them make me so happy, and of course, I give them new life with art and junk journals, most of them children books. I also have the ones I cannot cut, I feel them too precious, so I just enjoy flipping through them. I consider books as a therapeutic outlet for me. I wish I could find that GARDEN OF FLOWERS IN COLOR, sooooo beautifully made. Thank you for sharing.
Aww I can very much relate. Love books so much!!! Thank you for sharing
I love to take all the pages out of a book then bind some pages back in and ise for pockets.
So fun, love doing that too
Can u tell me the name of the washi tape it is stunning ❤❤❤❤❤
It’s from Washi Wednesday
I purchase most of my books from thrift stores and library discard sales. I am giving them a new life by cutting them up, using them in new and creative ways. :) Plus, I am donating to thrift store causes or my local library, which helps others. Of course, I also have books I've had since I was a kid, and I would never rip up those books.
Ooh yes, I have a few from childhood that I love to keep on my shelf to take a walk down memory lane just as they are
lovely
Thank you so much
I say that your book bought with your money or was found by you or gifted to you is your business what you do with it and that's fair for everyone. Nobody should tell anybody else what to do with their property. Sometimes I don't agree with how some folks do their art journal but then I tell myself, "it's their journal, they can do whatever they want".
Love that, I tend to agree with that view.
Loved your video could you please tell me the name /publisher of that stunning flower book. I fell in love with it. I do journals and am a passionate gardener!! I love books too... the smell !!
Thank you so much!
Garden Flowers In Colour by Eigil Kiaer (blandford)
Hi JD - I have been binge watching your videos and love all of them. I was wondering if you would be willing to sell the Garden Flowers in Color book? I am a book collector and would love to have it in my collection. Thanks so much! Mary
Aww thank you so much! So glad you like them. Aww that’s one of those books that is sort of priceless to me, not about the money but the beauty
@@JuniDesiree Oh I understand! Thank you so much for responding. I am loving your channel and cant wait to watch your craft room tour. xo Mary
Your altered journals are beautiful. Does your reflections class teach how to make one?
Thank you so much!! Yes it teaches how to alter your own book into an art journal
Hi Juni-I see you have Rainbow Valley by L.M. Montgomery who was the author of “Anne of Green Gables”- a Canadian classic. I think you would enjoy reading it before you cut it up.
I read it and loved it as a kid- well, all the Lucy Maud books🤗😁
Aww that’s lovely. I know that’s a much loved book by many people
I love love books too for as long as I can remember. I love to not only read them and make junk journals out of them but I love the feel and smell of them. Does that make me a bookworm?
I think all of book lovers are bookworms - hehe
First time here! Will sub soon as I love your style. Pls share the author or details of that book “ garden flowers in colour” as there seem to be several and they don’t all resemble your book cover. Ty!!
Aww thank you so much for visiting. I’m away for Christmas at the moment but can find the author after the holidays
Oh hang on, I just realised which book you meant and did a search. It’s KIAER EGIL
I think I’m like you. I have some beautiful books…stories from the Civil War…I just don’t think I could even take them apart. lol ❤
Yep, some books are too meaningful whole for me to cut up but love finding copies to use
I believe that any book which is heading for the landfill deserves to be honored in being given a new life and extending its life to bring pleasure to the journal maker and the person who receives the gift of a repurposed treasure.
I have a number of books which I will never repurpose because I've fallen love with them, their age, their history and the fact that they've survived long enough to sit comfortably in themselves, in my hand or on my shelf of treasured 'things'.
I am currently the guardian of three books that are part of a set of eight, (I haven't been able to find the other five), these three books are two-hundred years old, I have part of a news paper with shipping news and departure dates (this is shipping as in sailing ships) which was published in 1829, I will never use it in any of my work as it is, in IMO, an historical document about a time and world long gone.
My mother was a librarian who instilled a love of books in all of her children, I feel sure that she would approve of what I do to give unloved, unwanted books a new life.
Everyone has the right to choose what they want to do with a book, and we all see and do things differently, we're a little bit like books as we grow, change and repurpose ourselves throughout our lifetimes. 😊
Love that, thank you so much for sharing. Sounds like you’ve got some wonderful treasures
the book Wild Book Texas did you paint the pages, some have no writing?
Sometimes I do paint the pages, mostly I collage on them
Do you ever get a chance to read the fiction books before you turn them into a journal? I’ve tried to do that sometimes and it often helps me find the theme for the book journal.
I tend to get books simply to create with them but some I’ve read before and always look out for those like The Secret Garden and Alice in Wonderland
I found a couple of 📚 books on eBay that are volumes from a law library. Big, beautiful,mint condition and about 100 years old. My rationale is that they have sat on library shelves for that 100 years probably without ever having been opened. They were $10. I am dying to alter them but want to do it in the right way…thoughts?
Wow, that’s sounds wonderful. Some of the vintage law ledgers are spectacular. What a bargain!!! I think I’d use something like that as a treasure album or family heirloom
Please do your research. Do you know how much color plates by Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale go for?
Aww as mentioned in the video I’m not interested in the money but the book treasures themselves
@6;00 = 😍
So love these books
did you paint those pages
Some pages I did paint in my altered books
I'm an "it's an object" person, myself. If the object is worth more to me by existing in its current form, because I'll go back and read it over again or use it for reference for drawing, or it was a gift that connects me to another person who's precious to me -- it'll stay on the shelf. Everything else, though, is fair game, because it's just a book. There are more of them. They keep making them, in fact, even though my "to be read" pile looks more like a TBR mountain than a pile. Plus, if I take that thing that's unwanted and turn it into something I love and will use, I feel like I'm honoring that object's first life (as a book).
It's just speculation, but I think that the OMG NOT SCISSORS people include a lot of collectors (who imbue certain objects with perceived or shared value above and beyond what non-collectors see or understand), or folks who have a deep, subconscious fear of change. There's that whole contingent of people who can't let go of one way of doing things or seeing things or experiencing things in order to do/see/experience them in a different way. It's terrifying and upsets their perception of safety since it attacks or removes their way of categorizing things in the world.
And, since the old chestnut of "how you do anything is how you do everything" is kind of true, folks who have trouble with changing an object's category or purpose see ripping up a book as destroying that thing rather than giving it a different life. They're unable to disengage the way they saw the object and its purpose, so they get all the twisty feelings of loss, albeit on a minor scale.
Both of those are perfectly valid, btw. We're all crows about something, so collecting is cool. And categorizing the world makes some people feel safe enough to engage with it, which is also cool. As long as we all remember that we're responsible only for our own behavior toward a thing, and not judging how someone else lives their own life, it's all good. That whole spectrum of people clearly loves books, and books are awesome, so...we're all good. :D
Love that at the end of the day we all love books, as you say - yay! And love that it’s okay we can love books in different ways. I guess the same goes for love in general. We all love in similar but also different ways.
@@JuniDesiree Exactly!!! Let people love what and how they want to love. More love, in whatever form that takes, is never a bad thing. :)
I think I am on the same level as you. I have a couple dating to 1930s and one from 1899. I’m “torn” . The ones that I have or find in the thrift shops or antique malls that are in absolute disrepair where the spine is broken and the pages are literally crumbling I feel that I would be preserving and reinventing it by crafting with it. There are a couple that have held on for 20 years and have sat on my shelf. They are too delicate for me to read. They are not classics, just old history 📚 or engineering or of some sort some which taut themselves to be modern . All the information is in actuality is extremely outdated. I’m slowly moving towards the perspective of it being ok to use them for crafting. In addition I have purchased a couple of old books from a law library that are 100 years old and have obviously sat on the shelf virtually unread. The books are in excellent condition but the pages are very thin. I’m trying to alter it but having trouble how on how to do it properly.
Ooh when I alter a book with thin pages I stick some together. I do a lot ripping out pages and gluing pages together
When I find rare books with beautiful pictures, old lithographs, illustrations or prints I have a read of the pages and sentences are too floral I rip out the images. All of them. The go into a new book with information about where they came from. Sometimes the first front pages get filed away with the images. Bit like an art gallery in a book
Ooh how wonderful. I have a gorgeous antique book with chromaliths that are just so beautiful. Stunning!
I have a PhD in literature and MA degrees in history and philosophy. I love books. But I worship the soul of a book, not it's corpse. That said, I do love the look of beautiful books, and I hate to have their voices silenced. SO I feel you can use a book as an art object OR as an art supply, depending upon your own needs and what the book could/should be used for. I have one valuable first edition I will be leaving to my nephew, but with my other books, the world needs joy more than it needs secondhand thrift books. It just does. The book's voice will continue in other forms--that IS important; I don't want to silence an author. But if it's digitalized? Nope. Fair game.
Ooh love that phrase: soul of a book. I hope the soul can live on in our beautiful creations honouring the original book.
your anchor course is $40
Yep, $40 per month for the month-long course so was designed to be completed in a month but people have the option of staying on longer and taking their time if they need it
The best of luck to Juni with offering your courses. However, i'm at a loss as to understand why anyone would pay to learn how to do anything with journaling, book altering or scrapbook, making when you can find literally thousands of tutorials on youtube for free? Happy Holidays❤
I pay for courses all the time - hehe. I’ve done some by Tiffany Julia and Liz Lamoreux in particular. I just love their style and am so inspired by them when sometimes nothing else inspires me. The fact that it’s paid also helps me with motivation because it helps keep me accountable and gives me some structure to kickstart my creativity. Sort of like how people get a gym membership to help them actually go the gym - hehe.
Me again…sorry so much to say on this subject. I have a 100% full proof way to alter, harvest a book 📚 guilt free. There are BEAUTIFUL blank journals brand new to work with. If you’re like me and you love books (why are we here again😂), I buy blank journals because the covers were so pretty I couldn’t NOT buy them. I just found this box in my garage that is 20 years old with such books! They can be so classic and vintage looking. What do you think? 💡💡💡💡💡💡
Love books and journals of all types. And love combining books with journals- a match made in heaven
I don’t think rare/valuable books should be altered unless they’re specifically meaningful to you and will be cherished as altered books. Sell them to someone who will cherish them.
Myself, I’m not really into altered books but may dabble. I’m going to limit myself to books destined for the trash heap!
Ooh love passing on wonderful treasures that I wouldn’t use so others can enjoy them however they want
I don't have any problem in giving old or used books a nrw life. The only ones I will not touch are religious books. Respect!
So fun giving new life to books and other items around the house
As a writer, English professor and life-long book lover, I must confess the first time I saw someone "gutting a book" in the name of junk journaling...I nearly threw up. hahhahhah.
However, I've gotten over that and have gutted quite a few of my own and altered a good number of books too. I see it as just one more way to enjoy and love books. Most of the books I use for art/crafts come from thrift shops and will likely end up in a landfill sooner rather than later. So we're giving them a new life, keeping them in the world and out of the trash. There are, of course, books I wouldn't dream of cutting up or altering (other than to write in the margins, I've long practiced the art of marginalia, lol. ) For me, there's a line of demarcation between books for crafting and books for learning/reading. I have NO trouble turning a vintage math book into an art journal, but have a pristine collection of vintage and antique English grammar books and old books of classic literature.
This was a fun video.
Ooh how fun, I really want to annotate my books I read but haven’t been able to bring myself to do it yet. So funny when I’m fine cutting other ones up for art. I got some transparent sticky notes for Christmas so I can get started that way - hehe
@@JuniDesiree Hahhaha, start writing in the margins of a thrifted book...tip toe into it. In no time, you'll be having full on conversations with the author, yourself and the text 🤓
I had one book (Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way) that I read several years in a row. Each year I read it, I used a different color pen...I read it so often, it was so full of my notes and thoughts, etc. I had to get myself a clean copy 😂