Friday 28 March 2014

Bird Journal No.1





My first try on making a book with coptic stitch binding. The book covers are made from heavy cardboard on which I used acrylic colours, some lace, designer paper, old book pages and a watercoloured quick sketch of a bird (done after a photograph).






I also covered the covers' insides with some lovely designer paper that matches the theme of my little watercolour.






On the outsides I used DecoArt Americana acrylic colours "Dusty Rose" and "Sea Glass" alongside some white DecoArt Acrylic Gesso, which I applied with a palette knife.






The edges of the covers were heavily scraped with the blade of a carpet knife to roughen them for a more shabby look.




I also roughened the edges of the designer paper before glueing it to the cover.





I like the look of the Coptic stitch binding although I 'm not sure if I did all the stitching as it should be done. But as my book doesn't fall apart the binding obviously seems to work. But I will definitely have to practise on this ;)






As I wanted my sketch to be finished quickly, I did the watercolouring with some Distress stains and a brush. Before that I had to seal the pencil drawing with some hairspray so not to smudge it when applying the watercolours.





xoxo