I am cross-training here – LOL. The lines between my Art Journaling Every Day participation and The Sketchbook Challenge are totally blurred.

A few weeks ago, at the end of March sometime, Sue Bleiweis did a post on the Sketchbook Challenge about tissue paper, brayers and altered books.  I had everything except a piece of plastic or glass, so I thought I would give it a shot. I went to the junk store and bought a picture in a frame with glass on it for 87 cents and now I have my glass palette or glass cutting sheet. It is even easy to handle because of the frame.

I used a book from another junk store foray – an old book of plans for making furniture. I don’t know if the pictures are clear enough for you to see the plans in the depths on the left side.

This venture is sending  me in a whole new direction for altered books. Up until now I have invented a theme and made the book along the theme. This will be a book altered into a journal. Maybe. Hmmm -  I could have the theme “Hidden Agendas,” or “Vague Plans,” or how about “Obscure Pasts?” Lots of possibilities once the thinking cap goes on.

I tried several different ways of adding the tissue; covering the entire page with painted tissue, covering the left side with almost clear sheets, cutting the page and separating for a pattern, putting leftover strips on the left, or tearing and gluing small pieces. I found putting strips or pieces down was easier. No wrinkles for one thing.

Sue was talking about seeing images in the paint blobs and you know – she’s right! I can see people in the paint.  I see them better once they are up on the computer screen and maybe this will be my entry into digital collage – no, no – not another path to follow!

That is some of my home made decorative tape holding the above pages in. I can see using my tape on the outer edges too. Happily I have a huge stack of painted papers and many more pages in the book. I expect I will be doodling along on this piece for years to come.

Talk about blurring the edges – the grid idea came from the Strathmore Online Visual Journal workshop with Linda Blinn. She shows making grids from rubbing over a pocket page. I rubbed pastels over some tissue paper laid on a cardboard that we punched game pieces out of. [Note to self: That was probably an incorrect sentence structure.]

I was planning to get the pages covered all the way through, but why wait? I can doodle, collage and sketch now that I have the first ten pages. When I get stopped or stuck I’ll just go back to adding more tissue to the next ten pages. YAY!

Yes I know I am doing this all backwards – see the pocket? I will have to be careful once I decide what to do to the cover, because I love the first spreads!