I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to take on 32 journals...
I had these prints for a long time and knew I wanted them to become journal covers. So, I went through them and decided I couldn't choose which ones to do. I did them all!
If you want to check them out, here they are.
Things I learned:
Do your covers first. These ones needed a reinforcement to stiffen the covers up a bit. Enter: Thicker patterned paper...
Do EVERYTHING to your covers before you even THINK about pages, binding, ephemera, etc. I chose to sew around the covers for added edge protection - you know how it is to glue edges - you end up missing something.
I added pages first. This meant that I had to separate the covers from the pages in order to work on each cover - I did this every time to every cover which was very time consuming.
Don't change your mind mid-project. If you have a plan, stick to it. (Maybe changing midstream works for you, but this one is a definite reminder for myself!)
I decided at the last minute to add things and change things around. This ended up adding lots of extra hours to the entire process. I added bookplates and turned pages into pocket pages and folded flaps instead of cutting edges off of everything. This ended up being confusing as hell!
Cut your pages smaller than the covers! This one I already know but it seemed to have slipped my mind completely when cutting pages for these journals. All of my pages were the same size as my covers so I had to go and recut edges in order for them to fit in properly. Double cutting = lots of extra time added to the final project.
As I mentioned above, I used some of the larger pages as added flip-outs and pocket pages which I am pretty happy with the outcome of, except I had to alter the sizes of those pages, also, because I didn't remember the page size : cover size ratio.
Bind with the right size thread. I ended up running out of wax linen thread. So, I tried using a thinner waxed thread which went miserably. It loosened the binding up and I ended up having to redo it all over. All worked out fine because I used colored twine on the rest of them which I really liked!
Things I Am Happy About...
All of the pages in each journal (12 individual sheets of paper = 48 writing surfaces). I color coordinated the pages to the covers. There are old ledger pages, gorgeous dyed paper, misc. forms, graph & engineering paper, etc. All blank pages - perfect writing journal!
Beaded spines are so much fun. Binding can be a little tough and keeping it tight enough to hold it all together with beads on the spine can be tricky at times, but overall, I really love the look of the beaded spines. It really adds that much more flair to each journal.
Reinforcing the covers so they are a little stiffer. It really makes a difference in how it feels to open a journal with a nice, thick cover. It gives it a more professional, sturdy feeling. I was going to add pockets inside the cover but decided to leave the customization completely up to the recipient. I wanted to keep them affordable and basic.
These are available for sale on my site, however, I made them with a few local craft fairs in mind. I wanted them to be attractive to the creator (like us crazy paper people!) but also to the average person who wanted something pretty to write in.
After talking with a few non-crazy paper people, I learned that heavily embellished journals are intimidating to a person who doesn't see a vision for it. Paper crafters see the potential in all of the pockets, tucks, tags, cards, ephemera. The average person doesn't see it that way. The blank slate of these journals make them enticing to the person who wants to add things to them and the person who just needs a journal in their life.
Overall, I would mass-make journals again. As a matter of fact, I have a few little mass-make projects in the works for my craft fairs coming up, so stay tuned for more info on those! These journals are much smaller, though, so I find them to be easier to handle.
Don't worry - I will be following my own advice here! I have learned some valuable lessons from this mass-make session!
Total project hours: Approx. 16
Hours wasted on extra steps: I'd say about 6 of those hours.
Having space to work on them and papers organized in a way I can get to them, makes it much easier, though!
If you're interested in purchasing, you can find them here.
Tell me the tales of your mass-make journeys. What were your favorite projects to mass-make? What lessons did you learn from them?
~M