The 3 Reasons Why I Always Make My Own Journals

I’m back with another YouTube video of the week! In this video I basically explain my handmade book and journal making obsession.

I started making handmade books three decades ago in Los Angeles with the Society for Calligraphy of Southern California. I had also jumped onto the new scrapbooking bandwagon at about that time, although I had really always been a photo and memory keeper. This was just when scrapbooking became more of a fancy, art supply heavy, paper crafting art form with a big emphasis on hand lettering and doodling.

I spent a really long time as a professional in the paper crafting world, and I co-owned a printing company for 15 years. We had mountains of gorgeous colored papers and envelope. This is the water that I have always swam in!

After I retired from that business and found my way back into making art for myself, and not for other people, making my own books and journals was the most incredibly natural thing that I could end up doing! When I saw what other artists were doing with junk journals and handmade books, I was feeling like I had immediately found a tribe that I could be really happy with.

Once I began constructing my own handmade books again, I just couldn’t stop. I wanted to explore this craft in ways that I never could have dreamed of three decades earlier when I made by first book at a calligraphy workshop.

In this YouTube video, you will discover the top 3 reasons why I always make my own art and junk journals.

Reason #1: I want to have precise control over the paper that is in the journal, book or sketchbook.

Reason #2: There is just nothing like the feel of a Willa Journal. From the weight of it in the hand to the tactile experience of from the fabrics that make up the cover, there is just something absolutely magical about these handmade journals! I would never go back to commercially made art journals for my valuable play time! Personalized fabrics, buttons and embellishments that make up the covers that give every journal a personalized design full of creative expression, making handmade books is the way to go for art journaling enthusiasts.

Reason #3: The materials that I select to put into the cover and the insides of these journals contains meaning and memory for me, and there is just nothing like that feeling of, “Oh! That fabric is a remnant of a project that I did in college with my best friend Becki!” and here I am over thirty years later incorporating it into my art.

I JUST LOVE THAT.

There are so many resources and courses (big and small!) for making unique handmade books and journals at Willa Workshops.

Make sure you check them out here.

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