Special Commission: Fabric Island Journal

Now that the holiday season is over, I can finally share with you a special journal commissioned as a surprise Christmas gift for a very talented jewelry-maker, writer and all around crafty lady… who also happens to be one of my collectors. I decided to create a horizontal format journal because all the experts say this helps free up your writing. (Plus, as the maker of handmade journals, I wanted to create something that couldn’t be bought in a store. Commercially made or mass-produced horizontal journals are rare). I used acid free drawing paper made from 100% windpower, 30% post-consumer fiber and colored drawing pages from Canson acid free Mi Tientes paper so that the recipient could both draw and write with no fear of ink bleeding.

In fact, I threw in a couple of colored pages here and there just in case she’s a fan of the sparkly gel or paint pens. I bound the journal using a gorgeous teal colored, waxed linen thread and simple Coptic stitch, which allows the journal to lie completely flat – perfect for the serious journaler and versatile enough for both drawing and writing. (Not to mention, to the untrained eye, Coptic binding looks like knitted stitch. It’s a creative journal dream come true!)

Fabric Island. Encaustic & mixed media on paper. 4 x 6. © 2009 Haley Nagy.

Finally, I inlayed a small encaustic painting into the cover in the hopes that it would inspire the journal owner’s creative juices. This mixed media work was distressed to look like an old photograph or screen print. It includes imagery from my photographs of the Textile Discount Outlet in Chicago: This crafter’s Mecca is a 3 story warehouse filled with hundreds of bolts of fabric, spanglies, tassles and fun little thinga-ma-jigs. The perfect mental destination for a creative journaler.

Send me a message to find out how you can commission a journal just like this for a special person in your life (or for yourself – I won’t tell). Don’t forget to check my Etsy site too – I’ll be adding more of these pre-made journals in the very near future.