Tag Archives: notebook

Another Midori Traveller Notebook Knock Off Idea

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I wanted to add 2 more journals to my MTNKO. I saw a blog post somewhere, I cna't remember the blog that added a additional pockets to the notebook through the use of a rubber band. I decided to use that idea to add 2 more notebooks. I wanted to have my general idea notebook, a notebook for PioP and another sketchbook. To do this hack you'll need the following:

A medium length thin rubber band or a loop of the elastic you used to make you MTNKO

2 Notebooks

Slide the rubber band through the center of one notebook then the other,so they are attached spine to spine. Slide one notebook under the notebook already in your MTNKO.

Here's a helpful video of the process.

 

 

State of the Weekend: An Everything Journal

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I was given another glimpse into just how powerful art journaling can be last night. I had an idea for Put it on Paper, something that I had rolled around in my brain once before and pushed off as not possible and not a very good idea at the time, but I’d made note of it in my art journals, made some doodles and wrote it down.

I quickly flipped through the last 2 journals where I knew the info to be, tabbed those pages with a little Post it flag, and then used my iPoo Touch to snap some pics, shelved the books and took the info with me, in my pocket. I sketched out a quick idea in my art journal of what I thought this idea could look like and emailed it to Jane. As I relaxed into bed, I reviewed the pages on my iPoo and made some fresh notes and doodles about the content of the proposal.

How amazing is it that I can carry 4 journal’s worth of info in my pocket? I read somewhere that someone scanned their notebook pages into their computer and used a specific program to make them searchable. How cool is that?

If you have an art only journal consider carrying an everything art journal with you everywhere, it will prove itself to be indispensible in short order. (Check out a variety of pockete sized notebooks for this, or make your own pockeet noteboook using my tutorial here.)

State of the Weekend

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It’s been a crazy few weeks. I had to help count inventory a while back for the DayJob and it threw me for a loop. I’ve been trying to get back on track ever since I was sick and having my schedule screwed up really just put me back to spinning my wheels in the rut again. This weekend was a good one for getting me back into the flow of things. Jane and I met and had a good cuppa at one of my favorite places, Atomic and then we took a walk in the park here in town. Where I sat and sketched and we talked about PioP, which is shaping up to be really really cool. I can’t wait for the reveal of what it is. It’s going to be awesome.
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This is the first sketching I’ve done in awhile. I could make a lot of excuses but I won’t. Honestly life has been flying at a million miles an hour and I find that instead of sketching or arting I make a few notes in my journal or veg out watching Hulu* at the end of the day. Fortunately though those notes are all forward progress, important tidbits of information. I’m looking forward to sharing those with you once everything is in place.
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I picked up a copy of Kerri Smith’s new book, “Finish This Book.” I’ll have a review on it here soon.I’ve also picked up a bunch of new fountain pens, some inks, a brush and a few other odds and ends. Hopefully this week I’ll get to writing up a bunch of reviews. That means I’ve got Thursdays covered. Hopefully I’ll be back on track with my blogging as well as my journaling. I've also been attempting to practice some "ultra light weight" journaling/sketching. It's centered around my Midori Traveller knock off. I"ll get a post up about that too. Lots of good stuff is in the works.

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Midori Traveler Style Notebook

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I've been using a knockoff of the Midori Traveler notebook system for about a year now. I decided to make one for a friend and while I was working on it  I tried a few things and really liked how it turned out. I then decided to make myself  a new one and a pocket sized version.

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I really like how deep and dark the leather is and how supple it's surface is while remaining stiff. I can't wait to put these through the ringer! For the large I used an edge of the hide that had numbers and letters cut into the surface. I buffed a ton of cold wax into the surface, which I used a light iron to heat into the leather, to really deeply impregnate it with the wax

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This time instead of punching a hole directly through the center of the cover I made 2 holes, one on either side of the "spine" area. This lets me use a smaller knot and I like how it holds things together.

While I was at it, I figured I'd make myself a strap for my camera. I made it a touch too long but  I do like it. The hardest part was finding a heavy duty clasp to hold it to the camera.

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Some construction notes: For thelarge notebook I started with a 9×13 inch sheet of leather and then trimmed it once I had the cover constructed. For the small I started with a 6×9 inche sheet of leather, which I again trimmed down excess once I had the elastic installed. In both of mine I'm using my own notebooks but the small would hold any 3.5×5.5 inch notebook, like a Moleskine Cahier, Doane pocket notebook, Bandit Carnet, field notes etc… Any of the small pocket sized notebooks would fit in the small size, and likewise for the large, any 5.5×8.5/9 inch sized notebook would fit.

One of a Kinds and not for Sales

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So I've been working on some one of a kind books and not for sales. The stitched covers I've been doing are inspired by a journal I purchased. I don't feel right selling them as they have been 100% inspired by Bastiano. Which if you haven't seen his work you should follow that there link and go to his flickr stream and check it out. It's not often I find a book artist whose works stops me dead. I follow most other book artists on flickr through a group. Bastiano and very few other I added to my flickr stream. Yes. I have obsessively followed him since I first saw his work and when I saw Sverige I had to have it. Currently. Sverige (I love that my new note book/ journal has it's own name squeee!) sits on my desk right now, where I just look at it. Yes seriously, right now I'm not ready to use him (it's a he) and I just look. I've got 2 other journals in the works before I even crack the cover.

I am inspired by the cover and the interior. But I don't want to riff on it too much, which is why I'm sticking to making anything similar as gifts, I WILL NOT be the a-hole who buys and reproduces and sells. that isn't cool. What I will do is pimp his stuff here. And I as a general rule don't do that.

The last journal that I was working on- the one made of magazine pages that was pissing me off (shall be named PO for PIssed off) and I had to rebind it? I finished it. The last few pages are like those in every journal I want to finish to rush to my next- rushed and hurried but… Done, completely. Filled to full, brimming with stupid hipster art and color, and shit glued to it's pages. Thanks to the rebinding the spine isn't straining too much and the newly waxed thread sits on the slippery tyvek spine much more easily than before.

Okay so for this weekend:

  • Crappy Pics of the gift journal- they will be here and facebook
  • More pics of the finished journal- most will be here only and NOT all on my flickr stream (video?)
  • Some pics of the Bastiano book
  • Some background photo tutorials 

I may take the evening off though. My allergies have been kicking my head around and I need a good long sleep, I may get home take my friday afternoon, after work nap and then go to bed, depending on how I feel. This weekend is supposed to be cooler and nicer here.

Totem Doodle

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I found this website via the Doodler's Anonymous twitter. It's epically cool and makes you think of what you can draw in a small square. My high school art teacerh (Mrs. Friedman) had an exercise where you were asked to grid off a page in 1 inch squares, it had tobe precise, she checked it, then in each square you had to make marks, had to come up with as many different marks as possible. You scored better if your marks were all diddferent or you came up with ideas to make the grid work with itself. You could cross your lines (no crosshatching and no scribbles). It's a great exercise for a lot of different work. I feel li ke the totem project is a rift on that.

Whe I'm partilarly blocked I go back to this or a riff on it. Sometimes I draw equal sized circles on a page in my journal and fill them in with marks or faces. I"ve also folded a sheet of paper into equal sized yet small sections and done the grid exercise. I'm not as militant about no scribbles or cross hatching, after all rules were made to be broken and the idea is to free myself to get out of the rut.

try making a few 2 inch squares in your journal, go ahead now fill them in…

Jotter Notebooks on Artfire Great Shades of Green with Unlined Paper

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More New Jotter Notebooks
Originally uploaded by lessherger

These jotters almost didn't make it to Artfire. I'm so in love with the shades of green on the covers of these notebooks these almost remained mine.IF I didn't already have a box full of jotters these would have been mine. My loss is everyone's gain 'cause they are on ArtFire here.

You can also follow the link to the images of these on Flickr and see more pictures of jotters and other notebooks.

Back on track

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The weather here is miserable and has
been on and off since the middle of December. As a non-essential
member of staff I am often able to work my schedule around the
weather and today is one of those days. Thank god, the idea of
driving anywhere in this garbage is pretty bad.

My father has been hard at work on the
sewing cradles on the farm in Maine. He has a bunch finished and you
can find them in the supply section of my shop. Each fits perfectly
into a USPS Priority Mail Shoes box. They now fit a 12inch high sheet
of paper and he has rounded the bottom edge for a smoother look. He's
kept the basic design and simplicity of the item. They still come in
a simple linseed oil finish, rubbed on. The linseed oil finish is
used instead of a slick hard finish so that paper will not slide
around on the wood but he natural grain and texture of the wood will
hold signatures in place while they are being punched.

I've also made a ton of matchbook
notebooks. They are 99% recycled, all the paper and covers are
recycled but the staples are a virgin material. (Many staples are
made of recycled steel but I am not sure about the heavy duty staples
I'm using.) I've switched to a 6 pack for $5.99 and will give
discounts for bulk purchases. You can find them in the recycled
section of my shop. Say I love you AND the environment by getting
someone special some recycled journal for valentines day!