"Extraordinary Life"

This is the new visual journal I have just begun. I am often asked for more photos including more detail of my journals, so I have included a few. All these photos enlarge to see more detail.

This started out as a spiral journal I found in a clearance bin for $3.00. When I got it home I had decided that the covers were too thin and flimsy and set it aside. I have now run across it again and decided that I could beef up the covers to make it more suitable for my purposes.

The cover had a very slick high gloss surface so I sanded it down just enough to break the shine somewhat and then glued heavy boxboard to the covers. After having collaged the surfaces I saw that the boxboard was popping loose from the original covers. The original covers seemed to have an almost plastic like surface that I obviously didn't sand down far enough to create a strong bond between surfaces.

I liked what I had already done on the journal, so rather than start over I decided to "sew" the two surfaces together with some vintage rayon ribbon I have. Most often mistakes lead to the most wonderful solutions. I would never have thought to do this otherwise.

And while this doesn't seem like a very humble title for my journal, all I can say is that I do indeed believe my life is extraordinary, and I would hope everyone thinks that way about theirs. As always, the photos I put on my blog (plus more) can be viewed in the "Gallery" section on my website.