Art of Journals

 Every once and awhile I feel compelled to create something reasonably useful. I have always been obsessed with books and journals and find a certain sense of satisfaction in creating my own. It's a lot of work but the end product is pretty fancy.
This journal started off with an abstract watercolour painting which served as the background for the covers as well as a matching bookmark. I painted the floral design in gold leaf and adhered the paintings to my cover boards which I also painted gold. The paintings are sealed with varnish and somewhat water resistant.
I cut all of the inside paper to size and fold it into signatures and then glue some fancy paper to the outside of the fold to create a colourful spine for my journal. Then I stitched it all together and glued in my end papers.The coptic binding stitch allows the journal to open flat without damaging the spine.
I probably spent about 4 hours total creating this journal from start to finish. I was at my cabin this last weekend and sat in front of a roaring fire stitching it together. The process is rather cathartic and relaxing, much like writing in a journal. 
I sell these journals in my second Etsy shop: Das Buch and hope that they will be appreciated as tangible useful art, or at least give someone a fancy book to scribble notes in!