Coptic Stitch Art Journal

I am so excited.  Many years ago I saw a coptic bound book and fell in love with that type of binding.  I have made several attempts to make a coptic bound book over time but along the line my stitches went awry somewhere and I would give up disgusted.  Many of my daily blog wanderings are to places where amazing artists show their art journals.  I've wanted to try it, but didn't have a real journal (my excuse as quite frankly it's intimidating for me to delve into "art" when I really do "crafty stuff") so I put it off.  But the other day when  I ran across France's video showing her process (see previous post) I was completely inspired.  I pulled up my Big Girl Panties and went to work creating my own art journal.

I had a pad of watercolor paper that has been sitting on my shelf for years.  I ripped those pages out, folded them in half and used them for the signatures for my book.  Initially the plan for the covers was to use the cardboard base of the watercolor pad - very sturdy bookboard-like pressed board - but I cut it wrong (argh!) so instead used some less-sturdy but still workable cardboard.  The cover is embellished with inks and stamps, old sheet music and pieces of a page protector (the stems).  I brushed Mod Podge over the whole thing to protect the surface and can say that I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

For the binding I used bakers twine that I ran across a candle a few times so that it would move smoothly through the holes.  Look ma!  Coptic stich binding...finally!

 

This type of binding is ideal for something like an art journal because when you open it the pages lay completely flat.  So now I have no more excuses for not exercising my creative muscles.  Here we go...