On My Way

Driven by a Need

My life is always changing. I’m one of those people that if you knew me a year ago, you need serious updates to catch up. It is very difficult to keep up with this in any sort of planner or task list. I am always bouncing back and forth between apps, notepads, dot grid journals – you name it. I’ve always preferred the style of a traveler's journal, but didn’t like the fact that I couldn’t add random papers from my life into them. If I’m ever to keep up with my ever changing life in one single format, then it had to be a flexible format that I could adapt any way I needed.

As stated, so many things in my life change – my career, my goals, my energy. One thing that is always there is my creativity and my love for all things creative. I get moody if I go too long without being intentionally creative, the same way someone might get hangry if they go a few hours too many without food. My favorite arts are the ones that mix medias. Sometimes that’s mixing pencil, charcoal, and blendy pens on a canvas, and other times that’s making a craft out of a variety of materials and techniques that aren’t usually part of that craft.

I decided to make myself a traveler's journal that met my needs. At first, I assumed it would take a brainstorm process, buying the supplies, and then a few hours of work. Instead, it has become a journey that I am not done with yet.

Foundational Pieces

I started with a reclaimed cover I got from a thrift store. It seems to be custom woodwork – decorated with a musical note symbol. I wish I knew who the original artist was, but the only marking on it is the stain from the thrift store grease pencil. It has two thin holes punched in both the front and back cover, for using string to bind it to its contents. The front cover has two hinges for opening. I would have to replace the hinges to make the cover stay flat, but that is very doable. I knew that whatever else I did, I wanted to incorporate this cover.

I also knew that the width of the contents would need to change drastically, and that I needed it to lie flat when opened. After some brainstorming, I decided a flexible spine was best, and got two pieces of cut leather for it. Between the two pieces would go card stock, to give added support. I knew I would need to sew them together, and began to imagine an embroidered piece on it.

The more I brainstormed the embroidered piece, the more I realized that the holes through the leather would have to be very minimal and far between, otherwise the spine wouldn’t have the structural support it needed. This, naturally, altered my embroidery style as I started. I also found that I had to anchor the thread with something, so I looked to my button options and found gear shaped buttons. The embroidery started to become 3D.

A Life of its Own

I should probably mention the design I’m working into the spine. I’ve been researching my ancestry, and the culture that they would have had, and have become very intrigued by Baba Yaga. She has been the subject of most of my art the past few years, and I wanted this piece that I carry with me to be an important part of that overall work.

At some point, inspired by the gears making the embroidery 3D, I decided to lean in and see what else I could work with in the process of making her. I had a bag full of doll clothes that I had recently been given, as well as a damaged porcelain doll that caught my interest at a thrift store. I decided to use these, and other materials, to make her clothes and her hair. I have cut and sewn in her hair and babushka (head scarf), and I realized that the original plan for an embroidered face will simply not be visible in the middle of them. Now I am brainstorming a carved-book effect for her face, using glued together scrap paper I found in one of the thrift store office-variety mystery bags I bought.

Between the Covers, Mostly

The cover itself was not the only aspect of the traveler's journal, of course. There will also be a piece of leather that is twice the size of the back cover, glued to the inside of the back cover so that half of it hangs off. On the loose half, there will be pen holders on both sides. On the end there will be a loop to catch a button, and both the inside and the outside of the spine will have a button on them. I’ll be able to change whether the pen holder is inside or outside the cover depending on what I need at the time.

Another feature is the strings – if you’ve ever paid much attention to traveler's journals, you’ll know that the inserts are held in by one sort of string or another, and that most come with anywhere from three strings to maybe six. One of the things I know that I need is a lot of string options. I need to have plenty that go the entire length of the book, and a few pairs wound together with a bead on them in a way that I can adjust the bead to make the insert opening smaller or larger. This will allow me to stick a tiny notepad in at the top, and a small store bought planner underneath it, for example.

The final aspect of my plan is the variety of things to put inside of it. I got self-threading barrel nuts to make a temporary booklet of anything that has been hole punched. I have report cover spines and folders, as well as notebooks that are more classically traveler's journal style. I also have padding glue for the occasion that I want a custom to do list pad.

Vision in Progress

I’ll be able to have each subject have it’s own section, and be as simple or complex with it as my life needs at the moment. Dividers can be made to stick out beyond the others so I can always find what I need quickly. Work, home life, culture, and creativity can all be included in ways that acknowledges and makes room for the complicated and messy things that are all or none of those things.

I started on a practical craft to help me solve a problem, and have found myself inspired to combine art, religion, and problem solving to make something beautiful. Projects like this live and grow. I become the child in science class, again, asking what happens if we try this. Often, it feels like they breathe happiness back into my routine – renewing my sense of wonder. And working on it feels like having a conversation with an old friend.