Summer Journals

On Tuesday the girls and I visited my friend's bookbinding studio to make summer journals. She is an amazing book artist and has become quite an inspiration to the girls. I really like giving my girls the chance to work with artists and crafters in their studios.




We created big, bound journals that took just about all day to make. Here is Lou binding her book. It was a difficult project for her, but she did a great job and needed very little help.






Here they are doing the last part--decorating the cover. We used marbelized paper that Hels had made last year.





Here's my journal. You can see the binding where we used beautiful waxed thread and beads to make a pattern. My intention is to use our journals this summer as we explore wild flowers, the birds in our yard and other bits of nature.


My mother gave Hels this lovely wild flower book, written in 1893. I love book designs from around the turn-of-the century, and this cover is one of the loveliest I have seen. Each flower entry includes a detailed line-drawing and description along with quotes from poetry, indian lore, or other anecdotes.


In this entry she says that the Meadow Lily's blossoms look a bit like "fairy-caps" which "would make dainty head gear for any of the dim inhabitants of the wonder-land." I love it!

I VOW I will get the kids out drawing in these journals this summer. They've already begun. Lou has fallen in love with birds and has begun to explore just a bit.