A Noteworthy Accordion Journal!

I purchased all the supplies to do an Acrylic Pour almost a year ago, but just didn't find the time to get all the supplies out and try it!  I was finally inspired to do so and created this small 3.5" x 2.5" accordion fold journal!

I sponged the edges of the watercolor paper pages to give a little color inside using Eileen Hull's new Clear Snap Blends 2 Inks.

Here's how it all started - getting out the acrylic inks, the Media Board, the Pouring Media, Cell Creator, mixing cups, stirring spoons and pouring bottles.  (You can just pour from the cups but I wanted more control so put the mixes into pouring bottles).  I have small glass containers (from yogurt and cocktail shrimp!) to place the media board on as I poured the inks and to hold them up as they dry.  I used a pizza box under the piece I was pouring and had cardboard under the area I let them dry on, on top of the glass containers.

You add acrylic paint to the Pouring Media in a 1 part paint to 3 part Pouring Media ratio.

You stir it well and then add 1-7 drops of Cell Creator into each color (the Cell Creator creates bubbles in the ink as you pour it, like underwater sea bubbles) - less drops create large bubbles, more drops create tiny bubbles.  You need to test it yourself to see the results!

Then you pour or dribble the colors onto the panel, lifting the panel and tilting it or spreading the color with a brush, add some more color, until you are happy with how it looks!
I ended up making all of these pieces in various sizes from the amount I had mixed above. 

After drying overnight, the panels looked dull to me -  so I sprayed them with a clear acrylic spray so they would shine.  You can leave them as is depending on what look you want.

Then I created the accordion pages for my covers.  These particular covers are 2.5 x 3.5" and so I cut 4 pieces of watercolor paper 3 1/2" x 10" scoring on the 10" side at 2 1/2", 5" and 7 1/2".  Then you accordion fold them, one forward one backward, etc.   This ended up giving me 24 total surfaces - 12 on the front and 12 on the back.  You can use less pieces for less page surfaces.

I laid out the pieces over lapping the ends and glued them together at the overlaps.  The panel on each end will be glued to the covers.

I wanted a little color on the pages but just on the edges so there would be plenty of space to journal on them and watery enough so journaling could even be done over the colors with a dark enough pen or marker. 

I used Eileen Hull's new Clear Snap Blends 2 inks in Pansy, Wildberry, Leaf, Beach and Golden - similar colors to the acrylic paints on the covers.  I dropped some of each color on my craft mat, sprayed librally with water and then dipped a sponge into the color and pounced it on the page - either top and side, or bottom and side, alternating.  I added more water to the inks on the mat until I had the look I wanted - you can see my practice panel along the bottom and the finished pages behind the bottles of ink.

So now it was time to assemble the little journal.  I took the two covers and decided which one I wanted on the front (although it can open from either side so it isn't really directional!)

I put glue on the first panel of the accordion page strip, and laid a piece of wrinkled seam tape over the center, having the tape long enough to wrap around the journal twice with a little extra!  You want the ribbon to come out of the right side of the cover.

Then I pressed the cover onto the glued page pressing firmly all over and then laying a heavy book over it to hold it while it dried.  Then I did the same with the other cover and the last page of the accordion strip (without the seam tape).

Here you see it opened

Here it is closed.  

I wrapped the wrinkled seam tape around the journal twice and then just slipped the end under the ribbon and it holds it closed nicely - and then it's easy to open as well.

View from the back.

Please check out Eileen's blog during the month of June to see how the rest of the Creative Team has used her Blends 2 Inks!

I'm also linking my accordion journal to:

Mini Album Makers

Paper:  Media Board - Dina Wakley/Ranger, Watercolor Paper - Canson
Inks: Clearsnap Blends 2 - Pansy, Wildberry, Leaf, Beach, Golden.
Accessories: Acrylic Paints: Olive, Mgenta, Eggplant, Ocean - Dina Wakley/Ranger, Metallic Stickers:Quotations - Tim Holtz/Idea-ology, wrinkled seam tape, Tombow Glue,  Pouring Media and Cell Creator - Dina Wakley/Ranger, pouring bottles, cups and stirring spoons, empty pizza box, small glass jars.