SUPPLIES NEEDED:
A magazine
Tissue Paper
Scissors
Rubber Cement
White Glue
Water
Foam Paint Brush
Ribbon / Fibers
A Charm
Other images / embellishments of your choosing
Process:
For the purposes creating an altered journal from a magazine, you can choose any magazine you like as your base. I suggest that you use one with a flat spine (as opposed to a stapled spine), but that is not a hard and fast rule. You can use any magazine, any style, that you wish. In the examples shown, we used vintage magazines from the 1950s.
Please note, nearly all magazine graphics and layout are copyrighted - so, the key to magazine collage lies in obscurring all the visible images. For this reason, it is not necessary to choose a magazine with lovely images or graphics. You will be painting over them, stamping on top of them, and gluing things to them, so the original graphics in the magazine are not important.
Also, I wouldn't use vintage magazines that are circa < 1950/1960. The paper will have a more difficult time withstanding "alteration" and, why would you want to cover up all those wonderful vintage images and text, anyway?
Once you have selected your magazine, you are ready to start.
In this workshop, we are going to focus primarily on the cover. After you have completed your cover, you can move on to working on the inner pages, using any number of techniques. Take your time, experiment, and have fun!
STEP ONE:
Choose a flat image that you like. I suggest that it be sized aproximately 1/4 the size of your cover. You can choose any image you want from your existing ephemera, or you can create an image by drawing, painting, or rubberstamping it.
Take the image and place it on your magazine cover. You have some artistic license here. You can place it in the middle of the cover, or to one side or another, off centered. Again, it is up to you.
Glue the image down on the magazine cover. I use rubber cement. Note that most rubber cement is not archival. I don't worry about that too much, I don't think my magazine journals are going to be archived anywhere, but who knows - my great grandchildren may be cursing me one day because my heirloom journals are all faded from the non-archival rubber cement I use. But I digress. I use rubber cement because it is somewhat forgiving when you press an image down (you can move the image if you need to, for a few moment, you can gently press bubbles out, etc.) and mostly - because it does set quickly.
STEP TWO:
Take a piece of tissue paper that is just about the exact size of your magazine cover, or a little larger. You can use any color or pattern. The darker the color / thicker the tissue, the more obscured the cover underneath will be by the tissue, after you have glued it down. White tissue, will end up being milky/transparent.
Place the tissue on top of your cover and determine where, located underneath your tissue - is the image you previously glued onto the cover. You may want to mark the middle of the image location, on your tissue, with a pen or pencil.
Now, lift your tissue up, and carefully rip out that section of the tissue - so that you end up with a hole that is just smaller than the picture that will peek out from underneath. Once you have ripped out the section of the tissue, place it back down on the cover of the magazine. Here are a couple examples:
STEP THREE:
I use a white glue wash on the tissue, to adhere it to the magazine cover. I hand blend my wash, and for tissue, a really light wash will work fine. Mix your glue and water until they are a consistency that is more watery than heavy cream, but less watery than whole milk. (Experiment, you'll get the hang of white glue washes if you practice with them a bit.) Do not use your rubber cement on the tissue. It will wrinkle and rip the tissue. (Tissue is too delicate.)
I also use a foam paint brush to brush on the glue wash. It works well for this purpose. The key here, is to load your brush VERY lightly. IE, do not get it sopping wet, just damp. Then, brush it over your entire magazine cover, including the edges of the image you glued down (but not over the top of the image.
Then, carefully and gently press your tissue into place, on top of the cover. Note that your tissue will not instantly adhere to your cover. That's ok. You really just wanted that first layer of dampness to help your tissue set and not slide around when you do the primary glue application. Before you add the primary application, gently press out any bubbles that you see. Do not worry too much about bubbles or tiny rips though, you can always embellish over them later, if necessary!
The primary white glue wash goes over the top of your tissue, once you have set it in place. This time, your brush can be a bit more wet (but not sopping.) You'll want to brush on enough that your tissue is damp and can be pressed down into place without curling up, but not so damp that it is ripping or sopping through the page. The key, again, is to start out light. Better to add more glue or moisture, than too much, in the beginning.
Once you have adhered your entire cover, you'll want to let the glue set/dry. If your tissue was larger than the cover, you may also want to gently rip or cut your tissue overlay to the correct size, at this time.
STEP FOUR
Once your tissue has dried, the next step we are going to work on, is a ribbon bookmark for your journal. You will want to use a piece of ribbon that is just about the same size, or slightly smaller in width - than your magazine spine. Length wise, the ribbon should be twice the size of your cover length (top to bottom) + about 5".
Once your ribbon is cut, take your charm, and tie it or otherwise affix it to the bottom of your ribbon, so that it dangles from the bottom.
Now take your rubber cement again (the glue wash is too light for this job) and paint the spine of your magazine with the glue.
Take the end of your ribbon that does not have the charm on it, and, starting at the bottom, press it up along the spine of your journal.
You will likely have to press and hold it for a while, while the glue sets. If you prefer a fabric glue or other strong hold glue for this purpose, use whatever works for you. Rubber cement will not work very well if your ribbon is pourous (such as gossamer).
When the glue has set, you can open your magazine to the middle (for now) and take the long end of your ribbon, and pull it down through the middle of the magazine, so the the charm hangs below, when the magazine is closed. The ribbon serves as both a spine reinforcement, and bookmark for your journal!
STEP FIVE:
Once your primary image is in place, your tissue cover has been adhered, and your spine has been reinforced - you are ready for the fun part. Embellishment! As with most collage and altered art - you can embellish with pretty much anything you want!
Ribbon, tickets, stamps, fibers, charms, tags.
The journal above used a paper doily instead of tissue, on the cover.
Creating Altered tags that can reside in library pockets are fun additions to altered journals.
Here is another example of an altered page, inside a magazine:
Magazine journals are a wonderful way to reuse/recycle old magazines. You are limited only by your imagination, and they are both satisfying and challenging to a new collage artist as well as skilled artisans. They are also fun for kids, and can make a special ongoing family activity. If you create a magazine journal - be sure and upload pictures into the Style Try magazine journal gallery! Have fun!
Extra thanks go to all the participants of ZNE's April 1, 2007 Altered Everything ~ Everything Altered Workshop. Photos of their wonderful works in progress accompany this online workshop.
Patricia Cowan Wilson, Julee Herrmann, Michelle A-Z, Kathryn Virello, Kathy Hansen, Darci Hammond
