Are you a junk journaler? I don’t have much experience with junk and art journaling, but I still enjoy diving into this craft from time to time. I must admit that I find some of the materials and techniques a little mystifying. I don’t have many traditional supplies other than a few rubber stamps, which I am not good at using. My pages are amateurish. I find texture paste a little scary, and I still confuse gesso and gel medium.

But that is one of the best things about junk journaling. You don’t have to have all the expensive supplies, and you don’t have to be an expert to enjoy the process of building up a design on your page.

But to start, you need a journal. So, this post is all about preparing junk mail catalogs for junk journaling. Best of all, you probably have everything you need on hand.

The supplies I am using are:

• Junk Mail Catalogs
• White House Paint
• White Glue
• Baking Soda
• Baby Powder
• Paint Brush
• Popsicle Stick
• Hair Dryer
• Small Bowls
• Measuring Spoons
• Page Protection (I’m using the backing from contact paper)

Step 1 – Combining Pages

The first step is to make sturdier pages, and to do this, I usually combine two to three pages together using white glue. To start, I find the center of the catalog and work from the center to the front and then from the center to the back. How many pages you want to combine is up to you, but I like to have a few extra pages for the front and back to make them sturdier. So count out your pages and decide how many pages you want for each finished page.

For this catalog, I combined three pages into one, so I counted out my three pages and then inserted my page protectors, brushed on the white glue mixed with a bit of water to help it spread more easily, and then pressed the pages together.

To make sure I had a good seal along the edges and the pages as smooth as possible, I used the popsicle stick to press the edges together. Then, I just repeated the process until all my pages were combined.

Step 2 – DIY Gesso

I already mentioned that I mix up gesso and gel medium, but the truth is that I have never really used either one. Historically, I have just used white paint to prime my pages, but I am trying to improve my skills, so I decided to at least try the gesso thing.

But me being me, I couldn’t justify buying gesso. Happily, there are many DIY options. Below is the recipe that I used.

I started by mixing the dry ingredients and then the paint and glue, and lastly, I slowly added the water to achieve a thick but spreadable consistency.

Step 3 – Applying Gesso

I know this may sound a bit dorky, but I really enjoyed the process of applying the gesso. It goes pretty quickly. I used my hair dryer to dry the pages for a couple of minutes, and then the gesso was dry enough to flip the page and move on. I also really like the way the pages feel. They are quite different than the pages that I primed with white paint or, if I am honest, sometimes not primed at all.

Sometimes, when I am junk journaling, I can feel the stress of messing up my page or the disappointment of how the page is coming along, but this gesso step is stress-free and relaxing. I am sure the music and the wine also helped, but I have gone from a “who needs gesso” person to a true believer.

So I made a few more. 🙂

Happy Upcycling,

Cindy

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