I altered an old hardback book to make an art journal by removing the inner pages and stitching the folded prints using a simple bookbinding stitch. When I choose a book to alter, I want to make sure that it has a stitched binding, not a glued one. Notice in the picture below the gap between the book cover and the binding. This is what I want so that I can remove the pages with ease. I use an craft knife to remove the pages from the cover. I save the pages for other projects. I alter the cover by glueing my Gelli prints on with matte medium, then reinforce the spine by adding duct tape. I fold my prints into signatures and trim to fit. The signatures consist of 4 prints stacked and folded. Depending on how wide the spine is will depend on how many signatures can go into the art journal. Using this method allows the book and the pages to lay flatter. The finished one pictured below has 4 signatures sewn in.
The last picture includes some of the supplies i use and is a journal that i am currently working on. I used my camera stencils for many of the prints that will go inside in addition to the cover. The spine is wider so I think I can fit 5 signatures. Incidentally, 1 signature with 4 sheets of paper folded in half has 16 pages (front and back.) So there is lots of opportunity to create an artistic scrapbook and/or art journal.
