Eileen Hull Wrapped Journal: Part 1

The Eileen Hull Wrapped Journal Bigz die that I had pre ordered arrived this week and I couldn't resist making one straight away.  I don't have extender plates with my ebosser, but managed to use the die anyway.  By the time you read this I will be getting ready to go to Berlin with a school trip, so I am preparing items for my blog in advance.  This post shows how I decorated the inside of the journal and tomorrow I will share what I did with the outside.

I cut the journal out of a large piece of heavy cardboard packaging as it is too big for a piece of A4 or 12" x 12" card.  Luckily, I have sufficient left over for 2 or 3 more journals.  Because I don't have extender plates,  I cut the journal in two passes through the ebosser, moving the cutting mat as needed in between.

Both sides of the cover were given a coat of Amsterdam black gesso, drying each thoroughly.

To decorate the inside, I cracked open another set of 6 Amsterdam acrylics from my box of 72.  I smeared Permanent Red Purple, Quinacridone Rose,  Quinacridone Rose Light and Light Rose over the background using an old season card and my fingers.

Next I added stamping using three of the IndigoBlu Collector's Edition stamps; #3, #4 and #16.  Initially, I stamped the numbers and letters using Archival ink in Magenta Hue and Vibrant Fuchsia.  However when I swapped over to using the Light Rose Amsterdam acrylic, watered down a little to add the Cross Hatching, I preferred the effect.

I went back and re stamped the numbers and letters in Caput Mortuum Violet and Primary Magenta Amsterdam acrylic paint, again slightly watered down.

For the next layer I switched to Versamark ink and heat embossed in Extra Detail Copper EP.  I went over the whole background with an anti static pad, then stamped the Circle Dot Background from IndigoBlu over three sections.  I left the spine with the holes blank as it will be hidden by the signatures when I get that far.  I love the subtle but textured effect that this gives.  I will be using copper coated elastic to add the signatures, so the heat embossing will tie in.

Finally,  I watered down some Light Rose acrylic and used a fan brush to add spatters.