Gel Plate Hack & Altered Book Junk Journal Supplies

How to Make Junk Journals and ALtered Books

In this video tutorial we discuss the books and supplies you need to make junk journals and altered books. We also learn a quick and easy hack for a gelli plate alternative. Altering books, also known as repurposing, is one of my favorite art forms. It is so much fun to play with books by altering them however you wish. Whatever makes you happy is all that really matters!

Books for Altering or Junk Journaling

I have found that thrift stores, such as Goodwill, and Dollar Stores are a great place to find perfect books for altering. I often find books for one dollar or less. Books with good text, illustrations, poems of subject matter like music for a music themed book…There are so many options to look for. Older books with aged paper are especially interesting to me. Distressing paper to give it an aged appearance is a popular method of altering the pages and producing a nice aged patina. If the book pages are in really bad condition you may decide not to alter the pages in the book. Not to worry though, since you can use the text or pages over other pages, for example.

Photograph albums with windows (also called doorways) are great for repurposing. Old photo negatives set in a hole cut out from windows that can be seen from both sides is one cool method. Children’s nursery song and rhyme books with colorful illustrations are ideal.

There is no need to cut into high value books, first editions, or rare books. Old yearbooks are fun. I especially like the hairdos and illustrations. I find that blank composition books for children with divided pages are splendid for art journaling because the top half can be used for writing and the bottom half for art. How cool is that?

Fun Junk Journal Techniques

In this series, we will learn the following techniques:

• folding pages for pockets…
• cutting and pasting…
• drilling holes for beads and beading…
• staining…
• folding pages to create pockets…
• stamping or stenciling things like parts of old maps…
• there are so many options!

Inexpensive Gel Plate Hack

Gel plates can be quite expensive. Printing without a gelli plate or gelatin plate is easy and fun. My low cost gelli plate alternative is a thick piece of tempered glass. Mine came from an old side table top. In this video I show you how to use watercolors for the gel prints. Most people use acrylics when gel printing.

Index cards can be set on or dragged through wet paint on the faux gel plate. The fun is all about the process! You can splatter water with your brush or mix colors to embellish. Purple and aqua combo is a beautiful mix. When dry, the cards can be stamped or stenciled. Just play with it, have fun, and remember that happy accidents can happen! A lot can be accomplished in five minutes or less! Wash your brush when finished. Cleanup is easy with watercolors.

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