E521 Abundance and Joy! Journal good - Handmade Wool Felt, Resist Dyed Coptic Stitched

Resist Dyed, Hand Felted Journals
Coptic Stitched Journal - Handmade Felt and Waxed Linen

Abundance and Joy can be yours! This beautiful and magical journal can help you create abundance, joy and success in your life when you write your positive thoughts and wishes here. When you mindfully focus your intention on your desires miracles happen!

I love journals. I can't say that I always love journaling, however I do love the results I get when I journal. As I take the time to go within and write about my thoughts, feelings and the events of my life, I open myself to healing, joy and love. I let go of fear.

These journals were exceptionally fun to create. I have been making felt for many years and I was ready for a new technique to jump start my love of feltmaking. During the summer of 2011, I took a class from Chad Hagen at Sievers School of Fiber Arts. She taught me the fun of resist dying and introduced me to the art of book binding. I learned about making signatures (the pages in good a book), and sewing them to create the spine of the journal using a “Four Needle Coptic Binding Stitch”. I learned a beautiful new edging stitch. I learned to let go and enjoy the process because these books are very detail orientated (Like me!) and involve many hours (about 8) to create.

This felt was made by me by hand using pre-carded batts of Merino wool. I used hot soapy water and the agitation of my hands to make the felt. By kneading the batt like bread dough and using moisture, the scales on the fibers of the wool open up and attach themselves permanently to each other to create felt. Resist dying is a technique using metal clips and other objects and attaching them to the felt before placing the whole thing into a dye bath. There are three consecutive dye baths ranging in color value from light to dark. Before placing the felt in each bath, the wool is re-folded and the metal pieces are clipped in a different order. The pattern created is always random and surprising!

My journals contain six signatures. Each signature is composed of six sheets of high quality writing paper. Each sheet is folded in half. I used waxed linen to stitch both the binding and the decorative edging. For stability, the felt is glued to recycled book board. The glue is a polyvinyl acetate adhesive. This is a hard cover journal.

The decorative Mother-of-pearl button attached to the front cover is used as the closure. I embellished this journal with hand dyed, hand stitched silk ribbon and beads.

Folded: 3” wide x 3 3/4” tall x 1” thick
Open: 6” wide x 3 3/4” tall