Fortune

This one-of-a-kind journal is upcycled from a discarded copy of the children's history book, "Shaw's Fortune." I retained only part of the title (because I can!) and part of the drawing on the front cover. Otherwise, I took off with the notion of fortune, attaching game chips, confetti stars, craft jewels, and cutouts from playing cards and a photograph of some of my long-ago art work. The felt circle tapes not only embellish the cover but also serve as anchors for the binding. I bound the three signatures of blank pages (a term for groups of pages folded together) to the cover using long and kettle stitches over the anchors. These are visible on the spine. Because this book is extra wide, the large-format sheets I used to make it resulted in full-sized pages alternating with small-width (3.5") pages; I need to fold the paper for this kind of binding. The smaller width pages could be used for side notes or to write or draw something visible while using the adjacent two larger pages or just as another page. (Is that clear? Probably not. Maybe the photo of the inside back cover will help.) I include out-of-context quotes from the original book on several of the pages. These can be used as writing prompts.