Making Memory Books & Journals by Hand: 42 Projects for Creatively Recording Your Thoughts and Memories

This book shows a very clear way to learn a new craft. Great pictures and clear explanantions.

Making Memory Books and Journals by Hand is actually 3 separate books reprinted as a single 304 page text: Making Memory Books by Hand, 22 Projects to Make, Keep, and Share by Kristina Feliciano; Making Journals by Hand, 20 Creative Projets for Keeping Your Thoughts by Jason Thompson; Making Memory Boxes, Box Projects to Make, Give, and Keep by Barbara Mauriello. Diverse visual stimulation by 3 separate authors is augmented by numerous artists who share personal journals as a motivation gallery. The book's primary value is visual; the text I found confusing as if sentences had been inexplicably truncated without subsequent proof reading and revision. It is disappointing that such a well illustrated artistic compendium should not be supported with equally well written explanations. For exact detailed "how to" instructions on bookbinding, buy Cover to Cover by Shereen LaPlantz: stitch by stitch drawn illustrations, photos and specific, easily followed instructions. Please see Shereen LaPlantz's website for her unfortunately sad experience with the editing of her final book which is apparently as garbled as this one; Cover to Cover is explicit, simple as well as encouraging, like being with a kindly mentor who wants you to enjoy bookbinding. Making Memory Books and Journals by Hand is for visual inspiration only. If you wish instruction in Coptic binding: Making and Keeping Creative Journals by Suzanne Tourtillot 2001 128pp includes instruction for Coptic binding and sewn in headbands. In Tourtillot's book each chapter is a pair of artists; a journaler artist is paired with a bookbinder (Daniel Essig, Gwen Diehn, etc) who design and execute handbound a book according to the specifications of the journaler. Photos of the journals in process are photographed with comments by the journal owner. World class bookbinders incorporate personal items (grandmother's hair ribbon as book mark) with characteristics unique to each journaler. All contributors are from Asheville NC and associated with the Penland School of Craft. If you want pure inspiration, the Penland Book of Handmade Books cannot be surpassed but does not include instruction.

This book is an excellent source of inspiration for those who like to fabricate blank books as well as those who like to write, paint, or sketch in journals. I know that I, and I am assuming many others, reach a point where insightful ideas are few and far between and it is hard to resume creating without some form of inspiration...this book provides new ideas for incorporating art into journals, ideas for different types of blank book creations as well as creating different embellishments for blank books. It also helps a writer or artist by offering tips and insightful ideas to write about as well as giving helpful tips to break through the worry for those of us who are perfectionists and worry about having a perfect and aesthetically pleasing journal. the only thing that this book did not touch upon to my satisfaction was book binding techniques, but ht einspiration and idea factor of the title was why I purchased the book. I highly recommend this book to those who dabble in book arts, both for the novice to gain insight on the amazing projects that can be created as well as the expert who needs a little push for inspiration.

This is a wonderful book for learning to make artistic journals and memory boxes. It is filled with exciting projects and a diverse gallery of artists examples to inspire the reader. Great for beginners or more experienced book artists looking for new directions.But DON'T buy this book in conjunction with the book "Making Journals by Hand" by Jason Thompson. That is also a great book, but it is actually contained within this book. The last 100 pages of "Making Memory Books and Journals" is the ENTIRE contents of "Making Journals by Hand". And I don't mean it covers similar information. I mean it is reproduced page by page, word for word, image for image.Both books are excellent, but just pick one.

I really enjoyed flipping through the book and seeing all the colorful illustrations and designs. It comes complete with photographs and explainations. The first half section shows you different ideas you can use and then in the second half section, it shows you step-by-step instructions. It has introduction, the basics, choosing paper, materials and supplies, and tools (a good couple pages here), etc. It shows you how to make memory books, journals, and memory boxes. I plan to use the memory box idea to store my photos and make couple of journals with my girls so they can practice their cursive and even write stories in. This book comes highly recommended from a crafty person.