Keeping a Trip Book- Our Approach to Visual Journaling

We do a lot of travelling during the warmer months, much of it as a family. On every trip we take along an empty journal- a book to be filled by all of us. We have been keeping “trip books” for years now and have a shelf full of them. The advantage of a trip book over a regular photo album is in the additional content- you have written journal entries explaining the photos, drawings and paintings to go along with them, other “artifacts” glued in (maps, receipts, parts of museum brochures, and so on), all in the context of one single journey. One book becomes a group journal, travelogue, sketch book, water color canvas, scrap book, and photo album.

Choosing a Book Style and Format
We make our own journals; we have a format worked out that fits our journaling style well. Over the years we have used many different styles of books: Medieval leather journals, basic Coptic style journals, codex style, pamphlet stitch, Japanese stab, and accordion fold. Our current favorite is the Medieval leather longstitch journal. Our covers are soft leather and inside we use a variety of papers including Mohawk, Arches, and Stonehenge, each having different qualities and thickness. Differing the pages throughout allows us to use pastels, watercolors, gouache, pencil, or glue in artifacts or photos from our trips. Our page size allows for two photos vertically or one horizontal. We also use accordion fold journals on some trips. Both of these styles allow for glueing in lots of photos. Since most of our trips are at least a couple of weeks in length, we often end up with 60 or 80 photos to go in the book, so it is important to have a book style that will accept a stack of photos 3/4 of an inch thick!

Another style of book we use specifically for backpacking is what I call a Backpack Journal. It is essentially a single signature from a codex style journal covered in Tyvek. (A signature is simply a number of sheets of paper folded in half.) The signature and its cover are held together by a simple stitch pattern. When enough of these are filled they are then stitched into a leather cover, along with empty signatures in between each one for photos relating to the backpack trips. A detailed explanation of the Backpack Journal can be found in a Desert Explorer blog post from April, 2009.

Various travel journals in different formats and book styles.

Discipline
Keeping a trip book requires discipline. On our trips, each of us writes or sketches or paints in the book every day. If this doesn’t happen, the book eventually has “gaps” in it that detract from the story of our journey. We add to the book whenever one of us feels like it, but usually it is in the mornings and evenings. On river trips, sitting on the river’s edge with a cup of tea, watching the sun rise over the desert is a very motivating scene, and always easy to capture in words, sketches, or paintings. Evenings on the river, at a campsite, or in a hotel are another time we work on our books, and then often as a family.

Just as important as adding content to the book daily is finishing the book once you get home. Choosing photos and having them printed needs to be done as soon as possible. We dug out an unfinished book recently from a river trip two years back. The photos were missing. The book is nearly done now, but it took much longer to finish after the fact.

Accordion fold journal with extra pages stitched in.

What We Record
We write, draw, paint, glue and otherwise add to the journal in whatever way strikes us along our journey. We all write notes nearly every day, sometimes just a page, sometimes many pages each day. Our son Nicolai likes to draw; he fills many pages of our books with his sketches and paintings, often in panoramic views across multiple pages. We all make lists: we keep track of our campsites and travel times on river trips or drives, the weather, plants or birds or animals we have spotted, and even meals we have made. Each of these can include photos as well. Often we add decorative borders to a page as a highlight. There is a series of books carried at Two Hands Paperie called Zentangle, introducing various forms of “doodling” that can make a page jump out.

As we fill a book we leave empty pages for photographs. We always note in pencil “photo”, so no one else will use our page. Others pages will have more specific notes: “photo of cairn on top of Bowknot Ridge” for example.

Some of the foods we ate on our trip to Utah.

Art Materials We Carry
Depending on the trip and how we get to where we are going- driving, flying, floating, or walking, we might take along a sampling of every different medium available in our travel kit, or nothing more than a pencil, eraser, and a single .5 black Micron pen. On most trips other than a backpack we carry at least a selection of Faber Pitt Pens, a set of watercolor pencils, a set of Micron pens- colors, and all five sizes in black, a set of graphite pencils, and a set of gouache half pans. Those are our basic tools, and along with them goes brushes, eraser, pencil sharpener, glue stick, a roll or two of Washi tape, small pair of scissors, and stamp pad with date stamp. We also have a new addition: a Polaroid POGO printer. It makes small, sticker-backed prints that are great for sticking in amongst the pages. A full review of the POGO will be in an upcoming post. Even on days when we are feeling not-too-artisitc, with a kit like that at our disposal, it’s easy to add something to the book.

Photograph with associated watercolor and text.

More Information
There are many books available these days on visual journaling and related journaling techniques. Our favorite is called The Illustrated Life by Danny Gregory. If you are wondering exactly what a visual journal looks like, take a look at Gregory’s book. You’ll be ready to start your own on the spot. For basic book structures and bookbinding techniques, we recommend Cover to Cover by Shereen LaPlantz. It discusses and has directions for all of the book styles mentioned in this post. Both of these titles, along with the Zentangle series and many other motivating works, are available at Two Hands Paperie. For those in the Boulder area, we still have classes on many of the book styles, as well as classes on visual journaling, scheduled over the next couple of months. Visit the Two Hands Paperie website for more information.

Part two is forthcoming: more about art materials and techniques.

Homemade Backpack Journals

Whenever I head into the bush I make it a point to carry empty pages to fill, especially if I am traveling alone.  Being alone in the desert prompts all kinds of thoughts and ideas in me, and I make extensive technical notes along the way on all my treks.  Being an ultralight backpacker, I avoid any unnecessary weight. Instead of carrying a heavy, bound journal, or a too-small notebook, or even just some empty sheets of paper from my printer, I create and carry a signature or two of Tyvek covered pages.  In bookbinder lingo, a signature is simply a number of sheets of paper folded in half.  I turn these folded sheets of paper into a booklet by wrapping them with a Tyvek cover and stitching the pages and cover together. Eventually I will bind these signatures  filled with adventures and desert inspired stories into books.

Tyvek journals, numbered, dated and with trip locations noted on the covers. The five new journals on top are for my upcoming two week Escalante trek.

You can use any type or size of paper you desire in your booklets.  I prefer paper of a little heavier weight, and not just printer paper, and tend to stick with something close to 8 1/2 by 11 inches in size.  My signatures, or booklets, are usually 5 to 7 pages. My wife Mia, a bookbinder, has made travel journals for our family trips by interspersing writing pages with heavier, watercolor quality paper so we can include paintings and sketches of our travels. You can see more of her work at Photo-Mia.com.

Three of our travel journals, of odd sizes with more complex designs. We design them at least large enough to mount 4 by 6 photos.

Tyvek backpack journals are simple to create.  Materials needed are 5 to 7 sheets of paper, a piece of Tyvek at least 1/4 inch larger in both dimensions than the paper you have chosen, and a length of thread.  You will need a ruler, needle, awl, and scissors.  We use waxed linen thread from our bindery for our books, but heavier embroidery thread can also be used.  If you don’t have an awl, you can use your sewing needle to punch the holes in the paper and Tyvek cover.

Tools and materials needed to construct Tyvek backpack journals.

Instructions for Assembly

Fold your chosen pages in half.  Fold three to five lighter bond sheets at a time.  Put all of the sheets for the booklet together and make sure they are properly aligned all around.  Next you will need to measure out holes for stitching.  Four holes is adequate.  Measure down the spine- the folded edge of the paper- on the inside and mark your holes in pencil.  You can lay them out as you wish, for example measure one inch from each end, top and bottom,  and mark for a hole, then divide the remaining space in the center of these holes by three.  Mark the two locations in the center of the outside holes.  If you are planning to make a series of these booklets for later binding together, be sure to lay them all out the same.

Marking location of holes in folded signature.

Now you are ready to  punch the holes.  Hold all the aligned sheets tightly together and punch from the inside, where you have made pencil marks, out.

Punching holes in folded signature.

Next is the Tyvek cover.  The simplest way to lay out the cover is to cut a piece that is larger than necessary and trim it later once the booklet is stitched.  Fold the piece of Tyvek in half.  Place the already punched pages inside.  Holding the cover and pages securely, push the awl back through the holes in the paper to make matching holes in the Tyvek. Be sure that the Tyvek does not slip as you punch the holes.  You are now ready to stitch.

You will need about 20 inches of thread for an 8 1/2 inch high booklet.  Starting inside at one end, push the needle through the first hole outward.  Leave about 4 inches of thread remaining inside the booklet.  Move down to the next hole on the outside of the spine and push the needle back in.  Holding the far end of the thread securely, tug the working end to make sure it is tight. Do this after moving through each hole.  Move down to the next hole on the inside and thread outward.  Continue this process working down, and then back up to where you began.  The two ends of the thread should meet when finished.  Remove the needle from the thread and tie the two ends securely.  Trim the ends, leaving about 1/4 inch remaining.

Stitching journal. Begin at one end, working down, then back to start point.

The final step is to trim the Tyvek cover.  I push the Tyvek firmly against the sheets of paper inside so that it leaves a faint line on the outside of the cover.  I will then trim outside of this line, being sure to leave about 1/8 inch of the Tyvek extending beyond the edge of the paper.

Cover with edges of signature inside burnished to show through. This helps with trimming the cover down to size. Bottom edge has already been trimmed.

To read about more homemade gear for backpacking, visit the Homemade Gear pages at the Desert Explorer website.