I’m a moleskine addict. I have a lot. I think it’s in double-digits now. And I’m tired of not being able to tell them apart. I tried labeling one with my label-maker once but it just wasn’t right. I have stickers on my sketchbook so it’s easy to find that one, but the rest are still all to similar.
Well, I finally came up with the solution. I’m painting them. I have a bunch of acrylic paint and I have plain black surfaces that need to be told apart. I decided to paint one I don’t use much first so I wouldn’t be upset if I didn’t like how it turned out. I started out with only a vague idea of the design I was going for and let it evolve. And I love it. I don’t really feel like painting more tonight, but once I have some more ideas of how to decorate the others, I’m going to town. I can’t wait.
Photos…. ?
Eek! I wasn’t expecting anybody to find this blog before I announced it. Guess that’s the web for you
Photos will be coming in a few weeks as soon as I get a scanner. I’m just trying to get a few things up here before I announce it so that there will be some content already in place.
Out of curiosity, how did you find me?
WordPress.com – the dashboard. You happened to come up on “Latest Posts” as I was there. Ten minutes either way, and I wouldn’t have noticed.
I launched in stealth mode too. Didn’t work, either
Good luck.
G.
I really like the idea of decorating my ’skine’s covers, but have not yet had the courage. When I do it, I want to be sure that whatever medium I use, it is going to last as long as the book itself.
Hey, I just stumbled on your blog in my quest to figure out the best method for painting the cover of a moleskine? What paint did you use? how long did it last? Gah! These are the questions!
Thanks so much!
I used artist-grade acrylic paint. You could probably use craft grade and get the same effect, I just had artist on hand. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you much about durability because the book’s been sitting on my shelf since I painted it. I would think it would last pretty well, since acrylic forms a flexible plastic film and the Moleskine has a pretty good amount of texture for it to cling to. If you’re worried about it cracking from bending back and forth on the spine, you could always add fabric medium, which will make it more flexible. And some acrylic varnish over the whole thing once you’re done should help protect the rest of the design. I would advise against using a spray varnish as they tend to leave things kind of sticky (at least the matte ones do).
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Hope that helps. (Can you tell I work at an art store?
haha word to the art store.
And you did all this painting on a normal, hard cover, moleskine? I’m going to try to decorate one for my girl for christmas, and don’t really want to mess it up. ha!
Also – maybe would you recommend roughing up the surface where I was going to paint? It would kill me to take sandpaper to a moleskine, but you know, drastic times, drastic measures and whatnot…
ps – thanks for the help. exciting! i’ve been looking for … ever … to figure this painting diddy out.