A 'Save' in my handmade journal

I had the oddest problem about a month ago. I have a beautiful sketchbook that I was given for Christmas.  All handmade, right down to the paper and covers.  The paper is thick and smooth and I thought it would be interesting to draw in it with a fountain pen.  I loaded up with Private Reserve Sherwood Forest green ink and started tangling.

Alas!  The ink smeared terribly.  I set the sketchbook aside to let the ink dry.  A day later and the ink still smeared.  A week later--a month later--at least two months later, and the ink was still smearing.  Not a little--a lot.  I can only think there was something in the handmade paper that kept the ink from soaking in.

No way I was just going to leave the page undone, so I needed a 'save'.   I knew I wasn't going to save the drawing I'd already done, so I wanted something to lock that ink in, and let me start over.  As usual, in these cases, I turned to my Faber-Castell Big Brush pens.  Because the tips are so large, you can color large areas easily.  The color is intense, but transparent.  If you use dark colors, you get a hint of the underlying work, but can easily cover it if you wish.

I used a Dark Sepia 175.  The green here is all from the original fountain pen ink.  You can see how it overpowered even that dark brown, and how much it spread!

After covering the entire page, and letting it dry (for the fountain pen ink.  The big brush dried instantly) for a day, I tested.  If I rub hard, I still pick up smudges of green on my skin, but it was workable.  I used a white Pentel Sunburst gel pen to draw my tangles.

I may still get some transference of color to the next page, so I'll probably do another white on dark, but at least I have a half-way decent journal page.


I was supposed to be on a plane heading toward Florida but my mother came down with the flu.  We are rescheduling our flight, so I'm not sure what my schedule will be now.  Life.  Such a bundle of surprises.

Comments

  1. Have you tried using a fixative spray on it? This may stop the transferrence- but it will also darken the page.

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