Letter Love 101, Helmar, Dylusions & Faber-Castell = Art Journal Love

I have always been fascinated by typography so when the incredible Joanne Sharpe announced her online class,LETTER LOVE 101, I was one of the 1st to sign up. Now that the class has come to the end I can say it was one of the most informational and fun classes.I can also say that I really have had the opportunity to work with, in my humble opinion, one of the Helmar adhesives that doesn't get showcased as much as it should! Here is a link to a great chart explaining the different qualities and also videos demoing this product. HELMAR Professional ACID FREE Glue, with a neutral pH, dries clear and creates a FLEXIBLE bond. This is not the 1st time that I have used this PAPER to PAPER adhesive, designed for book binding, but it is the 1st time that I had the opportunity to use it on heavy 130 lb.watercolor paper and also used to adhere manilla tags to 130 lb.watercolor paper.  I highly suggest all mixed media artists consider using this in art journals along with all other paper arts.

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Let me show you several different ways that I used the Professional ACID FREE GLUE in my journals created for the Letter Love 101 class.

This is the cover of a handmade journal I made to hold several final projects. I used Strathmore 400 Series Watercolor Paper, 130 lb. weight, to create the handpainted pages. After putting it together I wanted to label the front cover. This is some heavy paper and this would be the test to see if this adhesive worked as well as it had on regular weight cardstock.

The trick I discovered is to help the process along with a brayer and allow to sit overnight. That is where the magic happens...the bond becomes complete and you have what looks like 1 paper instead of 2 papers. Another fact that I've discovered is that it doesn't allow colors to bleed together...that in itself is a major selling point!

I wish you could see it close-up, since I have a torn edge you

can't really get the idea of the bond...it doesn't lift or curl.

Here is another example that I created so you could get a look at different weights of papers using this adhesive. This book I'm working in is the Strathmore Visual Journal/Mixed Media and the papers are 90 lb. weight. I've learned that sometimes it is better to glue 2 pages together to create strength so that is how I started off. I know it is hard to see but the painted pages are not the least bit wrinkled, in fact you would never know that they are 2 pages thick. I wanted to try a different weight so I adhered a manilla tag created using the new stamps from DYLUSIONS, designed by Dyan Reaveley for Ranger Ink & Stampers Anonymous. The tag alone consists of 3 different layers so with my adhesive I applied a thin coat, attached the tag and smoothed it with my brayer.

Here are the journal pages still in process but you will see again how incredible this adhesive works. No lifting away or curling of the edges!

I'm going to sound like a broken record but HELMAR Professional ACID FREE Glue needs to be in your glue arsenal. I highly recommend it!

I want to give a HUGE shout out to FABER-CASTELL, USA for the absolutely phenomenal  Pitt Artist Pen & Big Brush series. All hand journaling was done with these india ink pens in various sizes. It has become my pen of choice for art journals!

Thanks for stopping by. If you have any questions I would be more than glad to answer them.