Got paper? Make a book. A meander book.

One reason that handmade books are so cool is their fancy names -- like "accordion," "tunnel," and "flutter." This week in my collage workshop, we made something called a "meander" journal. 

We started with a single sheet of watercolor paper and ended up with a work of art.


The first step was dripping acrylic ink onto the blank sheet and then turning and thwapping the paper to get long strands of colors. Groovy, man!

Then we covered the white background with acrylic paint (I chose grey) and collaged small paper bits on top.

Next, we scribbled and outlined using graphite pencils and paint markers.

The last step -- and the hardest -- was to cut and fold the paper. Actually, cutting was easy, but folding was very very confusing. Our valiant leader John walked us through the process several times. Multiple times. Countless times. What a patient teacher! 

We were all surprised at how different our paper looked in journal form. Ink drips became octopus tendrils, and the small bits of paper were clues in a mystery.

We embellished our journals with more ephemera, including fancy ribbon that John shared from his stash. Here are the front and back covers of my journal.

Here are the 7 spreads inside. I can't believe it all began with a single sheet of white paper!

Want to try making your own meander journal? See the instructions here.