{"id":3417,"date":"2018-11-05T16:25:53","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T20:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ruthbleakley.com\/blog\/?p=3417"},"modified":"2018-11-09T10:14:29","modified_gmt":"2018-11-09T14:14:29","slug":"twin-journals-made-from-colorful-japanese-chiyogami-paper-inlays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ruthbleakley.com\/blog\/2018\/11\/twin-journals-made-from-colorful-japanese-chiyogami-paper-inlays\/","title":{"rendered":"Twin Journals Made from Colorful Japanese Chiyogami Paper Inlays"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

One of my favorite things about living in Florida is how bright and colorful everything is. No one blinks twice at an aqua or coral colored house, or my crazy purple hair. It’s interesting then, that one of my all time favorite bookbinding materials is this super colorful and vibrant Japanese Chiyogami paper since having over the top and colorful hair or flashy clothing isn’t really something that people do in Japan. When I was fortunate enough to visit, I had folks literally walk around the store aisle twice so they could see my hair, haha.<\/p>\n

This bright and colorful Chiyogami paper<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0 (also sometimes called Yuzen Washi) is based off of gorgeous colorful silk kimono patterns, and was originally developed as paper gift wrap for the royal court during the Edo period. Each sheet is hand-printed using silkscreen techniques, and often incorporates shimmering gold ink. It feels and looks luxurious and I bought SO MUCH of it when I visited Tokyo last year that the airline attendants thought I had bought a carpet.<\/p>\n

Did someone say “business expense”? hahaha.<\/p>\n

\"Paper<\/p>\n

Recently I’ve been going through my collection\u00c2\u00a0 with an eye out for pattern combinations – when I was describing this project to my friend Rachel, she said, “That’s funny, I’ve been trying to do that more with my clothes – be adventurous but not look like patterns puked on me”. Hahaha – well I’m no pattern-combining expert, but here are some tips.<\/p>\n

How to Successfully Combine Patterns<\/h2>\n

1. Look for one (or several) colors in common between the two patterns
\n<\/strong>2. Try to mix large and small pattern elements\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>
\n3. Choose colors that are opposites on the color wheel (like orange and blue or purple and yellow) or colors that are right next to each other (like red and orange, or green and blue)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don’t know what a color wheel<\/a> is? It’s a handy paper circle with colors around the edge and is used by artists and designers to mix paint and visually understand color theory. It works like magic! There is a dial in the middle that you turn and little windows show what the new color would be if you added the color at the top. I ordered one because I’m taking a watercolor class and I think it really helps take some of the mystery out of color mixing.
\n\"color
\nLet’s see how I mixed patterns in these books – I call them “Twin Journals” because they are the inverse pattern of one another. My friend Ellen suggested that they look envelopes when they’re closed – envelopes containing letters to yourself! I love that visual. When they are displayed open, the triangles form a diamond shape around the spine. They would be a fun gift for your best friend, for someone who is moving away, maybe a mother-daughter gift, or perhaps for your long distance love. Each of you would have the matching version of the other’s book!
\n\"Aqua\"Chiyogami
\n\"Chiyogami<\/p>\n

On this colorful pair of journals I’ve combined red-orange and blue-green colors (opposites on the color wheel) as well as purple and gold (also opposites) and we have a narrow stripe pattern combined with a round pattern, so that adds some visual interest because the two shapes contrast. What you can’t really see in the photos is that all of the gold ink on the aqua paper shimmers in the light! You can see if either of these is available in my online shop here:<\/p>\n

Aqua and Orange Twin Journals for sale here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Moving on to this lovely blue dots and orange florals combination:<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/span>