johanna alyssa

THE GATEFOLD JOURNAL COLLECTION

After my nanna passed away last year, my sister's and I resurfaced a very special old book amongst her treasured photographs, albums and awards. This book was a soft cover gatefold style, which meant it opened out on both sides (like a gate) with binding on both sides. Inside, it held articles and newspaper clippings of family history, mostly to do with performances done by family members, and some real estate history. It was fragile and fascinating, and if I happen to get my hands on it again i'll be sure to take some photos to add to this post. I had seen this book a few times before, but this time, it struck me hard with ideas that I could recreate in my own handmade books, it was the sole inspiration for this special collection of journals.

I decided to make my own set of gatefold journals, in my usual style, with more interactions and details than I usually include in my premade books. I planned, sketched out and thought long and hard about how I could create this style in the most usable way. To me it made sense to dedicate each half/side of the books to one particular purpose, which is why the right side has pages of pockets and tuck spots, whilst the left side has plenty of plainer papers and pages to customise until your heart's content!

I do have a youtube video sharing these journals and you can view that >here.<

But since they have so many details, and the video had to be quite condensed, I wanted to make a post to share some extra photos and back story behind this collection. I really poured my heart into this set, for 6+ months. I feel that it was a great healing process for me, as well as a fun creative challenge, twice as difficult and twice as timely as my usual journals!

Below I will add some photographs for each book so that you can see how each theme was carried out (boats, horses, birds, travel, botanical, baby boy and baby girl themes)

Each book has more than 50 pockets and lots of fun goodies tucked inside them, including many authentic vintage pieces and some new pieces. It was impossible to show EVERY tiny detail, but I hope that those whose hands they end up in, will enjoy discovering some little surprises!

Due to the labor of this set, I'm not sure if I will make more books like this again, perhaps SOME time well into the future I will revisit this idea.. but for now, this is a pretty unique collection, and I hope you like it!

THE BOAT JOURNAL: