Journal Lettering: Part II

Shelly's Bed of RosesAs a follow-up to my lettering experiment described in Journal Lettering: Part I, I've pulled together ideas for lettering in your art journal ~ focusing on tools for dark, highly saturated, textured or other challenging backgrounds.

STENCIL/PITT PEN: In Imperfection, Kristy stenciled letters onto the acrylic background with a Faber Castell PITT pen and used a white gel pen for the white lettering. A dip pen is used around the edges of many of Kristy's pages; Sharpie Poster Paint pens for rough textured backgrounds. Kristy blogs at Kristy's Musings.

CALLIGRAPHY/WHITE INK: Veronica, a calligrapher and lettering artist, created a gorgeous canvas cover for her Deep Roots Journal. Veronica dipped a folded pen in "Sumi ink and made random, gestural strokes on the cover. I later used a pointed nib to do the lettering. I use Dr. Martin's Bleed Proof White. I swear by this product for any lettering on dark surfaces. It has always been my personal choice. Sometimes I mix it with a dab of colored acrylic or gouche and get an awesome 'pastel' look."

WHITE PAINTED LINES:  Deb painted waves of white lines as a journal base in her Art Journal. Deb blogs at Confessions of December.

WHITE GLAZE PEN: Australian artist Vivian Bonder describes the lettering in Vision as follows, "the writing on this page was done with a white Sakura Glaze pen, which is totally clear when writing and takes a while to dry up and become white. i sped up this process with a heat gun, so I could actually see where and what I had already written.... It is hard to see on these pictures, but the background is black paper covered in metallic paint and sprayed over with LuminArte radiant rain misters... quite a challenge to get any shiny sort of ink to stick, but this Glaze one worked wonders... the Vision image itself is one of the Stampers Anonymous' stamps which I stamped with black Stazon onto that painted glossy surface..." Vivian blogs at Desert Bloom.

LAYERED EDGING/GEL PEN: In Bed of Roses (pictured above), Shelly designed the funky lettering with pencil, colored inside with a pink sharpie, outlined the pink with a white gel pen, and continued to add edging layers in gel pens.

EDGING/WHITE SHARPIE: Alberta drew the lettering in Bathing Beauty with black Sharpie and edged in white paint marker; another option is to edge with a fine tipped brush in white paint. In describing her love of words and lettering, Alberta said, "To me, the lettering is as much a part of the composition as the art." Alberta blogs at Amusing Muses.

STENCIL/PAINT: In Decide, I painted Golden Fluid Acrylic paint within a stencil on a base of black gesso.

WHITE TYPE: Janet's 8/12/08 Journal. Janet often uses Sharpies and white gel pens, but echoes the challenge of writing on textured surfaces. Janet blogs at The Lavender Loft.

SILVER GELLYROLL: Aisling D'Art hand-lettered the quote in her Decluttering Journal with silver Sakura Gelly Roll pen.

VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE: Jen used so many different tools in Begin Again. I loved the "production notes" describing materials and layering. The base is acrylic with a wash of Twinkling H2Os, plus glossy paint, white Uniball Signo pen for much of the lettering, hot pink and black Sharpies, doodling with black and white charcoal pencils, and rubber stamps, with black ink. Jen blogs at Jen Bowles Design.

Teesha Moore shares her unique journal pages and description of "How I Journal." These pages are so fresh and full of life, vivid color, playful... inspiring. Thank you to everyone who provided input about lettering techniques! This is just a TINY slice of what is out there. Go explore!