Daily Ephemera Journaling

As promised, here are some daily ephemera pages I made over the last couple of weeks.  I started by creating single pages, then I found I rather enjoyed making two-page spreads.  Single pages took me about half an hour to make and double ones about an hour.  I have to confess that I started out with a 20-minute time limit of making a page then found it took me at least that much time just to find the right image fragments!  I found I didn’t necessarily like the brasher colours of some items or the dull colours of others I collected; I like rich, bright colours and a variety of textures on my pages.  Trying to keep the process to no more than an hour, I decided to allot 10-15 minutes to my journal writing time which ended up being okay because once I chose my images, the words just seem to flow and fall into place. 

Whenever I begin a page, I don’t necessarily work with a theme unless I know ahead of time that I have images that will work together.  Having all the right pieces ahead of time is less stressful, but nothing beats the adrenaline rush of building pages from (seemingly) nothing!  Our brain always has raw material for us to work with.  Over time, the control freak in me has found it loves leaping into the darkness and just letting things happen.  I love that the journaling aspect of my life allows me to work this way.  So for the most part I work intuitively (listen to my inner feelings) and pray to God that something happens during the composition process to make things gel together!  I read once that our brain is always searching for patterns in things so it can make sense of them.  I feel this is true when it comes to the process of collaging.  I can always find some narrative link in my pages and often it has to do with the problems or issues that consume my life.   I don’t always find links to everything I choose; when this happens I’m reminded, like some of the segments of my life, some of my journal pages will always remain a mystery to me. 

I’m finding journaling with ephemera quite addictive now.  I take delight in seeing bits and pieces of myself emerging through its fragments and words.  I get such a great feeling of satisfaction when I finish a page.  I hope these pages prove useful and inspiring to your own daily ephemera collaging.  I would love to hear your comments about the process or these pages. (See below)

Other Related Links:

Daily Ephemera Collection List for Journaling
Creating Collage Using Daily Life Ephemera
Collage Tip #7 (Part I): Going Gaga for Magazine Textures!

“Ghost Boy” (Two-page spread)
Fragments: magazine images, fortune cookie saying, cloth label, patterned masking tape, patterned scotch tape, sticky note, dream account of my brother written on old yellowed paper, newspaper, alphabet stickers.

The fragments of this page where inspired by a nightmare I had about my brother the day before and other fragments of his life.

“First Born” (Two-page spread)
Fragments: map piece, scrapbook paper, magazine images and text, found poetry, game board piece, staples

I was the first born in my family far away on another continent.  It didn’t matter to me if the image was of a boy or a girl… it just made me think of myself as a child…very solemn.

“Missing You” (Left)
Fragments: art brochure, handmade card from a friend, magazine graphic, scrapbook paper, paper cutout, piece of a painting

The main elements of this page are composed of a card from an art colleague; a piece of painting from my former journaling teacher (thanks Kelly!) and a graphic image that made me think of my late father.  I wrote the words “missing you” in my non-dominant left hand.

“Giving Up” (Right)
Fragments: wrapping paper, handwritten letter, art brochure, postcard, alphabet letters, magazine image images

This page conveys my feelings of being an artist on a bad day… worrying about my financial woes.  The red flap of butterfly wrapping paper reveals more text underneath.

“Lucky” (Right)
Fragments: paint colour samples, postcards, bus transfer, clothing tag, 649 ticket, map, found poetry fragment, alphabet and circle stickers

“Ermisoa” (Left)

Fragments: magazine images, map, envelope package label, hand written price code, window envelope, hand written recipe

Although these pages are separate, when I made them, finances loomed large.  I’d just lost the 649 draw again!  The next day I had a dream that my grandfather’s land in Goa (India) were given to me!  In my dream, I remember my uncle saying their net worth was 9.5 million dollars!  I thought, how cool for a dream to be that specific!