River Song is like an action hero. She is constantly on one adventure or another, she has a utility belt with all kinds of neat toys, tools, and weapons; but my favorite thing about River Song is her TARDIS journal.
I love journals. I adore journals. I hoard journals. I will buy a journal and hang on to it for months or years waiting for just the right thing to write in it.
So River has this journal that looks just like the TARDIS. What's the TARDIS, you ask? Well, to put it simply:
The TARDIS is the Doctor's time travel vehicle. It's also an entity in and of itself, but we needn't go into that now. So I started shopping around for River's TARDIS journal (RTJ for short). The BBCAmerica shop sells one, but it's flat and a little pricey. I want a RTJ that looks like the real thing, so I began cyber stalking Whovian websites for tutorials. They were abundant!
Supplies: journal of desired size color doesn't matter (Books A Million for $3), modge podge, cardboard, tissue paper, paint in white, TARDIS blue, brown.
Steps:
1 - Cut out appropriately sized pieces of cardboard - strips and 1" squares for my size of journal
2 - Paste cardboard to cover and spine - I am a bit OCD, so I like it straight, but you can make it a bit wonky if you'd like it to be a proper RTJ.
3 - Prime journal.
4 - Paint journal blue, but the right blue, not the wrong blue.
Right Wrong!
4a - Use the indoor latex paint you bought to paint your son's bedroom door TARDIS blue.
Much Better!
5 - Crumple tissue paper and modge podge to cover.
After tissue Before tissue
6 - Realize too late that the tissue will not become completely transparent and add yet another coat. It's all good. Next time get blue tissue paper.
7 - Brush page edges with water or coffee to age and ripple them. I plan to use a little lemon juice and hold to heat to brown them further.
8 - Outline squares and borders in black to make them stand out. (Photo to come)
9 - Dry brush a small amount of white paint on raised surfaces to further distress the cover. (Photo to come)
9a - Dot on some brown paint to mimic dirt. The real thing has a little grime on it.
10 - Lacquer on one more layer of modge podge.
10 - Lacquer on one more layer of modge podge.
Fini!
Well done! I am in the beginning stages of making my own RTJ for my little sister's Christmas gift. I really like your use of tissue paper to add texture. After noting your comment about adding the tissue paper and then having to add an additional coat of blue, I have a question. If I use this technique, should I apply the tissue paper directly after gluing down the cardboard? Thanks!
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