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• from Helen’s desk
Below: Helen Bradley’s
travel journal cover.
Left: Inside the journal.
Ink on your fingers
and words on the page
Helen Bradley suggests that, in an increasingly digital world,
the process of putting pen to paper has never been more important.
I bought an autograph album a few
years ago at a flea market. It dates
from 1882 and the autographs and
poems are written in pen and ink. Just
flipping through the pages puts you in
touch with the young girl, Mary, who
owned the book.
This book now lives in my studio. I
don’t know much about Mary; there is
no record of what she did or thought
or what she hoped for but her old
autograph book is there to remind
me daily of the beauty of handwriting
and the living legacy that handwritten
notes provide.
About Helen
Australian-born, Californian-based Helen
Bradley is a globetrotting photography,
computer and Photoshop whiz with a
penchant for paper crafting and jewellery
making. Her projects appear on pages
108 - 112 of this issue as well as in
countless publications internationally.
See: www.http-design.com
and www.helenbradley.com
One thing the scrapbook movement
gave us was a forum for writing our
stories as we scrapbook our photos.
Of course, not everyone does this and
Angie Pederson, best-selling author
of The Book of Me, Growing Up Me,
and The Book of Us, worries when she
is shown scrapbook pages without
journalling. She explains, “I ask who is
in the photos or what was happening
at this time and I wonder, why aren’t
their stories written down and what will
happen to them when the scrapbooker
is gone?”
One thing I think that stops some
of us writing a lot is we don’t like
our handwriting. It is so easy to print
text neatly from the computer that
it takes an effort to embrace the
beauty in handwriting. At one time I
wrote everything on my computer and
printed it - and then I got over myself!
Now I do exactly the opposite and,
wherever possible, I handwrite using
a black permanent marker straight
onto the project. If I make a mistake,
I just scratch it out and keep going –
it’s liberating to actually celebrate its
imperfection.
Angie agrees “… think of a recipe
in your collection, written in your
grandmother’s handwriting. Do you
look at it and think, ‘I wish she
wouldn’t have handwritten this… it
looks awful’? No, you look at it and
smile because it makes you think of
her. Your handwriting is a part of who
you are - why deny someone else that
connection with you? “
Of course scrapbooks aren’t the
only outlets for journalling our lives.
Many of us journal because we have
an inherent need to do it. I always take
a journal with me when I travel – it is
always a new book for each trip and I
spend a few weekends before I leave
decorating the book ready for the
trip. In consequence I have a magical
jumble of books bursting with precious
memories stacked on my shelves.
Many people journal daily and
incorporate their art into their work.
Dawn DeVries Sokol, author of 1000
Artist Journal Pages, Doodle Diary:
Art Journaling for Girls and Doodle
Sketchbook: Art Journaling for Boys
explains, “I art journal to document, to
experiment, to brainstorm, to create.
Art journalling has become such a
part of me that it’s almost as if I have
to art journal.” Dawn makes all her
own journals - some are filled with
watercolour paper for paint journalling
and others are built from scraps of
paper.
Designer, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, also
journals every day. She says, “Some
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