Riikka Kovasin - Paperiliitin: Look for the magic in 2020

Hello there and happy new week! I got my other lower wisdom tooth pulled on Friday and spent that day under the influence of paint killers. But luckily now it\s much better and I can almost open my mouth without any problems.

I\m sharing my Art Daily Cafe project today with the January map theme. The theme threw me off guard and while doing so, I was really surprised. I love vintage tones, tea shades and maps. I loved orienteering in school and I’m usually the one holding the map in one way or the other if we are walking in a new place. But still I found it hard to get a hold of the topic.

What then helped me to get going was to think also about the start of the year and finding a focus for it. That lead me to imaginary maps of sorts, and I ended up making a mind map for 2020. A mind map is something I’ve done earlier, too, for this project shared in August 2019 (link). Mind maps are handy tools to clear one’s head, but I still seldom use them. Maybe my head is seldom so cluttered, luckily?

I started the project like I said by drawing a mind map using several different gel pens. Then I took some tea and colored the white, new paper to resemble old. That’s a trick I used even as a child when making treasure maps – crushing the paper into a ball and then dipping it in tea or coffee. I personally find the tone of tea more to my liking, but if you are a coffee drinker no point buying tea just for coloring as coffee works too.

After I had my aged “map” made, I tore it into pieces and then collaged those together with actual vintage papers to the cover pieces of my self-made notebook. I used Soft Matte Gel as my adhesive. After drying I decorated the back cover only with some stamping and pencil lines, but for the cover I had bigger plans. On there I rubbed a transfer of a clover. To add more pens and pencils in my make I then highlighted and treated the flower with markers, paint pens and plain pencil. For further decoration I added a strip of washi tape to the bottom of the cover and then adhered a couple of numbers from Mechanicals on top.

If you are lost, like I was at first, maybe this link will help (link). I noticed it on my Twitter feed a little after I had finished my little notebook for the new year. It’s a selection of maps from the National Geographic magazine along the years. There’s different styles of maps in the article, some based on actual old maps – like a map of Shakespeare’s Britain that’s based on a map from a 1611 atlas!

Thank you for stopping by today! All the best to the new week and happy artistic adventures – with or without a map!