Painting a Moleskine cover?

[jcarkeys]

I really hope that I'm posting this in the right area, but I didn't see any place else that would be better suited, so please forgive me if it's wrong.

 

That being said, I had an interesting question about decorating the cover of a Moleskine. I've searched Google and other sources thoroughly and could neither get a straight answer nor a better place to ask. I have several Moleskines, but finally decided to hunker down and use one as my primary notebook for school. I went through and divided it up into five sections, made tables of contents, everything, so that I can use this one notebook for all my notes for the semester and hang onto them instead of promptly pitching them. Then at the next semester, I can use another. Problem is that they all look a like from the outside. This is worse since I also use large moleskines for my personal journal, and definitely do not want that leaving my room, not to mention the hassle of not having my notebook with me.

 

Long story short (I say this when I deleted a huge paragraph or two), what is the proper method / type of paint to use when painting a moleskine cover? I've heard acryclic, but have only seen that used for painting the entire cover, not specific areas. I don't want it to bleed through, and I'm worried that with the texture on the cover it'll seep under masking tape and bleed. I want perfectly straight, even lines, like is attached in my picture (which I'd be happy to explain if you're interested). Any thing else I should know before I try this out?

 

 

I kept rambling and deleting everything, but if anyone knows, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

Edited July 28, 2009 by jcarkeys

[oceansportrait]

I've seen people decorate their Moleskine covers with white-out (using the pens that can get you finer lines than the brushes). Not sure how well that'll stand up to abuse though. I have a feeling that it'll just scratch off with normal wear.

[stevlight]

Acrylic paint is the way to go. Get the good blue masking tape--or the new green frog tape is supposed to be very good but i have not tried it--both tapes are pricey. Regular masking tape will work but the paint sometimes seeps under the tape.

 

Why not just use white tape? Cut with an Exacto Knife to the stripes in your picture and place down--burnish it well with an old credit card and you could seal it with a clear coat but i would not bother. You can always restick if it peals up.

 

I just use bordered labels on my numerous moleskine sketchbooks-I just write what is the major themes of the book on the cover.

[stevlight]

Acrylic paint is the way to go. Get the good blue masking tape--or the new green frog tape is supposed to be very good but i have not tried it--both tapes are pricey. Regular masking tape will work but the paint sometimes seeps under the tape.

 

Why not just use white tape? Cut with an Exacto Knife to the stripes in your picture and place down--burnish it well with an old credit card and you could seal it with a clear coat but i would not bother. You can always restick if it peals up.

 

I just use bordered labels on my numerous moleskine sketchbooks-I just write what is the major themes of the book on the cover.

[stevlight]

Acrylic paint is the way to go. Get the good blue masking tape--or the new green frog tape is supposed to be very good but i have not tried it--both tapes are pricey. Regular masking tape will work but the paint sometimes seeps under the tape.

 

Why not just use white tape? Cut with an Exacto Knife to the stripes in your picture and place down--burnish it well with an old credit card and you could seal it with a clear coat but i would not bother. You can always restick if it peals up.

 

I just use bordered labels on my numerous moleskine sketchbooks-I just write what is the major themes of the book on the cover.

[Tricia]

Check out the Moleskine group on Flickr. Lots of images of both decorated covers and interior pages.

 

 

[tawanda]

Try the artist's gel pens by Sakura. They are amazing. Someone here paints on rocks and pebbles with them. You could always apply that clear sticky-backed sheeting over the top. Forget what its called now, sorry

[usonian]

I screen-printed onto the cover of a pocket Moleskine using Golden acrylic paints extended with Golden silk screen medium, and the results have been great. It's been about a month since I did the print and there's been no apparent wear. (The book has been thrown into pants pockets, computer bags, etc. with no preferential treatment.) This was a test-run to see how durable it was; I'm thinking about selling printed Moleskines etc. on Etsy:

 

http://andychase.googlepages.com/photo.jpg/photo-large.jpg

 

(Pardon the crummy camera phone photo.)

[stevlight]

I just came back to this thread and WHOA How did I post that three times??

 

I have no idea how that happened.