painting in books/sketchbooks?

[gatheredthreads]

My 7 year old DD bought me a sketchbook for Christmas.  She was so excited to buy it for the project I am working on, so I'd like to use it if I can.  However, it's not really made for paint, so when I add acrylic gel medium, the page buckles somewhat.   

I can live with this, but is there any reason not to proceed?  Will it be less durable or anything?

Also, is there any way to minimize it - could I use something other than gel medium to prep the pages I'm going to paint?

[RougeRaven]

I used gesso to prep my pages, if you find this makes the pages "woobly" you could glue 2 pages together.

I bought a sketch book because I loved the cover and later realized it wasn't meant for wet media so I cut out all the pages and used the cover to bind a new journal. You can use the old inside paper for another project.

[shiny objectitis]

i paint in a lot of books...i skip the gesso altogether...i prefer watercolors and acrylics myself.

i use wax paper. just the plain ole kitchen kind. for minimal warping you can use a hairdryer. plus it speeds things along so you can move onto the next page. (i like to get my backgrounds done first)

[LaurelShimer]

I'm unclear what you do with the waxpaper? Do you do the work on the page and then fix the waxpaper over it? I LOVE waxpaper for crafts projects. Also I just started using it to transfer patterns from Burda (sewing) magazines. I known that sewing pattern paper exists, but really I do not need more speciality craft products that have only one purpose. Wax paper is good for so many things.

[shiny objectitis]

sorry....i use 2 sheets of wax paper underneath the 2 pages i am painting (i usually do 2 at a time)so it wont go through to the other pages. then i use the hairdryer on LOW and it reduces warping and i can get to the decorating part of the book.

[Maria Merlino]

I'm unclear what you do with the waxpaper? Do you do the work on the page and then fix the waxpaper over it? I LOVE waxpaper for crafts projects. Also I just started using it to transfer patterns from Burda (sewing) magazines. I known that sewing pattern paper exists, but really I do not need more speciality craft products that have only one purpose. Wax paper is good for so many things.

May I ask how you use the wax paper for pattern transfer? Thanks!
Maria

[beadhead06]

Gesso works great.  I have also found that coating a page with a layer of acrylic paint makes the paper stiffer.  You can also glue a couple of pages together then sandwich them between wax paper and lay something heavy on them while they dry to help prevent buckling.