Hi friend!
This is the second post in my “Bible Journaling 101” series! We last talked about choosing a Journaling Bible, and now we are going over the other supplies that are great for Bible journaling!
Let me start out by saying that you do not need any special supplies to get started! All you truly need is a Journaling Bible (or a Bible and a notebook) and a pen or pencil! It is just about spending time in the Word and there are no rules!
However, If you want to get more colorful and artsy, you will probably want some other supplies. But these Bible pages are thin! So how do you know which supplies will work well- where they won’t bleed-through or damage the page? Well for me, lots of trial and error! After two years (and chatting with other Bible journalers) I finally feel like I have a firm grasp of which supplies are the best!
So with no further ado, let’s get started.
*This article contains affiliate links. CLICK HERE for my full disclosure*
I’m going to go ahead and talk more in-depth on all my personal favorites, and then at the bottom of this post, I will put a more comprehensive list of supplies that are awesome for Bible journaling.
Bible
I have a comprehensive list and handy infographic to make it easy to choose a Journaling Bible in my post HERE. But my personal favorites to recommend for beginners are the ESV- Crossway Double Column Journaling Bible (I sell these with customized hand-painted covers at my Etsy Shop), and the Zondervan NIV Journal The Word Bibles.
Page Prep
Clear gesso is always the most recommended way to prepare your Bible page. If you are at all worried about bleed-through or your page tearing, it never hurts to prep. But I will be honest, I hardly ever prepare my page, and now that I know the correct supplies to use (the ones below ;)), I have not had any bleed-through or tearing problems.
If you want to air on the safe side, I have a post on how to prepare your page HERE.
Pens
I have a post about all my favorite pens to use as well! That can be found here.
But I gotta praise my three most recommended here:
My all-time favorite pen is the Tombow Fudenosuke Brush pen (both the hard and soft tip)-
These pens are great if you are at all interested in lettering in your Bible. They are waterproof (so you can paint on them without them smearing) and they do not bleed through the page!
My other recommendation is Micron pens (I like the 03 and 05 sizes the best)-
These also are waterproof and do not bleed. Great for a bunch of purposes like lettering, tracing, outlining, etc. And they come in a bunch of colors and sizes. The only downside is that they dry up quickly so be sure to keep your caps on tight!
And lastly, I have to bring up my fave white Gel Pen- The Unibal Signo Gel Pen
I use this for adding highlight to my lettering to really make it pop- and it is also great for fixing little mistakes (see my post HERE for more on fixing mistakes). You can also use these for lettering, note taking, etc.
Paints
If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you know I love my watercolors!
You do not need any fancy watercolors, I started with a cheap Crayola set. However, I highly recommend the Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolor Set–
It’s not too expensive and the paints are so nice to use- super pigmented and really smooth- and they come with such a great amount of colors! I also have never had any bleed-through with these watercolors with an un-prepared page.
When it comes to acrylic paints– any will work! I personally use Apple Barrel Acrylic paints that you can get at Walmart for 50 cents a pop, and they work great for Bible journaling purposes!
Remembers for acrylics, you don’t need to go out and buy a whole bunch- you can always mix paints to create all kinds of colors!
And while we are here- BRUSHES
Some people swear by Windsor and Newton brushes- which are awesome if you have the extra budget- but I just use the cheap synthetic brushes that you can get in a big pack from the department or art supply store for a few bucks.
Colored Pencils
Again, you do not need any fancy colored pencils to get started! However, Prismacolor pencils are widely praised about. If you plan on using colored pencils regularly, they are a great investment.
Watercolor pencils are also super fun to use, they can sometimes bleed through, so you may want to prepare your page to use them. I just have a cheap set that I got from the Japanese dollar store (I just moved back to the states after living in Japan for two years;) but I hear great things about The Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils from Faber-Castel.
Stamps
*I always recommend preparing your page if using stamps since they tend to bleed-through the most*
Stamps are super fun to use, you can find them super easily at any craft store or online. I personally love stamps from Growing Medows on Etsy and Illustrated faith.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO NOTE ABOUT STAMPING IS THE INK PAD.
I recommend to use a Pigment Ink – such as ColorBox or the Illustrated Faith brand- These should not bleed-through an unprepared page (though you will probably get some ghosting or shadow.) The downside of the pigment inks is that they take longer to dry, so just keep that in mind.
Chalk, dye, or solvent inks, will bleed-through your page (I learned this the hard way!) These inks can be used if you prepare your page, but there is still a chance of bleed-through. ~Tim Holtz Distress Inks are super popular dye-based ink, that I hear great things about- but again, I would prep the page will gesso first.
Stickers and Washi Tape
So I personally don’t use a ton of stickers or washi tape in my Bible journaling, but I know so many awesome women who make the most gorgeous pages with them, so of course, I have to share.
Stickers are pretty self-explanatory and I am sure you have seen them at your craft store- there are so many options today! And I mean, stickers are just plain fun!
Washi tape is another great tool for Bible journaling. They come in all kinds of colors and patterns- I have a lot of Bible journaling friends who have amazing collections of washi tape that makes me swoon. You can find washi at your local craft store as well.
Sticker paper
I may not use regular stickers too much, but I do use sticker paper- specifically Avery Clear Full Sheet Mailing Labels. I have tried other types of sticker paper, and these mailing labels are by far the best and easiest to work with.
I use this sticker paper to print out things like the printables I sell at my Etsy shop, or the free printable you get if you sign up for my email list! I’ll cut out the printable art as close as I can, and slap it in my Bible. It makes for a really quick and easy (and beautiful) Bible page.
*I have a post that talks about using stamps and stickers if you feel you aren’t “artistic” that may be a good resource for you. You can find that HERE.
Gelatos
Gelatos are a medium that I haven’t had the chance to explore too much, but are really fun and great to use for Bible journaling since they don’t bleed! Angeline from Dots and Dust uses gelatos amazingly and has some great resources on how to use them on her blog.
Heat Gun
I absolutely LOVE my heat gun! If you are impatient like me and hate waiting for things to dry, I highly suggest investing in a heat gun! This thing saves me so much time when working on pages, and allows me to finish pages all in one sitting.
I use an embossing heat gun, like this one. You can use a blow dryer, but I like the heat gun because it’s faster, and it doesn’t blow a ton of air, so things like watercolor puddles don’t run around.
Other great supplies:
Here is a list of supplies that are tried and true to be great with Bible journaling:
*This article contains affiliate links. CLICK HERE for my full disclosure*
Of course, there are many, many things you can do for Bible journaling! You are not limited to only this list of supplies! I encourage you to try new things, don’t be afraid to make mistakes, and if you are worried about how a medium will react, test it out on a page in the back of your Bible first.
- Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pens
- Micron pens
- Unibal Signo Gel Pens
- Sakura Decorese Gel pens
- Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors
- Acrylic Paint
- Colored pencils
- Watercolor Pencils
- Gelatos
- Distress Inks (needs gesso to prevent bleedthrough)
- Stamps
- Pigment Ink Pads
- Pan Pastels
- Die Cuts
- Stickers
- Avery Clear Full Sheet Mailing Labels (for printing out images to use as stickers)
- Washi Tape
- Stencils
- Graphite paper (for tracing)
- Prima Art Basics Gesso
- Heat Gun
Remember, you do not need to be making super fancy pages with a bunch of expensive supplies to spend some great journaling worship with the Lord!
Blessings,
Jenna
