Learn from My Mistakes! 4 Do's and Don'ts When Marking in Your Scriptures

In going along with my scripture journals,  I try to mark my actual scriptures as well when I study. Before I can share all the cool stuff I have started to do, I need to share all the failures I've had so that you don't ruin your set of scriptures like I did. My first try I learned a lot of what works and what doesn't! So let me share my best tips:

1. Pens that Won't Bleed:

Scripture pages are super thin and it is hard to find pens that do not bleed through onto the other side. I have tried out a lot of pens and markers. And I have found some good ones and bad. The size of the pen (the fineness) really matters as well. It can be a great brand but if the pen is too thick it can bleed. So I have listed the sizes as well. By far my favorite writing black pen for my thin scripture pages is the 

Copic Marker size 0.1. Microns will work too, but DO NOT use the PURPLE. I used the red and purple ones for awhile only to find out that after a long time had passed, the colors bled through badly, but they don't at first. See my sad page below. This happened all over the first 25 pages before I realized what I had done.

So I only use my green Micron pen size 005. 

The best red pen for me has been a regular cheap red ballpoint pen. 

Whatever you use make sure you get one that doesn't smudge lot. Unfortunately because of the dark pigments in the purples and blues, I usually only use colored pencils for these colors. They aren't as sharp or crisp as the pens are, but I figure its worth the sacrifice so the next page isn't such a hot mess. If you find one in these colors that doesn't bleed please share!!! A good metallic pen that I have found is "Pental Sunburst Metallic Gel" pen in Medium. 

I haven't tried it out long term but so far so good. If months from now it bleeds like the Microns did I will let you know. 

I take all my favorite pens and I keep them in a pencil case together for daily use. 

2.  Using Inserts:

I like to add inserts with additional information on them in my scriptures. This is generally just a piece of paper that you glue into the binding of your scriptures with a glue stick. In my first Book of Mormon, I used a lot of heavier paper simply because I owned a pack of card stock that was precut to the perfect size. I also liked how it was sturdier to handle whatever media I chose to put on it. I found out the hard way that by using too many inserts, especially thick ones like card stock, it literally kills your scriptures binding. My brand new real leather Book of Mormon fell apart after 1 Nephi with all my inserts. I was so bummed because I had put so much work into it.

Lesson Learned- If you choose to use inserts, make sure they are on thin paper, and not cardstock. Or you could create a Book of Mormon Wide Edition Binder that I also have created and will post about later. Also, attach them as much as possible with wash tape in the margins, and not glued to the actual binding.

3. Creating Round Tabs= No Bueno:

I thought I was so creative by buying an older Book of Mormon without the cut in tabs. I thought I would have more room for writing in the margins and then I could add cute custom tabs to the outside. It was a nice idea, but the reality is those darn pages are so thin that anytime I tried to use the tabs, the pages would rip. I tried making them stronger by using washi tape but that still didn't help. The pages were too weak. I ended up having to tape my whole page back together and it was a hot mess. Not to mention the tabs would get stuck on everything in my bag. 

Lesson Learned: stick with the tabs that are wider and sturdier or the indents already made for the book. Keep the small round cute tabs for your scripture journal, or scriptures with thicker pages.

4. Using Water-based marking supplies

Just beware using any kind of water based product such as glitter glue, watercolor pencils, paints, etc. They will leave the page underneath fairly wrinkled. This may not bother you, but if you are worried about that wrinkled look, then make sure you use a clear gesso on your page to prime it for water based products first. Hopefully soon I will have a post explaining how this process works.

Thanks for stopping by!

Aimee