What is Journal Fodder?

Fodder, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is coarse, dry food for livestock. So, in essence, journal fodder is food for your journal, and when you feed your journal, it gets fat. Journal fodder is all the ephemera that we as humans seem to collect and save. Fodder is all the mementos that people save - ticket stubs, photographs, labels, postcards, stickers, wrappers, maps, photocopies, etc. etc. etc. Most of the time people throw it all in boxes to keep for some time when they stumble across the box and paw through the memories. We, as Journal Fodder Junkies, glue those things into the visual journal and keep boxes, bins, piles, and stacks of fodder to use later.

We use mainly UHU Glue Stics to glue the collage material into the journals, and over time, the journals swell to 3 or 4 times their original thickness because of all the stuff glued in. The jumbo size lasts a while and is very portable.

How It Started



In 1993, twenty-two year old Dan Eldon, a photojournalist for Reuters covering the atrocities of Somalia, was killed. He left behind a legacy of seventeen black-bound journals. Dan’s story has touched countless lives aided by the publication of The Journey is the Destination: The Journals of Dan Eldon in 1997 by his mother Kathy. In the book, Kathy compiled selected pages from the journals, and these pages invite the viewer (or do I really mean voyeur) along on Dan’s journey. We were just two of the many who went along for the journey.

The two of us have spent countless hours pouring over the pages soaking in their richness and vitality. We feel a kinship to Dan Eldon, and we are grateful to have shared that journey. We are grateful to Dan’s family for bringing his story to light - for Dan was truly the impetus that has brought us to this point. He has inspired so many to journey through life and to leave a legacy for others, and so he has inspired us. Dan is at the heart of this, and so we want to thank Dan, his mother, and his sister for such a legacy. Without the journals of Dan Eldon there would be no Journal Fodder Junkies.
For more information on Dan Eldon, his journals, and his photographs, check out http://www.daneldon.org/.

Introducing the Journal Fodder Junkies


At the suggestion of a good friend and avid blogger, I decided to throw myself and what I do into the blogging realm. So here it is: The Official Blog of the Journal Fodder Junkies.

"Who or what are the Journal Fodder Junkies?" you might be asking yourself. Simply we are two guys, I'm Eric and my fellow Junkie is Dave, and we are out to start a revolution - a revolution of visual journal addicts. We are Artists and Educators who have spent the last eight or nine years working in a format known as the Visual Journal. For the last two or three years we have been sharing our passion with people throughout the land at various conferences, conventions, and workshops, and we have seen a growing interest in the visual journal.

So to spread the revolution, I've decided to launch this blog. I'm not certain what it will exactly consist of, but I'll figure it out as I go. Mainly, I just want to encourage and inspire people, share some of the things I do, and share some basic how tos. So, grab a journal, some pens, some paint, and join the journey.