Bible art journalling supplies

Some places will tell you you need a lot of supplies for journalling, but all you really need is a Bible and something to draw or write with - everything else is an extra.

• I use the NIV mint polka dot Bible for my art journalling. It has double column text and a 1.5" margin on every page. The margin is lined, but I haven't found it interferes with the artwork at all. The cover is cloth and is actually mint and white all over with Holy Bible in raspberry - the raspberry band in the picture is a paper wraparound. The text is 7.25pt and is very readable even through artwork.

• To prep my pages I use white gesso. I would use clear, but the only art supply shop in my town only sold white gesso, and I wanted to get started with the journalling so I didn't want to wait for an online order to arrive!

• I sketch out some of my ideas in a 2B pencil. Some people prefer H because it's lighter, but I find I dent my page or tear it if I try to use a harder lead. A lot of times I don't bother with the pencil though, I just use coloured pencils.

• To colour my artwork I use mostly coloured pencils. My favourites are Prismacolor soft core pencils. They're really soft, they blend nicely, they lay down a lot of colour without putting too much pressure on the thin Bible pages, and they're lovely to use. They are expensive, but I've had my set for years and years (since I was at school!) and they've lasted a long time.

• I like watercolour pencils as well, and I use a cheap set I got from WHSmith for £4.99 in a half price sale which work perfectly well on Bible pages. The pencils are smooth and easy to colour with, and they look just like normal pencil colours before you put water on them. They blend beautifully, you can get some very intense colours if you pick them up from the lead with a brush, and the range of colours is really good.

• For more intense colours I use my Derwent Inktense pencils. I've only got a small selection of them and I'm still learning how to get the best out of them.

• Finally I use watercolour paints. I've got a small travel palette of Windsor & Newton paints which are lovely quality, a good range of colours, and don't bleed through my Bible pages.

• To add text I've been using a 0.8mm Pentel pen, which claims to be water resistant, but I've found it does bleed through the pages if I don't use gesso, and it can smear if I use watercolour over the top. It's easy to fix that by doing any watercolour first and remembering to prep my pages, but I have ordered some Micron pens which I've heard good things about.

• Other supplies I've used occasionally include alphabet stamps and black pigment ink to add verses to the art; ribbon to embellish the cover of my Bible; and washi tape to add in tabs to mark out certain books or verses, but none of these are essential.