The first altered book I saw was in a gift shop and I fell in love with it. Immediately
I thought of a favorite poem that would be great in one and set about trying to find a way
to make one myself. I saw a few others in various stores, all with a pricey tag and upon
close inspection decided to try to make one myself.
With no information as to "how" to make such a book, I decided to experiment.
The end result was a beautiful book that sits open with a beautiful picture on one side
and a poem on the other. It has sat on the shelf for over 4 years now and is still intact.
After the first one I made several more for Christmas presents and gift wrapped them in
pretty boxes.
The inexpensive way I did this: |
| #1. I frequented the half price book store that is privately owned and
outside they always keep a basket of books that are free. I chose hard backed books.
Preferably thin, (although allot of them were thick). I also found many books at garage
sales for 25 - 50 cents each. |
| #2. I opened the book in the middle and using elmers glue (or any school
glue) glued each page together except about 10 from each side near the middle. (20 middle
pages). I used small cheap paint brushes to help spread the glue. Then at night I placed
heavy objects on each side of the unglued middle pages to hold the book open and let it
dry. Then I would go over the book again on pages that did not glue well or needed more. |
| #3. With the last 20 pages in the middle I painted glue onto the sheets
and on one side I pulled up about 5-10 pages and saturated them with the glue and curled
them up. I "worked" with the curled pages as the glue dried so that they would
stay this way. It may also be necessary to prop something behind the curl to help it stay. |
| #4. After the book dried well I painted the entire book with the glue.
Sometimes twice. I them let this harden. I also let glue run into some of the cracks where
the pages wrinkled up to help it become a little tiny bit more solid. |
| #5. I then painted the book with acrylic ivory paint, let it dry, touched
up the page edges with an antique moss green and after drying it spray painted it lightly
with gold on the page edges. |
| #6. Once everything was dry, I cut out a beautiful piece of art from a
wall paper border of all things and glued it on one side of the open page in the middle. I
placed the poem on the opposite page. I painted the art on with glue and then painted over
the art and poem. After letting everything dry hard for a few days, I spray painted the
book with clear enamel. I then glued a ribbon as a bookmark inside the spine of the book
and let it gently drape over the open page. |
| I tried to print out art on the computer but the images would run after
painting glue on them. The ink I used for the inkjet printers can't be used for this
project, so it's not a good idea. Once done though, I had several books made that looked
as great as the pricey one I had seen in the gift store for a fraction of the cost! |
