Tag Archives: altered book

The Cardboard Letter Art Books

17 Wednesday Apr 2013

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Years ago I made these art books from hollow 3-D cardboard letters which were readily available back then. I used an X-acto knife and butcher knife to cut the letters in half. Some had strong corrugated cardboard baffles inside to keep the box from collapsing, thus the need for the butcher knife.
The “AT Dot Com” book. Since taking this photo, I have since filled the book with favorite website and email addresses.

AtDotComBookClosed

The “At Dot Com Book” is made from a cardboard 3-D @ symbol, cut in half, with an accordion page glued inside.

AtDotComBookOpen

Inside the At Dot Com Book. The accordion page is made of separate sheets of cardstock, cut and glued together to represent elements of the earth – green leafy vegetation, pink floral and blue water. For the water page, I masked off continents (which I cut from paper and taped down) and sponged blue and aqua inks over the paper.

AtDotComBooks

The “C Book” scrapbook was gifted to my daughter-in-law when my granddaughter was born.

CBookClosed

The C Book. The colored bits around the edge of the book are actually Light-Brite pegs. I was hoping to add a battery operated light inside the cover but never found one the right size so the book was finished without lighting capability. The word inside says “smitten”, which I still am. -heart-

CBookOpen

The C Book shown open.

The “D Book” was for my husband. He works in construction so I made this book with wood tones and brass nails and hinge. It only has two pages inside and will be used as a scrapbook.

DBookClosed

The D Book is closed with a clasp and secured at the spine with two hinges. Although there is an accordion page inside, the book opens as a normal book and the accordion page does not fold out because of the hinges at the book’s spine.

To decorate the “J Book”, I covered the cardboard letter halves with green decorative tissue paper and then stitched the plastic flowers on with embroidery floss.

Artist Book - The J Book, made from a 3-D letter J.

Artist Book – The J Book, made from a 3-D letter J.

The J Book was the most complicated book to create. The photos taken of flowers growing in our yard are all separate, attached together with string and suspended from the book with string. They fold into the book accordion-style. Because of the weight of the photos, I glued rocks into the base of the J book for stability. Some rocks were kept loose inside the J and are used for display when the book is opened. When the book is stored on my library shelf, I keep it wrapped with a green cord to keep it closed and to keep the loose rocks inside.
JBookOpen

Altered Vintage Book – Teaching and Teachers

04 Wednesday Apr 2012

Posted by in altered books, crafts

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I finished another altered vintage book. The original was a book on Sunday School teaching methods and teachers. I will use the book as a journal about teaching and teachers. The entire text of Teaching and Teachers is available on google books. The book was in fair condition, considering its age.

Altered vintage book – Teaching and Teachers

I cut a window shape in the book cover and used a sheet of beautiful textured paper with silhouettes of children for the endpaper. The window frame is pieces of wood that I stained with red, green and brown paint to look aged.

Altered vintage book – Wood alphabet beads are colored and glued to the window sill to look like alphabet blocks.

I removed many pages from the books, especially damaged pages, which were set aside in order to glue interesting paragraphs back into the book later. The pages remaining in the book were glued together in bundles in order to make them more sturdy and then coated with gesso to provide a surface for journaling.

Both front and back covers were cut off the book and then reattached to the spine. I removed all the crumbling and dry rotted material from the spine and then reattached the covers. The front covers are attached using small hinges tied on with black ribbon. The back covers are hole punched and stitched to the spine with black ribbon. This binding allows the book to be opened flat.

Inside the front cover – decorative silhouette paper provided the perfect design for a book about teaching.

A peek inside Teaching and Teachers altered book. The original book was devoid of illustration. I tore out motifs from the decorative paper and glued them on some of the pages.

While applying gesso to the pages, I read each page first to see if there was a quote I wanted to showcase. For this spread, I kept the small side bar “The three-fold method” and the chapter title “Any Plan Better Than None” by spreading gesso carefully around the text.

I was a homeschool mom for 24 years and taught Sunday School for many years so I’m looking forward to filling this book with thoughts on teaching and teachers.

The Princess’s One Thousand Gifts Journal

30 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by in altered books, crafts, projects

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Recently I read a book about a woman who was able to pull out of a dark depression by realizing she had much to be thankful for. A friend challenged her to list one thousand gifts, one thousand things that she was thankful for. Ever since “gratitude journals” became popular years ago, I’ve been wanting to make one.

I’ve always wanted a space to write down just the “and it was very good” and “she was pleased” stuff. I’ve wanted to write a book that was one giant exhalation of praise and thanksgiving, words that can be inhaled like fresh oxygen, a forever document of the things I am truly thankful to God for.

I found the perfect book to alter at a used book store. The original title was “The Princess Elizabeth Gift Book”. With a little paint and glitter, I turned the book into “The Princess’s One Thousand Gifts Book”, in which I will list one thousand and more things I am thankful for.

After cutting off the covers from the book, I cut out the initial “E” and removed the name “Elizabeth” from the cover. I added old rhinestones to the crown on the cover.

The name "Elizabeth" has been removed from the book title. Rhinestones are glued into the crown emblem.

The binding is simple, just holes punched through the cover and all the blank pages within, then tied with a cord. For closure, I punched holes in the back cover and added a covered button to the front.

A cord loop from the back cover is placed over the covered button on the front. The ends of the cord exit from inside the back cover and are tied around the loop when the book is closed.

Dozens of blank pages are sketchbook paper and sheets of vintage wallpaper.

To finish the book, I added text to the title, sponged pink and brown paint on the cover and set a resin cameo in the cover, surrounded by glass glitter. I’m looking forward to listing things I am thankful for.

The Princess's One Thousand Gifts Book.

Creatively Made – Vintage Journal

22 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by in altered books, crafts, projects, tutorial

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Weeks ago, I took a four week e-course called Creatively Made, taught by Jeanne Oliver. What an amazing class! I thank God for Jeanne and her wonderful way of encouraging people to be creative. Each week, participants were treated to at least a dozen videos filled with wise counsel, inspiration and instruction by Jeanne and her guest artists.

I took the course to learn how to use new materials and art technique but what started out as just an educational pursuit ended up life changing. I had no idea that I was missing such a big part of my life by not making time for art and creative pursuits. I will have to explain this life-changing event in another post. In the meantime, I am finishing up some of the projects inspired by that class.

One of the projects was a “Vintage Journal” made from the parts of a vintage book. Altered book projects are new to me. At first I couldn’t bear to tear apart a book. New or old made no difference; destroying any book seems a crime! But once I saw that there were dozens of old books available, some just gathering dust and rotting in used book stores, I didn’t worry as much about using a book for a purpose other than filling my already overflowing bookshelves.

This altered book is constructed different than the one taught in the class. I kept the spine intact and connected to the book covers. To add a text block in the book, I used ribbons to tie in the pages, 3-ring-binder style.

Vintage Journal - An altered book made from a vintage theology text in German.


My paternal Grandfather was a preacher of Pennsylvania Dutch and German heritage so this particular book is a lovely tribute to him. Alas, I can’t read German so I’m saving the pages and hoping to get some of them interpreted so I can incorporate them into the book.

Vintage Journal - The closure is a miniature metal keyhole plate. The doorknob is an old glass button from my Grandma's button tin. I'm always happy when I can include a little item that belonged to my Grandma.

Vintage Journal 1 - Pages removed, keyhole shape window cut in the front cover.


The original book pages were stapled and glued into the spine so they were pulled out. I cut a keyhole-shape in the front cover. To finish the edge, I used 1/4″ silver foil tape and then painted it with gold acrylic paint.

Vintage Journal 2 - Ribbon and lace glued inside the spine.


Inside the spine, I glued two strips of lace through which was threaded ribbon to tie in the pages. I also added a brown silk ribbon at the top to reinforce the thread-bare blue ribbon original to the book.

Vintage Journal 3 - Lace with ribbon glued inside the spine.

Vintage Journal 4 - The lace inside the spine reinforces the weak joint between the covers and the book spine.

Vintage Journal 5 - There was a gap between the book covers and the spine.

Vintage Journal 6 - Thin gold-wrapped cord glued into the gap between the book covers and book spine.

Vintage Journal 8 - I cut pages of creamy sketchbook paper. I also used pages torn from a vintage wallpaper book but knew they could not withstand a hole punched joint. So they are glued to small strips of hole-punched sketchbook paper.

Vintage Journal 8 - I love the look of the deckle-edge wallpaper pages interspersed with the sketchbook pages.

Vintage Journal 9 - The bow must be tied close to the front cover, not the text block. This allows enough slack for the pages to slide along the ribbon and open fully.

Vintage Journal 10 - I have very few photos from my childhood so I cherish this one from Christmas Day, 1967. Alas, my little sister Donna is turned away from the camera. I love that she is there, even if I can't see her sweet face.

I am very happy with how this turned out. It looks as old as I wanted it to. The book was published in 1884 and I wanted to preserve the stark elegance of it but still make it mine. I’m looking forward to adding small sketches, paintings and writings to the pages.