altered books/ scrapbookin

recently i was barnes and noble in the craft section and i found this book called "altered book workshop" its all about taking an old hardcover book and changing it to be about you or whatever you want it to beabout ..

first you take and glue some of the pages together because youll want a study page because youll be adding lots of layers to it.. then you tear out some of the pages so that the book will close when its all done ( i hate tearing pages out of books )

then you can paint the pages or glaze them.. i use alot of modpodge mixed with a little bit of paint and some water to thin it down. i add lots of pictures hat i cut out of magazine or old books that i find when im dumpsterdiving... its all about the texture so sometimes i mix in glitter or dirt or hair or leaves.. whatevers clever.

ive done like 3 books and the one im working on now is really taking a while bcause i made this one like 20 pages.. the other ones were like 10 pages, but this was an old abnoral psychology textbook i got at the goodwill. i paint alot so i use the pages in the books as like a maquette for my actual paintings. alot of my paintings are inspired from what i do in the books..

its really fun and theraputic, cause whenyour feelin awful you do a page that reflects that, and when your feeling great do a different page... its all about you.. so you cannot go wrong!


has anyone else ever done this?


evie

 

that's a really great idea, i'm going to do that



do you have any pictures?

 

I kind of get what you are saying to do, but I am still a little bit confused. Is there a website that goes into more detail on this? Or can you take pictures of yours and post it? This sounds interesting. (The bit I did catch onto.)

 

first you take and glue some of the pages together because youll want a study page because youll be adding lots of layers to it.. then you tear out some of the pages so that the book will close when its all done



I don't get that part

 

I made an altered book. I love it. I have a couple of other books that I want to alter, but I don't have a lot of time and I'm waiting for inspiration.

 

Can you word it differently? Or explain the part that i didn't get?

 

here's a great site about it:



http://www.art-e-zine.co.uk/alteredbook.html




id love to start one today!

 

Thank you for posting the link to that website. I know understand what you all are talking about. That is very neat, and some of the pages are so elegant.

 

hey Loveflower,

the part about the pages is that, like say a book has one hundred pages, and it closes perfectly. well you need to tear some of the pages out because if you were to keep all one hundred pages, the book would be too thick to close.... plus the average page isnt strong enough to hold all the extra textures and layers... i usually reinforce my pages with construction paper glued between like 3 or five pages, that way if i were to glue like pennies or something heavy to it, it will be strong and not flimsy... the average 100 page book is good for like 6 to 7 pages... depending on how thick you make them.. i like them pretty thick with lots of stuff on them.

but thats just me...



Evie

 

what kind of books should i use? i know my sister has shelves of textbooks i dont know if she uses them anymore. do i need anything special? ive got construction paper

 

:sunglasse you can use whatever... its doesnt have to be a textbook.. i just used that because it was from the fifties and had all this crazy shit in it. like pictures of people in straight jackets and what not.. pretty cool book.

eventually id like to use the bible.. make it all about me.

ultimate narcicism!!!!!!!





Evie

 

haha that sounds like a good idea



her textbooks are really the only books i can find with a good hardcover that i dont want to save..

 

i started an altered book last year. i've only done a few things with it and i'm keeping it simple because i'm more creative with sewing than putting ideas on paper, but it is a good time. you can get alot of ideas online if you do a google search. it's also fun to get your friends or family, or even complete strangers to do a page or 2 or 3. i request that the people who do work in mine add a photo of themselves in a pocket i made in the back of the book. good luck to everyone who is making one. have fun with it..thats my advice to anyone who hasn't do it before.

 

it does turn out well... sorry I've no pictures to post... I got the idea from a book at work, actually called Altared Books. Try going to any craft store that sells scrapbooking supplies, they may have it.

 

i'm doing one right now, i've only got the cover done but once i finish this homework i'm going to continue working on it!