altered book workshop

Find an old book and play around with these various techniques. If you don't like how it turns out, just rip it out and try something else. Keeping an altered book to play in is a great idea. If you're working on an art project and want to try a technique, grab your book, try it out, and then go back to your original project and dive in with confidence. Or, need to just loosen up creatively? Sometimes just slopping on some paint and gluing a few paper bits can open you up and get yourself ready to tackle larger art projects. I think the main thing to remember that in altering books, there are no rules! Just have fun and do whatever your heart desires.

Renoir pages:
Left side: Find an image. Write some thoughts on what the image is thinking, saying, doing, etc. Do not worry about your handwriting. Write it creatively and loosely. Find some netting and adhere it with brads. Adding netting, lace, and screen on top of an image brings a lot of mystery and intrigue

Right side: I cut out the lower right hand corner to adhere a small Renoir book. Perhaps you can find a small book in a used bookstore that you can add to your book? Use a cutting matt, metal ruler, and utility knife to cut through several pages. I made the mistake of adhering the mini book to only one page. Next time, I will make sure that it is attached to several pages so that it has more support. Spell our various words with lettered beads. I spelled "passion" and "art" because I find Renoir's artwork to be very passionate. I also tied some pieces of netting to bring the two pages together.

Door Keyhole:
Cut out many pages to glue keyhole into book. Stick brads through at least 10 pages to give the keyhole a strong base. It can be really fun to put large, heavy items in your book, just remember that they will take up many pages. This keyhole ended up using about 50 pages. Paint rubber cement around the edges of the pages and use large clips to hold them together overnight. This will stick the pages together so that when you turn the "page", which is actually 40 pages, it will be done with ease. I also wrapped an old cloth tape measure around the pages. I find the rubber cement helpful but it doesn't seem to glue them together completely.

Fly Away Butterfly Girl:
Find your image and glue it down. Then write your thoughts across the pages using a white or light colored crayon. This will act as a resist. Then paint watercolor paints across the words. It makes a very nice background. Adhere netting and embellishments with brads. I wrote more words on top with a gold pen.

Sew a picture:
Rip several pages. Then glue the other half of the first page to the last page. I think it's an interesting effect. You end up with sort of an image sandwich. Use watercolor crayons and rubons on the edges of the ripped pages to give them a little more definition. Then sew around the page.

Sewing with two images:
Find two similar images. Glue down. Write thoughts, glue glitter, etc. Place netting over the top of one image, and then sew

First I found the image of a nude woman. In general, I always find my main image before I start creating. Write some thoughts on your image in black writing across the pages. To burn the pages, you will need a paintbrush, water, and a lighter. First make a "firewall" on the page with a wet paintbrush by "painting" around the area you want to burn. Then light and it will burn. Keep a towel or something nearby just in case

it gets out of hand. But with your "firewalls", you should be okay, just blow out the flame when you want it to stop burning….but usually, your "firewall" will put out the flame. When you have all of the burned holes, edges, etc. you want, locate a beeswax candle, light it, and drip candle wax on the pages. Remember to hold your book up on its edge so that the wax will drip down. Rub gold shoe polish on the wax to give it nice gold sheen. I glued pieces of cloth measuring tape behind the holes for fun. I also added some color with a stamp inkpad.

Arabic women:
Paint on the pages, circling a few words that may pertain to your image. I circled "hide" "woman" for this one. I added sparkly gold glitter to the images of women. And then attached acetate with Arabic writing.