Altered Book Project

A friend and I are starting an altered book project. Neither of us has done this before, so it is all trial and guess and hmmm, I wonder if this works. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have started this if my friend hadn't encouraged me. I'm a great procrastinator (I do it very well) and tend to put off things if it's just for me. But if someone else is involved, I'm pretty good about getting going and finishing. So, here's the getting going part.


This was the book I was going to alter. It has really nice rag paper -- a textured, laid finish and part one is entitled "Prelude and Spring." What could be better? Well, a book that isn't so depressing and dreary! I can't look at a book and not read what's there and this book is miserable. All Great Depression realism, death, drought, family troubles. . . I don't want those thoughts anywhere near me!


This book works great. It's thick enough for some elements I want to add, sturdy enough and I like the paper. It had some illustrations which I removed for later use.


Following Bev Brazelton's suggestions in her book Altered Art Workshop, I removed pages and randomly painted facing pages.


I tried painting with two colors. I am using Plaid Decorator Glaze paints. I really like them. They are sheer, so the printing shows through.


These pages are at the very front of the book, so I started here. I glued four pages together to make the collage surface sturdier. That way the next two-page spread you see is green.


I just started adding images and embellishments. I cut an old ledger sheet into triangles to go around the circle image. These pages need something more, maybe lots more. I'm just not sure what. So I'm gonna let it sit and get back to it tomorrow.


This is what my worktable looked like at the end of the blue page. I pull so many things out to see if they will work and I'm just a very messy worker! In pride of place is my jar of Yes! paste. I used it to glue the pages together. I really love this glue, despite the fact that it is incredibly messy.

It was fun to spend most of the day making art. I wasn't sure I knew what to do, but the Brazelton book was really helpful and once I got going it was fun! I never knew painting book pages could be such a kick!