Friday 31 August 2007

An Altered Board Book

I've been collecting a few childrens' board books for some time now, together with lots of info. and ideas as to how to 'alter' them, so I have been playing with one recently. The two above are about 3 and a half inches square, and the little one only about 2" square.
Here we go, having rubbed the very shiny surfaces with fine sandpaper, stuck a torn piece of embossed wallpaper on the front and then covered the whole book with gesso.


I then painted the front and back very quickly with blue paint and a bit of purple, then did the inside. While it was still wet I painted the same colour on a seperate piece of paper and then pressed that onto each page (which creates texture!)

When that was dry, I stamped a couple of words and stuck a couple of pictures and some lace etc. on the pages, then I painted the whole book with yellow Neopaque (which allows colour underneath to show through)

I then painted all the book with BLUE paint which of course turned it all green!
I added some rub on Treasure gold in places, and painted the edges and the motif on the front with gold leaf......
and finally added some ribbons and beads on the spine. I've tried to create a 'fairy' feel to this little book and hope to 'alter' a few more with the same theme, perhaps different colours, although I can't seem to get away from the woodland feeling, it seems to fit fairies very well.



15 comments:

Papoosue said...

The book is fabulous - I loved seeing the various stages. I must admit I am a big fan of gesso (possibly my favourite bit!). I think to delete the duplicate, you have to go into 'edit posts' then click on the photo you want to delete and just hit the 'delete' button on the computer. Then 'publish' your post again and it should be fine. I hope this helps.

Carol said...

Hi Val,
As per usual I am attempting to send you a comment! This is really nice. I look forward to having a closer look.
Carol

Carol said...

At long last it worked!!!!!!!!!!
I did not write a very big comments before because i was not expecting it to get to you. Lets hope the problem is now solved.
Carol

Doreen G said...

Val you never cease to amaze me with your creations you clever little thing.
The book is beautiful

Carol said...

Fabulous altered book Val.

Digitalgran said...

That altered book is lovely Val.

Sandy said...

WOW! I've been buying those books too but didn't know what to do with them. Thanks for the inspiration. Sandy

dot said...

....as i said in my e-mail, inspirational! Like the use of the embossed paper, i've been mono printing with that stuff for a while now and it works well, but never included it in anything.

Stitchety Grub said...

I love your adapted book - gorgeous- I keep reading on various blogs .... "gesso" ... I am in West Australia and have never heard of it ..what is it please?
Britt

Dianne said...

I was so excited when I saw this, as I have some board books with this in mind, and yours look fantastic!! Thanks so much for the inspiration!!!

Sarah Nopp said...

The book is gorgeous! What a lot of fun to do.
It looks like I need to start perusing the local yard sales and cast a wider net.

Jeanette Nord said...

Oh Val this is amazing. Absolutely gorgeous! I am so glad I found your blog. And will come back againg and again....I am very much in to fairies too. The doll you made was so beautiful. How did you make it? Can I get hold of a pattern somewhere?

I would very much like to link you to my blog if thats okey with you?

Hugs
Jeanette

Barbara said...

I found your blog and i love it ! The little book is gorgeous! greetings from Germany Barbara

Rowan said...

I love this book. I made an altered board book for my Brother's 30th. I love how you've added the texture before painting everything to unify it.

Do you find a good type of paint or fixative works to stop the pages sticking??

Emmy said...

hello Val I just found your blog and i love the things you are making I wil visite your blog as of now