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Altered Book People

23 years ago

Saw an interesting idea on a another forum.....a lady had taken a hymnal book and with each page used a different theme based on the song title........really different.

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Comments (10)

minnie_tx
23 years ago
Que Pasa? Can you elaborate a little? I'm out of the loop on altered books or people.
rosie_ga
Original Author
23 years ago
Minnie.......I'm sorta new to this too but I think some of our co-hearts have made them. So maybe they will post some info here. I'm interested in the process........not so much in content just the mechanics.
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Interesting article on altered books...
Q
Comments (4)
hi, I just posted about ABs on the Craft & Dec page (post about going away gift). I'm in a round robin right now. Each participant passes their book to the same person after a certain length of time (1 month in our case). Each time we get another book, we work in it and send it on to that same person. Eventually our books come back to us. We formed a yahoo group just for sharing about our progress, and to post pictures. And yes, I think the main thing is to have a theme. I was really scared to take part in one of these, but now I highly recommend a round robin. I've also heard of "Tip Ins" --a kind of swap where others send pages or spreads that you "tip in" to your book. You can attach the pages directly to other pages, or cut off existing pages leaving only a tab, and glue the tip-in to that.
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Outside, I enjoy those books too--- my late FIL went to school with Ferrol Sams and we love his novels. I hadn't realized he wrote essays as well. "When attending art shows, I swear off coffee table books but I am weak." We share that weakness, lol. Seems I am "always" never going to buy another huge book... Beagles, that room is fantastic, and I do see your pile of books peeking out from under that chair to the left :-) I'm with you on the kindle, but every now and then I like to hold a real book. Even though I find myself pushing the edge of the page instead of turning it (hanging head). No screen can reproduce the heft and color of those prints in large books, there is something about a good quality art print that is somehow more convincing than an image on a screen. Sloe gin, over the past decade or so I've seen many people putting lovely shelving in their dining rooms to combine functions or simply bring books into a room that doesn't often see them. I love that look, of a literary dining room! And your basket sounds eminently practical, we use our shagreen boxes and ceramic bowls for the same purpose--- the "stuff" has got to be corralled somehow. I have seen that Circus book, Robo, and the Atomic Ranch book also, they are both marvelous! It's clear that our collective enjoyment of these tomes is at least partly for the esthetic quality of the books themselves in addition to the content. I suppose that's what makes them "useful" decor :-) In some cases they might function purely as decor, as the leather books you've used, tinam. Have you seen the book purses that are so popular in some circles? Kate Spade has or had a few, and there's quite a cottage industry on Etsy making real old books into small handbags. They aren't a tenth big enough for me, but I love looking at them!
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Lia_SC
23 years ago
I think a search on altered books would turn up a ton. Some are a little on the weird side, but it's kind of the same concept as altered Altoid tins or embellished boxes... You just take something ordinary and make it artsy! Stamp, collage, paint, whatever. I've played around with an old book I had and, I can't explain it, but it's very fun!

Rosie, are there any pictures of the hymnals? That would be a neat thing to do with Christmas carols.

Here is a link that might be useful: Here are a few examples
Lia_SC
23 years ago
I forgot about this site, which has been mentioned around here before (very inspiring work!) I think her altered books kind of tell a story; isn't that a "novel" idea? ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Karen's Whimsy Altered Books
ArtsyCraftsy
23 years ago
I have worked on one altered book so far. The problem is I can't finish it cause I have lost it! It has gone missing for about a year now...but it is bound to show up sooner or later!
Anyway, a nice way to start is to get a child's "board book" from the thrift store....with the thick cardboard pages. Then you have a good heavy surface to paint and stamp away. You can let some of the original words & pictures show or you can cover the whole page with gesso and do whatever you wish.
rosie_ga
Original Author
23 years ago
Lia.......check this out.

picturetrail.com/cmpenny

Right side.....hymnal pics.
minnie_tx
23 years ago
I looked at the pictures but I just don't get it.
ArtsyCraftsy
23 years ago
Rosie- at first I thought you meant she created a figure of a person using the altered hymnal as the body.
Minnie- to me, altered books are a form of collage or assemblage art. The hymnal istelf becomes a new work of art by the artist adding paint, decoupage, stamps and other items to the pages. She used the topic of each hymn to inspire her when she added images. I think it is lovely! Although I am surprised at how nicely the pages look. Hymnal paper is so thin it can't take much added wet media unless she put something else behind the page as a backing.
I just did a collage for an art journal round robin, and used a page from a hymnal as part of the background with watercolor paper as a base.

Karen
rosie_ga
Original Author
23 years ago
Will email her and ask how she strengthened the pages........Check out this French lady's work.........I think some are familar with her work....just outstanding.

isisesc.supelec.fr/gallery-nenuphar/Cosmology_Astrology
rosie_ga
Original Author
23 years ago
Karen.......this was her reply on how to strengthen the pages in the hymnal.

"As for glueing the pages, I did some with glue stick (just around the
edges), did some with mod podge (they tend to crinkle a bit more, but can be
improved if brushed with the grain of the paper. However, I think now I
will use glue stick around the edges (1/2 inch inside) and if I'm doing a
bunch together, I'll go back after they're all glue sticked and "paint" a
little modge podge along the edge for extra measure."

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