Monday, February 25, 2008

another altered board book in process


This book will have only two pages. I glued all the pages together and then cut out the centers to form an indentation into which I could glue objects with some depth. This book is rather shallow so today I bought some thicker board books (used)as I like this method.

I love the way the notes show through the purple rice paper. The top piece is from the rose petal paper I made awhile ago.

The cover using the tissue paper decorated with a roller awhile back. I need to trim this and do more decorating.


I may tint the white border as the white seems too stark. The background paper is a piece of a water color I tore up. The pink paper is paper toweling used to clean paint brushes. The writing is from an ancient falling-apart book I got at a yard sale. It is the actual ink written original. It was a record book for some business from Boston in the late 1800's. The jewel was perfect until I tried to remove the hinge on the back and in trying (but not succeeding) I smashed one of the glass insets.

10 comments:

Cris, Artist in Oregon said...

Suki..These are wonderful. You are really getting into some pretty colors. Spring like. I love the use of the materials. Like the paper towel from cleaning your brushs and jewelry. Very nice.

Cris, Artist in Oregon said...

ps.. I think that page should be tinted too. so it doesnt take away from the page on the other side. I too like the music notes showing thru the lavender paper.

marianne said...

They are like a fairy tale! So beautiful!
When in doubt about coloring , what you can do is to paint the picture first in Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop (select it with the magic wand (how appropriate :-) and than fill it in with different colors).
I like the white.......white is purity, cleanliness, and innocence.I like it together with the pearls.

Annie said...

Who would have thought one could make something so interesting to hold and look at. This is fun and seems very special. I do love books and books like this, well, they're a new and exciting idea for me.

patti said...

I love these! You have a talent for altered books for sure. Fascinating that it was such an old Boston book that you used.

Enjoyed seeing your cartoon character too - keep them coming!

Unknown said...

Precious and lovely! I wish I could touch it and look at it closer! Love the colours and the way you put everything together!
Andrea
PS yes I too think that your idea of painting the white with somethin else is great!

Lynn Cohen said...

Lovely use of all the different papers and the jewels remind me of my Ella quilt.
Maybe tint the white just a off white, pearl white...to blend with the pearls. Lovely.

human being said...

Beautiful.
I see an association between the pearls and the notes.

Natalya Khorover Aikens said...

what a lovely book!

sukipoet said...

Wow. All these comments make me want to get working on more altered books. Thank you everyone.

The paper toweling is Natalya's idea which I credited somewhere on my blog but want to do so again.

I tinted the page a pinkish, didn't like it so have over-painted with pearlescent white. Still fiddling with the cover. This one came together so easily but the next one is slower.

I often use old jewelry in my books and assemblages.

HB i hadn't seen the association of the notes and pearls so thank you. Yes, both round one black and one white.

Marianne I am way behind the times as I dont have paint shop pro or photoshop or any of those tools. But thanks for the advice. Usually I just paint over colors that dont work but that can be an endless changing of color thing. although that seems to be my mode of working out the colors--right on the canvas or book or whatever.

Annie there are books out about altering books. It is a big craft thing right now. As I said somewhere else it took me awhile to be able to desecrate a book this way, but these books are often discarded and destined for the dump so now I can do it for some books. For some reason board books seem less horrible to desecrate. Desecrate yet make into something else. IE I dont mean desecrate to be negative really.