By Bobbi Holmes
Make an Altered Book
To make an altered book is to transform a hardback book
into a work of art. Once altered, it is no longer the expression of the original
author, it becomes the expression of the altered book artist. This altered book
tells the story of my grandmother. It is a little different from other altered
books, but the techniques can be used when making your own altered book -
regardless of the theme.
Things You'll Need:
Hardback book
Glue
Paint Brush
Tissue Paper
Embellishments
1
Find a thick hardback book. You don't want to use a
valuable book, or one you plan to read again. Look in thrift stores or garage
sales for a good book to use for this project. Find a thick book.
2
Tear colored tissue paper into pieces and decoupage the
tissue paper over the book cover, use glue or decoupage finish and a paint
brush. Instead of tissue paper, you can also use colored napkins.
3
Insert an interesting object in the book. Cut away pages to
make a window box, and glue the pages together. Secure with a clamp while
drying. Make a door for the window box by gluing several pages together.
4
Cut out a square of pages along the end of the book to fit
a drawer into the book. Glue pages to harden area. Use a small box with a button
handle as a drawer.
5
Glue a picture on one of the pages toward the front of the
book. Cut out windows from the cover to the page with the picture. Glue several
of the pages together to make thicker. When the book is closed, the picture will
be part of the cover.
6
Decoupage interesting items onto the pages. On one of these
pages I've included several of my grandmother's recipes, in her own handwriting.
7
Make a window that can open and
close, to reveal a hidden picture. Old photographs can be printed out using
digital image. Print off as many as you need, without destroying the original
photograph.
8
Add embellishments like fuzzy and fun
ribbons, buttons and bows.
9
Add fragrance. On this page I included soy fragrance chips
in an envelope, and inserted it in the book. The fragrance is gardenia, my
grandmother's favorite flower.
10
Water color over the print on pages,
before adding embellishments.
11
Create a popup page. Use magazine photographs, or images
from the computer to create a background. For this page, I found an image of
drapery, and used it as a background. I also glued small silk flowers onto the
vase.
12
Combine images from old family pictures and images you find
in magazines or online.
13
Glue fun stuff into the pages, like old keepsakes.
14
Add ribbon to keep the book secure when closed.