If you love altered books and working with type you should check out Lisa Kokin’s site. One of my favorite pieces is this page that cuts out words so that you can see part of a photo behind i…
Read tips on how I prep used books to be used as an altered book, or visual journals. This project is fun for artists or in an art classroom.
Isobelle Ouzman transforms discarded books into whimsical worlds of fairytale-like animals carved from paper.
Learn about the fun and fascinating art of altering books! This is an inspirational guide to get you started making your own works of art. Enjoy!
I know it can be hard to decide where to begin, so to make it easy on you, I've compiled a list of my top 10 free bookbinding tutorials.
The times when paper was considered to be the primary medium for artistic expression is long gone. Many writers and designers use digital media to improvise and develop their ideas. However, there is something particuliar in this "physical" canvas — something that keeps us getting back to paper when we want to brainstorm ideas in a notebook, doodle around in a sketchbook, collect inspiration in a scrapbook or just draw some sketches for the next project.
I thought I'd document the process of making an altered book – my way! Below are photo's showing the process of making The Edge of the Wood altered book. The Edge of the Wood and Deer in the Forest…
As a child I loved pop-up books. A friend once sent me a pop-up postcard of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain featuring a thoughtful, solitary figure. It was a beautiful, inspiring card.
I recently started an altered book project that will serve as a journal of my recollected childhood memories. I’m going to show you how I prep my pages and I invite you to play along with me …
Altered book, carved into a notebook. Carved into A6 Portrait Black Cloth Hardback Sketchbook with black cover. About 6"x8" across when open. (6" x 4" when closed). Made using fineliner, glue, carving knife. Colored with watercolors. Spayed with UV resistant matte to protect the ink. Dated and signed. Worldwide shipping in a box with tracking. Not responsible for any customs tax acquired upon arrival in the destination country. Package will take approximately 5-21 days to arrive (depending on location) upon shipment.
I have a super fun goody giveaway to keep your creativity cookin' throughout this year! This Craftside goody giveaway includes: The new books: Playing With Sketches: 50 Creative Exercises for Designers and Artists by Whitney Sherman and Illustration School: Let's...
I thought I'd document the process of making an altered book – my way! Below are photo's showing the process of making The Edge of the Wood altered book. The Edge of the Wood and Deer in the Forest…
Amazing art by Isobelle Ouzman -altered books carved and drawn by this contemporary artist.
7 Accordion Folds… and one pretty awesome book
This just in, November/December issue of Somerset Studio. My article "Creating Opportunities" is about making the commitment to dimensional elements on your page before you start adding your layers of paint and collage. One of my favorite mantras, as a teacher, is to tell you to "Commit". Just start with...
Whether on a small or large scale, these clever projects will make you think twice about the power of a good book. Artist: Johnathan Callan Artist: Mike Stilkey Artist: Brian Dettmer Artist: Robert…
Junho Julho Agosto Outubro Dezembro 2011; março e abril de 2012; abril e maio 2013 e renovado de vez em quando… Eugênio Pacceli da Fonseca De Verónica Barranco: “Verónica Barranco escol…
kerry miller re-imagines books with these intricate 3d pieces of artwork. dissecting old, discarded volumes, the UK-based artist removes the written word.
About a month ago I posted some pictures of tunnel books that two Grade 6 classes made. I promised the tutorial and here it is. The tunnel book starts off as a regular accordion book and then halfway it flips up exposing a tunnel to the back page. It's a great project to incorporate writing and the visual arts. The tunnel section can represent a transition in the story, literal or figurative. With the Grade 6'rs it was part of their novel study. The had to choose a portion of the book they had read and then incorporate this into a tunnel book. MATERIALS REQUIRED: - 1 piece of 11x17 white paper for practice and planning - rectangular piece of wc or good weight paper, by good weight you want it thicker than printer paper but not 300lb wc, a 90lb would work well here, I use roughly a 12.5 x 19.5 which is a 1/4 sheet of the 90-110lb wc we have on hand - ruler - pencil and eraser - scissors - watercolors, tempera disk, acrylics, colored pencil, etc. any medium to add color - fine sharpie - cardboard - tacky glue PROCEDURE: Now bear with me here. It really is easy once you get the hang of it. I just need to break it down into step by step. Hand out the 11x17 printer paper. This will be our practice book. We will also use this as a plan for our good copy. Fold in half both vertically and horizontally. I added black lines to show the folds. You do not need to add these. Lay out flat. Now fold each side into the middle. Unfold and you will have 8 sections. Now this style of accordion book is called a pants book. I use this term with the kids as it's an easy way for them to remember. Starting on one side cut along the horizontal fold line up to the last 2 sections. When you hold it up it looks like a pair of pants. With young kids you might want to make a mark at the stopping point to remind them. Place your pair or pants in front of you so that the seat is on the right (feet would come out on the left if this was a real pair of pants). Now in book making there are 2 main folds, a mountain and a valley. Mountains poke up and valleys go down. Click and the photo for a larger image. I have them marked. You want both pant legs starting on the left to have a valley fold, then a mountain, and then another valley. Fold up the top leg accordion style keeping the folds as outlined previously. You can now take these top pages and flip them down. In the tunnel book these pages will form the tunnel which sits up. Incidentally if you wanted to just make an accordion book with no tunnel. Just flip these pages the other way to the back. This would give you a nice accordion with single pages and one double in the middle. For both books you now can fold up the remaining leg of the book keeping those same folds. Your book should open nicely with 3 pages and then you can flip up the remaining pages and they can sit upright. Now the tunnel. Unfold the book. To create the tunnel you need to cut out 3 windows in the first 3 pages of the top pant leg. Ovals are the easiest but once you get the hang of it you can experiment. The windows do not need to all be the same shape but you want to get smaller as you go making sure you can see thru them all to the final page. Easiest way to cut the windows is to poke a hole in the center and then cut away. Now when you stand up that tunnel you should be able to see thru to that back page. Now that you've done your practice book you might as well use it to plan out what you want to do for your good copy. When you have your plan make your pants book with your good paper. Just like before. The older the student the more elaborate your windows can be. I also find it best to cut the large window out first.....I can then figure out where I want my second window and then again for the third. Now add color using whatever medium you wish. For grade 6 they painted all the backgrounds and then added all the details. They drew the details onto plain white paper, colored them in with pencil crayon and then cut and pasted onto their painted backgrounds. You need to paint the backs of the tunnel pages for a finished look. You can now add text if you wish. I printed out my story on the computer and then pasted it on. I also used a fine sharpie to add some outlines to my paintings. For the front and back cover you might want to add some weight to your book. Cardboard covers are a nice touch. Cut 2 rectangles, the same size as your pages, out of cardboard. (chipboard or corrugated). Paint the cardboard and then add a title. Fold up your tunnel book and glue the cardboard cover to the first page. Now the back cover is glued on. It should be the back of the 4th page on the bottom leg of the pants. That's it. My tunnel book is called 'Finding Paradise'. I know I still have Maui on the brain.....why not give a tunnel book a try! See you next time.
Looking for my Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway? Just scroll down (a long way) or click here! ---------- I love to collect little books, make little books, alter little books. Anything to do with books that I can hold in the palm of my hand. I thought I would share the basic steps I take when altering children's board books. You can use the altered board book as a mini scrapbook devoted to one of your children, or give a page for each family member; perhaps as a mini journal, favorite quote or Bible verse book, or a storybook (I have made up lots of stories about my kids and created altered books 'illustrating' the story - kids love to hear about themselves!), the uses are endless. Here are the supplies you will need for this altered board book tutorial: Children's board book Sandpaper (fine grit works well, but any sandpaper will work) or an electrical sander Gesso Craft paint - your choice of color Paint brush Heat Tool or hair dryer Image of your child (I print onto Matte photo paper and trimmed around the image) Scraps of scrapbook paper, left over bits of paper from other projects, painted papers, fabric scraps, Rub On wordsglue stick scissors Staz On ink Rubber Stamps - Star by Stampin' Up; Heart in script - From the 'Romance Heart Cube' by Christine Adolph Optional: Water soluble oil pastels Lead pencil Project time: 2-3 sittings of 60 minutes Level: Intermediate collage skill Step 1 Choose a board book to be altered. I like to use ones that come free with kids meals, books that my children have out grown or ones that they have doubles of. I also look for ones that have less than 10 spreads. Step 2 Using either sandpaper or an electrical sander sand the cover and pages of the board book. Don't remove all the image on the pages, it is a nice effect to see some of the original images showing through. Step 3 Paint a layer of gesso on each page. You will need to dry the pages with a heat tool before moving on to gesso the next page or your pages will stick together. Step 4 To add a little color to your page, paint a layer of watered down craft paint over the dried gesso. I like to use a different color for each page. Step 5 Firstly, decorate the front cover of the book. Add stamps with Staz On ink. To tone the stamps down add a second layer of watered down gesso (or white craft paint). Step 6 Choose the collage elements you want to use. Print and trim the photograph of your child (or pet, or whatever else you want your book to focus on). Lay them out on the book cover, move them around until you are pleased with the composition. Glue everything in place, starting with the lower layers and building upwards. Color the edges with pastels and rub with your finger. Step 7 Choose the words you want to use on the cover to convey what your book is all about. You can add words by gluing on printed words, writing with a gel pen or, in this case, using 'Rub Ons'. Step 8 To use a Rub On: Cut the words you plan to use from the Rub On sheet. Discard the protective backing sheet. Step 9 Lay the words out where it works well with the composition. Don't be afraid to lay the words vertical! Step 10 Using the popsicle tool that comes with the Rub on sheet burnish the words. The words will turn from black to gray as they adhere to the book's surface. Step 11 When you think words have transferred to the board book, remove the plastic cover. Step 12 Add some finishing touches to your collage book cover - for example, if some of the papers are too bright, tone them back by adding a wash of watered down gesso. Step 13 Add some doodles or lines with a lead pencil and perhaps some more pastels, if you had not added them already. Step 14 When the cover is done, turn your attention to the inner pages. Add some stamps to the pages. IDEA: Consider adding a different stamp to each page spread, if you do then pick your stamps out ahead of time and line them up. That way you can save time and work in a conveyor belt style! Step 15 Add some pastels and lead pencil doodles to the stamped areas on that inner pages. Step 16 Once your inner pages are decorated with stamps and color, it is time to add other images. You will need an image for each page, so take some time to plan your images picks and arrange them on the page. When you glue them in, it is a nice idea to sand them lightly on the edges - that helps the photos to blend into the page well. I hope you enjoyed my tutorial. I would love to hear from you if you did, or if you have and questions about any of the steps. I have been doing this kind of art work for a number of years now and sometimes I don't realize what seems obvious now to me may be the one nugget that someone else needs to hear. I want to learn to do better tutorials, so your feedback is helpful.
In my last post I mentioned I was working on an altered book commission based on the children's book, The Box of Delights by John Masefield. I used to have the book as a child…
I thought I'd document the process of making an altered book – my way! Below are photo's showing the process of making The Edge of the Wood altered book. The Edge of the Wood and Deer in the Forest…
Since you are here today, I believe you must want to learn more about creating an altered book. We will start at the beginning and work our...
This week I show you a tool I use that you likely have in your home… but don’t use it for art. I find this super helpful for preparing pages of my altered book art. Discover two mediums you can use…
These amazing book sculptures by Kelly Campbell are made with little more that some scissors, tweezers, and blades.
Isobelle Ouzman is a paper artist currently living in Seattle, WA. She creates...
