Altered Book

I Love making altered books. I've made quite a few for gifts and they turned out great. This one is for me to keep. I had found a book on the wild west in the bargain bin of a bookstore a few years ago. A big coffeetable style book. I always had it in the back of my mind to alter it. So I started taking out pages and when I was done I decided it was too big to do. So I got a regular old hard cover book instead.

This is the first time I have tried making block pages. It's a little tricky to do but a fun effect. The hardest part for me was lining up the pages after they had been gel mediumed and getting the aligator clips in place.I did about 15 pages per block. And really give them a chance to dry, like overnight. And only do a couple at a time.

The idea is for each set of pages to have an Indian image on one side with a corresponding Pioneer image on the other.

This page is page is about families. I did the background with bubblewrap painting. The medallion on the left page is made from Veggie Leather. Fun stuff to use. The fabric squares on the right page are vintage. The strip down the middle is burlap. This page is the men. The left page is embellished with wild turkey feathers from a half a bird my dogs brought home from who knows where. The right page is done with dictionary pages and lace paper I dyed with instant coffee, my new favorite thing to do for aging.

This set is about learning. The left has an image of the Cherokee alphabet I found in the western book.Along the top and bottom is some trim that has little shells hanging off it. The right side has some vintage looking buttons and alphabet paper.

I have 2 more pages to do then the cover. I am very excited about the cover. If it turns out like I want it will be very cool!

If you've never done this, google some altered book sites, get some ideas and jump in. The hardest step is the first, where you actually do your first cut or tear to a page. After that it is a LOT of fun. Especially since there are no right or wrong ways to do it!

Peace