Postcard Challenge 2012 - My Book is Finished
I'm taking part in my friend Darcy's Postcard Challenge throughout 2012 so needed to make a book. I havent made one with sewn in signatures before so signed up to Amy's A Darn Sweet Book course for the instructions and inspiration to try doing the holes and stitching myself. I must have read through the web page and watched all of Amy's Altered Books videos at least four or five times each before deciding the time had come to actually try it. Not too sure why I felt so anxious over making the book, negatives did keep creeping in if I'm completely honest with myself, things like, what if it doesnt look any good or like an actual book? and, can I really do everything by myself, will the kids leave me alone long enough to actually finish it? but also whilst that theme tune was rattling around in my mind there was also, take that I will make my book and it will be brilliant" as well as, why did you stop me from being openly creative, you didnt take it away from me completely I hid that side of me away from you so take that" "I'm so glad you are not in my life any more, one of the best decisions I have ever made cutting all ties with you". So with some degree of a 'have strength' pep talk I gave myself over a few nights after everyone else was asleep and the house was quiet, I began making my book.
Harvey and I had been making papers using shaving foam and paint two weeks ago, I initially thought I'd use mine as book pages so rubbed beeswax along the edging so that it would be stronger, but the Readers Digest books kindly gifted to me through Freegle were too short for the pages and as they'd been pre-waxed I decided to save them for a future project and used a different book from the going-to-the-charity-shop-in-January-bag stash instead.
First I pulled all the signature and pages out of a hardback book then cut the boards free from the spine. To remove the pages I had to use a stanley knife from my husband's toolbox, it was ultra sharp and cut grooves into my clipboard as well as going right through to the table with little effort.
Next I used gesso to cover the boards after giving the edges a light sand to get rid of the rough bits I could feel especially along the spine edge where the cover boards used to be attached.
Ripped open a few still packed up boxes from the house move to look for the glue, I found a really old part used canvas sketch pad which had two pages left in the back unmarked, hmmm I thought, and instead of directly painting on to the blue boards now turned white with gesso, I decided to cover them in the canvas paper as the overall effect I was looking for was the distressed old look and feel, canvas is perfect for that as its not smooth.
I used regular 80gsm printer paper in white to make the signatures, four A4 sheets folded in half in each signature. They are a bit on the thin side and when I do this again for another book, I'll be getting a stronger paper for sure.
The signatures where then held together by folding up a piece of red card I also found in the box at the same time as the canvas sheets.
Next came hole punching, was no good at this challenge so wasted two whole signatures but soon did get the hang of making the holes using an old awl tool my husband had in his toolbox.
Ooops, somehow I completely forgot to punch holes through the red card as well so had to do that separately praying it would all line up. I ended up making a template at this stage using one sheet of A4 paper with masking tape stuck down the length of one edge. Then by feel I lined up one signature underneath and poked holes in the masking tape using a knitting needle, the tape stopped the paper ripping. Then it was just a matter of holding the card against the paper keeping the edges the same and going through the template holes through the card. The card and signatures more or less lined up beautifully.
To make the postcards I used a pack of 50 pearlised A6 pre folded cards and envelopes in cream and white, cutting the cards in half and drawing with an Inktense Pencil and Neocolor ii Crayon sometimes using a ruler sometimes not.
When it came to sticking the envelopes which I made up to 52 raiding the living room chest of drawers for two more, I realised I had actually made and sewn together twice the amount of signatures needed for the book so I took half of them off saving for later. Unfortunately I had already stuck most of the envelopes in when I realised so had to rethink how to attach my postcards to the book pages.
I attached the red folded card now sewn to the signatures, to each of the boards and covered the join with some treasure island theme printed paper I did a while ago and also had in my stash.
The spine was sliced by my husband out of one of the red scraps of leather we always have loads of here. I did try and cut one myself but it was so wonky it looked silly.
I used wood glue and two stiff cardboard squares to secure the spine to the book boards, the two cardboard squares are under the spine and are there to give the book its nice chunky shape, it wont collapse in on itself down the soft spine now.
On the inside I stuck in card stock and patterned paper corners, envelopes and strips to slide the postcards into.
Fun part came when it was time to decorate the front of the book tonight. I started off with spray inks in sort of purple and cherry shades. Opening the little glass spritz bottles was challenging, even more challenging was finding out where the ink was going to spray out from as of course I couldnt find or see the hole so in the end i just sprayed it and got a face and t-shirt full of metallic glowing purple grape ink!
So first the background was purple frosted grape and cherry ice red spray inks, then I used a paintbrush dipped in water to spread the splats of ink about a bit because by the time I found the spray hole my hand had moved closer to the book cover and I wanted a softer look.
Whilst the ink was still wet I went over the cover with the lightest grey neocolor, olive green, a browny green colour and purple blending with water if needed to spread the colour. Next I wasnt happy, needed a more distressed look so used a brighter green and orange neocolour going over mainly around the splats of ink, blending slightly with my fingers dipped in water.
Once almost dry I used neocolours in brown around the edges, then white over most of the cover.
Then got out the cheap gold glitter paint we bought from the £1 shop for the kids art cupboard and squeezed blobs directly on to the cover spread about using a paintbrush. I didnt know at this point that the book had a beautiful shimmer both from the ink and the gold acrylic paint, I realised that much later.
Once I was happy with the background I set the book aside to dry.
On a cream piece of paper I drew boxes using the darkest purple neocolor, filled them in with the lightest grey then white on top, blue and green lines for around the edges of the boxes, graphitint pencil was used for the wording.
I drew a circle freehand on the same sheet of paper and coloured it in using only neocolors in three different of both blue and green shades. I added a bit of brown and white randomly to give it depth then cut everything out.
Glued the wording and globe like circle on to the front of the book using the gold glitter acrylic paint, it gave the edging of the pieces of paper a chance to bleed and blend into the rest of the background plus I covered them with a bit in the sparkle as well.
Must just say I actually love the gold glitter acrylic gel paint from the pound shop, its called "The 99p Store" and is less than two minutes walk away from our front door. The paint is of a very good quality, far better than I expected it would be and I only grabbed it to use because it was so late, most of the household was already in bed and I didnt want to walk upstairs my body has been very stiff and painful all week. I'm glad I did try the paint though, I love the way it stays wet for a good while because you can then move it about quite a few times before finishing. Other cheap brands I've tried in the past dry instantly within a minute of being applied and are more runny, this one is like a thick gel which you have to splodge about and spread over and over again before the blobs disappear.
The book was still wet whilst it was being photographed tonight, Imogen did very well holding it for me as I tried to capture the subtle sparkles.
Overall I feel very happy with this book, the first I have made all by myself, I really enjoyed the whole process from start to finish and I love the old distressed look and feel of the covers, will decorate the inside more fully once the Postcard Challenge takes off next week as we go along with the countries and writing the story between the postcards.
To follow the progress of the challenge with me each week, save this bookmark which will bring up all my tags, the entries tagged with "postcardchallenge2012" is the one to click on, this will save you reading through all the other posts I make in between relating to my family, our new house, my kids, general artwork, handspinning with Julius my SpinOlution Spinning Wheel, loom knitting and loom knitting designs.
materials used for my book are :
Caran D'Ache Neocolor ii water soluble crayons used both dry and wet
Derwent Graphitint Pencil
Smooch Spritz Spray Smooth Shimmer Inks : frosted grape and cherry ice
£1 Pound Shop unbranded gold glitter acrylic gel paint for the sparkle
front and back cover boards from a hardback book
2 sheets of canvas paper torn from an old pad
plain white 80gsm printer paper
cream 80gsm printer paper
pre scored 120gsm cards and envelopes pearly finish in A6 size
Italian leather in red with suede on the reverse side
2 x very stiff cardboard squares for the spine reinforements
white gesso
pva glue
cheap unbranded glue stick
water
card stock
background papers from DoCrafts