Friday 23 March 2012

Altered book !

Over on Elizabeth's Blog she is running a fantastic Altered Book online course. On the right hand sidebar she has online tutorials so pop over and have a wee looksee!



This is my first  ever Altered book and I must admit I was a bit daunted to start with.....but I needn't have worried because Elizabeth has been so kind as to use idiot instructions!!! lol i.e. photos!! It make it soooooo much easier to understand if you are not too sure about something! lol Suits me perfectly!!

I sat and read and re read the instructions, took one look at the book I had 'chosen' and thought " nope! Won't be able to do that...or that...or even that because I don't have the supplies" !! Took another look at that poor lost and forlorn looking wee book then said " b*gger that"!!! The only way I'm going to find out if it will work with what I DO have is to give it a go!!!

So I bit the bullet and got tore in!! Literally!! lol..... I followed Elizabeth's second method for removing pages! but i didn't remove too many because there aren't a lot of pages in my book to start with, it only has around 150 odd and I wanted to keep as many as I possibly could incase I wanted to some secret pockets or tag pockets or techniques which use a few pages stuck together!

My 'Niche' isn't too deep but again this was due to the limited number of pages. But I'm quite happy with the way things are going so far.

Now I won't be doing too much with the Glue experiment, simply because I can't....I don't have a lot of 'different' glues due to a lack of funds really so I tend to stick to the same one. Which is of course what's in that rather unsightly 5 litre 'jerrycan'!! Yep! It's your proverbial PVA.... but it's the builders' variety and its fab stuff! If they can use it to help seal new plasterwork and brickwork and stuff.....lol....now I know that this will buckle the pages but to be honest I tend to use a lot of spray inks/paints and stuff so they buckle anyway (most of the time) .... I think though Gesso will feature heavily in this project! The pages are very old and a little brittle and they are also ultra absorbant so I think the gesso may help a little, (not sure yet because I need to wait on my glue drying to find out)!!

I'm not really 'planning' this project as such, i tend to just 'let it happen' so not really sure what the theme for the book will be yet....but it seems to be looking more and more like I will be going with the Vintage Ecclectic feel....got loads of old 'bits and pieces' lying around so may as well get them used up!

Anyway.... enough prattling on.... here's my piece so far!! A bit of an odd looking contraption lol but all those 'clamps' are needed! trust me!!




I soooo wish Glue didn't take so long to dry because I can't wait to start decorating some pages but alas I'll need to wait until tomorrow! *sigh*

So to finish off I would like to say a HUGE big THANK YOU to Elizabeth for taking time out to do these wonderful tutorials!! I am loving every minute of it! :D

Thanks for dropping by

Take care

Jackie x

10 comments:

Rita said...

Looks interesting Jacqueline and I bet yours will be a brilliant creation. TFS. Enjoy your Day. Hugs Rita xx

SandeeNC said...

I do understand about it being a daunting task, I felt the same way as it is my first AB. I also had to read and re-read the directions! AND my book is also very old, 60 plus to be exact ( it had the date written on it as it had been given to someone! ) But you are off to a grand start! waving hi from the hills of North Carolina :)

Ann B said...

It's my first AB as well so ripping out pages was very daunting. If I thought that was hard wait until I get going with the glues and voluntarily making a mess.

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

As I've said in the past, do not go out and buy anything unless you absolutely MUST. I don't have a lot of sprays, so you are way, way ahead of me on that. and I'm impressed you have gotten this far using the ONE glue you do have. Most impressive.

And yes, glue is something I will buy because I know it has to be used to get the job done. I often worry about my pages being too rippled, but I have come to believe that is a characteristic of most altered art.

Thanks for linking. I am sure you did right by not removing too many pages. I would hate for you to run out of them before the end of the course.

BJ said...

Thanks for your comment, hoping I've inspired you to get going on your book. Spotted your Gesso and can say SNAP to that! hehehe. I may have removed too many pages from my book, so I guess you may be one up on me there. BJ

Craftymoose Crafts said...

I'm making my first AB too! Elizabeth is so kind and patient with repeating on our blogs if we have a question.

You are off to a great start! "No theme" is actually a great theme, lol--I'm all for just using things that make you truly smile.

Karen said...

Ahhh a girl after my own heart haha! oved reading this as I am new to this already but I haven't blogged mine yet as its still drying!!!! Yours is looking great x

peggy aplSEEDS said...

good job on your clipping and glueing! glad you bit the bullet and joined the AB course!

Sherry said...

Good for you for having a go - looking forward to seeing how your book progresses x

Terrie said...

I'm finally getting a moment to see everyone's AB link.... Look at all the folks new to AB that left comments! We're such a brave bunch to be tackling something so new. I enjoyed making my niche but have learned a few tricks in reading about everyone else's efforts so hopefully my next one will be better. Yours is looking so great - can't wait to see what's next.