Altered Books:: Part 2

I taught the Altered Books class last night for a group of eleven librarians. They were a very attentive and interested group, full of information about altered books that they shared with the class. We started out by viewing the holdings from an altered books association to familiarize the group with the possibilities of what lay ahead of them and to allow time for arrival. As they finished, they sat down at a large table where they found a packet full of fun goodies. Ephemera galore!

After a basic introduction to the art and craft of altered books, we covered five techniques. They got a chance to practice all of them. If we had had more time, we had several more techniques to share, but due to the facility closing early, we weren't able to finish them all. 'Til next time, perhaps? An Altered Books II maybe?

I LOVE the citrasolv transfer method.

::Take a fresh photo copy (1-3 days old) and cut out an image that strikes your fancy.

Place the image face down on your book in the location where you'd like to place the transfer.

Using a Q-tip swab doused in Citrasolv, liberally rub the back of the paper with the image.

Once the image is well-soaked, take a bone folder or popsicle stick and vigorously rub the

image, transferring the ink to the book below. Peek under one edge, making sure not to move

the image, then either rub more with the bone folder and add more citrasolv or peel away the

image to see your handiwork.

Blocking out text with a Sharpie. You can also remove text on old books by placing masking tape on the text you don't want, then rubbing with the bone folder or popsicle stick. The text sticks to the tape.

An example of the accordian pages with hinges made from beautiful papers. (I love this photo: a man's hands! So many of my attendees have been women. It was a nice change to have men in this class... a different perspective.)

This woman used an extra copy of a Dr. Seuss book. What fun! I can just imagine pockets and hidden goodies within. Her kids will love to discover the book's insides.

We purchased some of the beautiful papers at Paper Source. They have such wonderful papers.
I had previously only thought of old books as sources for Altered books. This one was a newer one, maybe off a sale table at a local bookstore. The pages were shiny, so she couldn't do the masking tape/text lifting method, but it was a beautiful choice for altering. Lovely flowers and text.

Do you have a favorite technique? Please share and I can link back to you, if you have a pic!