Altered Book Covers

November 5, 2005November 5, 2005 Karen

I recently received the following email from an aspiring altered book artist: How do you prepare the hard cover itself to receive what is to be glued onto it?

First of all, I suggest leaving the cover for last. The reason is that if you plan on doing a lot of work in your altered book over a period of time, you don’t want to have to worry about damaging the artwork on the cover while you’re working on the inside of the book. Plus, if you put any three dimensional items onto the cover, it will be difficult to work inside the book if you need it to lie flat.

When you’re done with the inside, there are a lot of possibilities for how to decorate the front cover. If you plan on adding any embellishments, I would suggest using Golden soft gel medium. It has a nice, creamy texture that isn’t runny and it dries clear. Keep some baby wipes handy to wipe up any stray medium that squishes out as you press down on the items that you’re applying.

If the book has a cloth or paper-type cover, you can paint it first with acrylics. You can use a brush or even sponges to apply your paint. Be careful about over-wetting the cover; you don’t want it to warp too much. If the cover does warp, wrap it in waxed paper and put a weight on top of it. I use my pasta machine as a weight and it works great.

If the cover of the book has a glossy finish, I would recommend sanding the cover first to remove the plasticky surface so that things will adhere properly. You may even want to paint over the sanded surface with gesso to eliminate any artwork that is on the cover. This might take two coats of gesso to accomplish. I often sand the dried gesso again for a really smooth surface. Or if you’re looking for a textured finish, use rubber stamps, bubble wrap, combs, burlap or other textured items to press into the damp gesso to leave an impression.
On the other hand, you might want to allow parts of the title or cover illustrations to show through. It’s up to you.

Another possibility for finishing the cover of your altered book, is to cover it with decorative paper, which can be painted, embellished, or collaged for a really nice look.

New Adventure! Altered Books! Artful Journeys!

October 23, 2005November 1, 2005 Karen

I am nearing the end of an exiting adventure: creating this new blog using WordPress. This has been a wonderful learning experience for me. Don’t you just love it when your mind churns with new concepts and all your hard-work at learning the curve finally works out?

Many thanks to the kind, patient, and talented Cricket Bailey of for her hours of hand-holding and guidance throughout the past (almost) year.

Also, a shout-out to Andy Skeltoac and Catsudon for their terrific tutorials on transferring my Blogspot files to their new home.

In addition, thank you to Joni Mueller for the Iris theme which I drastically modified but which is based on her original design, and to Squid Fingers who makes the most beautiful background patterns, and finally to Lady K. for the Typogenerator and addictive little app which helped me create my banner.

Just one more small step on my Artful Journey.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

October 9, 2005November 1, 2005 Karen

Yesterday I woke up at 6:30 a.m., which is what time I usually wake up during my work week. I don’t like to sleep late on the weekends because I use my precious Saturdays and Sundays to cram in all those things that I’m too busy to do during the week days. My perfect daily schedule would be to wake up early, stay up late, and take a nap in the middle of the day when my batteries start to run low.

So I woke up early, had some coffee, and started cleaning. Saturday was laundry-dishes-floors-pay bills-general straighten-up the house day, all in preparation for SUNDAY!, the day that I’m determined to dedicate to working on one or more of the dozen altered book and collage ideas that are pressing on my brain.

I did take a couple hours off from my housekeeping duties to get down to the library book sale. Yippee! And I had a wonderful impromptu lunch out with a friend who was working there. I filled three bags with books and paid $19.50. What a bargain! Of course, these new books have given me even MORE IDEAS for things to create, so there I go again, making more trouble for myself.

On a sad note, I received an email from the woman who bought Anatomy of Paradise, and she’s having buyer’s remorse. Unfortunately, her dog got sick and she’s having to spend tons of money on vet bills and wants to return Paradise. She said she loved it, but can’t afford it right now. While I totally understand and am willing to take the book back, I can’t help but feeling disappointed that things turned out this way.

Now, off the computer and onto an artful Sunday!

Altered Books Take a Journey

October 5, 2005October 23, 2005 Karen

I mailed out three altered books today. It was sad to see them go. I shipped two books to the show in San Luis Obispo, and Anatomy of Paradise to a new home in San Jose. I am hoping the kind woman who purchased the book enjoys it as much as I have.

I had never really given much thought to how I was going to ship one of my wall hangings, especially this one. With the Reliquaries, I just wrap them up in copious amounts of bubble wrap and everything is fine. I couldn’t do that with Paradise because there were so many fragile three dimensional elements. I was worried that the flowers and vines and other paper parts would get squashed. So I decided to surround the altered book with those styrofoam peanuts that everybody hates receiving. I placed the book inside the box and buried it in foam popcorn until it disappeared from site. I just hope that Anatomy of Paradise has a safe trip to San Jose.

Accepted! and Rejected!

September 29, 2005November 22, 2005 Karen

Well, I’m batting one for three so far. During August I had submitted entries to three juried shows. First I got rejected for the Book Arts show in Oregon. I was disappointed, of course. But then, about two weeks later, I got a call saying that two of my pieces, Saraswati :: Saraswati Reliquary and Contemporary Wall Sculpture :: The King’s Garden had been accepted for an for the San Luis Obispo Art Center. The artist reception is October 15 from 6-8, and the exhibit runs through November 13th. As you can imagine, I was thrilled to get accepted into my first show. Now I have to figure out how I’m going to package The King’s Garden and send it down there safely.

Having been accepted into that show softened the blow of the rejection letter I received the following week from the Roseville Art Gallery. They turned down my three Dia de los Muertos altered books.

Last time I wrote about being rejected for a show, I had so many nice people write to offer their encouragement and support. Thank you all so much for that.

I’m heading to Reno this weekend to watch the Grand Finale of the 2000 Supermoto Bike Series. It’s not exactly my first choice of events to attend, but my son and husband are into that, so I’m going along for the great seafood platter and ciopinno they have at the Atlantis Hotel where we’ll be staying. I’m not the gambling type, but if I can find a $1 blackjack table, I’ll play for hours. Do they still have such a thing??