To me, the most daunting part of altering a book is doing the cover. On the inside of the book, pages can be torn out if they don’t come out the way I wanted. But the cover? I get so antsy! What if I stamp something and it gets smooshed or ruined? Can I keep collaging layers until I get it right?
In addition, various writing teachers in my past always suggested not titling a project until the story is completely written and I’ve carried that over into my book altering. I rarely decorate a book’s cover until I have finished all of the pages inside. How do I know what the book is about until it’s done? What if I change my mind?
As you can see, I have issues!
Recently, I joined a Round Robin (similar to a swap, where each player submits a book and each book is passed around to the members of the RR in turn, so that each artist can work in every player’s book) where one of the requirements was to finish the cover of the book to be submitted. Since I had already chosen a topic, one of my concerns was taken care of. But the perfection angle? How could I possibly complete a cover and not make a mistake? After all, the other 7 artists in the group would be seeing it up close and personal, without the benefits of my Photoshopping out the errors!
And this is why you are reading this installment in the Altered Books 101 series. I decided to quell my fears and squash my inner demons regarding covers for once and for all by diving right in and doing a series of covers to prove to myself and to you that we’re over thinking the Altered Book Cover.
My first foray into a cover is this book, which I covered with embossed metal tape. The tape was purchased at a home improvement store, in the area near the plumbing materials. Just ask the friendly store staff to point you towards the HVAC tape. Each piece of tape on this book is embossed with a different pattern, as this was a total play day/practice/experiment. Luckily, I loved the way it turned out.
Embossing metal tape is simple. Fiskars has kits that include texture plates and little texture tools that you rub around on the item (metal tape, paper, vellum, etc.) you are embossing. I found that the texture tool offered a rough version of the pattern I embossed. I also tried using the Spellbinders Wizard to emboss my metal tape, which offered amazing results. Ellison’s new Big Shot would also work well in this capacity.
The next easy cover is a great low-stress project because you can do all of the collage work on fabric and then attach the finished product to your book like a jacket. This technique was explained in the first issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine, which is published by Quilting Arts, LLC. These two photos show the front and back of the book (the back has the person pointing).
Since this cover was only my first experiment with making paper fabric, I chose a random piece of muslin to start with and it turned out to be just a little shorter than my book, so I applied embossed metal tape to the parts of the cover that would show. I love the juxtaposition of the fabric and the metal on this book cover.
The next cover is the one I did for the aforementioned Round Robin. My theme is “Starry-Eyed Surprise” and I used an old Time-Life style book as the base. I had been reading Claudine Hellmuth’s technique books and really wanted to try stamping into thick layers of paint. I figured a book cover was a good sturdy canvas and I felt I couldn’t go too terribly wrong with wet paint and a stamp!
I was right. Above is the finished cover. As you can see, I left part of the original cover visible, using a mask created with Post-It Notes and artist’s tape. Below, you can see four photos of the progress on the back of the book. First, I painted the back cover with white gesso, then applied the thick white acrylic paint and stamped in it. Applying the blue paint was a very quick process. Note: If you’re taking photos of the steps involved in doing this technique, take it FAST, because that blue acrylic paint dried pretty fast. I still like the way it looked, even though I didn’t wipe off as much blue paint as I did on the cover.
I was concerned with painting the hinge of the book, as I’d rather that area be more flexible in order to withstand use. I covered the spine and hinge with wide ribbon and bordered that with glitter and beads.
You can also collage directly on the cover. If you want to take that a step further, try assemblage. Taking into consideration my fear of “ruining” the cover, I decided I would assemble my cover decoration separately from the book itself and attach it when I was happy with it. This book is entitled “The Body Has a Head” and I’m using it to visually chronicle health issues as I gently advance in age. What better cover than one that represents me?
I googled for art doll templates and found a great one at aliciag.com. I constructed her so that she’d fit the book cover, with a little overlap, and so that her arms and legs would still be moveable, so that the cover would be interactive. The steps involved in making the doll for the cover can be as time intensive or as quick as you want it to be, but it’s broken down as simply as possible in the accompanying project instructions so you can take it and run with it.
I hope this article has given you some ideas to help you break out of your comfort zone when it comes to altering book covers. I’ve showed you mine....now show me yours!
