Altered Book: The Cover

As a reminder, here is the book I've decided to alter for my Altered Book Round Robin.

After some serious deliberation, I decided I wanted to try making the cover look like stained glass, giving it color and depth. In order to do that, my plan was to do shape cut-outs of both paper and the cover. Having never tried anything like this before, I made a trip to my local Michael's (always a good time) to pick up an X-acto knife and cutting mat.


I drew my pattern on the back of black metallic cardstock and began cutting.

I glued my stain-glass frame to the book cover and used it as a stencil to make the same cut-outs through the cover, exposing the text beneath. The back cover actually turned out to be my favorite.

Front cover

Back cover.

I left some of the spaces filled in the back cover. In fact, it turned out so well that I didn't fill in with color for my stained glass look either. I just liked how it looked. 

After a mess of glue and tissue paper!

It seemed appropriate that the introduction should be the place where people introduce themselves and their additions to my book!

Sign-in page

Altered Book Round Robin

Welcome back! (Is what I'm saying to myself.) It's been awhile since I posted. Primarily because I had nothing worthwhile about which to post. I would start something, think would I want to read this?, answer no, and go back to watching Top Chef: All-Stars.

BUT, I have a fun new project spear-headed by my brilliant and creatively-inclined friend Sarah, author of http://polkand2nd.com/. She organized an Altered Book Round Robin (read details here: http://polkand2nd.com/2011/01/03/altered-book-round-robin/). 

Books are beautiful. Certainly more beautiful than a Kindle. I'm a Kindle owner and book appreciator, and my reconciliation of the two is the subject of a whole nother post. (And isn't the phrase "a whole nother" a fantastic Midwest colloquialism? The word whole is smushed inside another!)

There's something about the smell of books. The feel of running your hand over a smooth cover. The first crack of binding when opening a new book. It's the butterfly-in-your-stomach beginning of a new relationship. Then, there's the familiarity of an old friend. Underlined phrases, bent corners, coffee stains, and the fingerprints of time well spent.

Altering books is a way of making the feeling of reading a book visible. These are books to judge by their covers. And a round robin allows a shared contribution from everyone in the group.

The first step is to alter the cover and design a sign-in page for the next artists to leave their autograph.

Now, I must admit, I am a little out of my league in the art department when compared to the rest of the designers and illustrators round the robin. I have spent years (and years and years) becoming a highly trained professional, but am an untrained crafter-on-the-side. So, basically, if I can do this, anybody can.

First, here's my super-fancy-o craft desk. I, somewhat ridiculously, have 2 desks in this room. The large, stately, unpictured one is devoted to computers and notebooks and Work. This desk is leftover from a time not so long ago when my bedroom was so small that anything bigger than a twin mattress would have made it a bouncy room. The artwork on the shelf is a gift from my sister while she was working at the Henry Doorly Zoo. The artiste is a bat-eared fox, the furry guy pictured. My textbook overflow is on that shelf as well.

Here's my Craft Desk!

My book! I actually had a difficult time choosing a book. I wanted one that had some meaning, but that I would still be willing to modify. I chose this anthology of fairy tales, part of the curriculum from my Myth, Fairytale, and Folklore course in college.

Then, a few days of brainstorming to decide how I wanted to alter the cover and get things started!