Monday 22 June 2009

Altered book - stage one, preparation

Well, a little while ago I said I was going to start an altered book. I have never done this before but I came across the concept in a book (that I won't be altering) and the idea grabbed me. Now if you had seen my house you would know that there are books everywhere. Could I find one that I would be happy to alter i.e. render it readable no longer? No! Fortunately, I came across a shop selling hardback books for 99p each, so I bought two. Subsequent reading told me that books with sewn, rather than glued, spines are preferable for altering as they are so much stronger. Ah well, next time.... My first attempt hasn't fallen apart yet, but I can see where they are coming from. To start, I cut out about a third of the pages at regular intervals from the front and back of the book, but leaving a sizeable section in the middle untouched (see below). If this isn't done the book becomes too thick.

After that, I glued together a big wodge of pages in the middle with the intention of adding a niche. I did this by first wrapping clingfilm around the pages I didn't want at the front & back of the book, to avoid getting glue on them. I then glued around the edges of the pages with PVA glue. The book was then left overnight with heavy weights on top of it.

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