How to Sculpt Using Books

This is a spin on book altering where the book is the piece art, rather than the altered pages within. This is a messy project that may or may not be kid-friendly depending on how old the child is and the paint being used. Book sculpting is best done using books that are falling apart, and that are too damaged to used in an altered book project.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Old book
• Gel medium (gloss)
• Beige acrylic paint
• Brown acrylic paint
• Sponge brushes
• Small containers of water
• Waxed paper
• Cardboard

1. 
   Centering the book allows it to lay flat while working.

   Cover the piece of cardboard with the waxed paper to use as a work surface. Open the book to the center and place it on the work surface.

2. 
   It can be something a simple as this or something more complex.

   Using the gel medium, glue the pages of the book together one half at a time. As the gluing is taking place, create curves and page curls in the pages. This is the messy part that will require a lot of patience and artist’s vision. Set aside to dry completely.

3. 
   If possible, work on more than one book at a time.

   Paint over the entire piece with beige paint. Depending on if words on the page are desired to show through, this may take several coats. Once this painting process has dried completely, paint the parts of the cover that show brown. In addition, paint the edges of the pages that have been curled brown using the edge of the sponge brush or a fingertip. Set aside to dry completely.

4. 
   Don't be afraid to experiment.

   Cover over the entire piece with the gloss gel medium to seal the piece and give it a nice sheen. This step will also bring out the brown touches on the pages.

Tips & Warnings

• Add scrapbook embellishments, gems, and metallic embellishments.
• Add niches, torn page elements, and other interesting text blocks.
• Add pieces of origami, handmade envelopes, and small booklets.
• Create a cutout in each page spread to create a shadowboxed effect.
• Don’t move on to the next step unless the previous one had dried. This will ruin the project.
• Don’t work too slowly with the gel medium or it’ll become too sticky to manipulate during the page assembly step.
• Use of a hardcover book will produce the best results.

Resources

• Mixed Media Arts

[Delaplane]

on 3/31/2009 Cool ideas!