How to Make an Altered Composition Book
Composition books are notebooks with sewn pages and cardboard covers, used for school note taking for generations. They are a blank canvas that you can alter by thickening the pages and decorating the covers to create an art journal or decorative item. Add a ribbon tie to hold everything together and your plain notebook becomes a book full of blank canvases.
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Things You'll Need
- Composition book
- Decoupage materials
- Decoupage medium
- Hot glue
- Ribbon
- Craft knife
- Wax paper
- Matte medium
- Newspaper or phone book pages
- Roller
Instructions
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Decorate the cover of your composition book on the front and back. The cover is usually made of cardboard. Interesting papers, fabrics or other flat materials such as foil can be decoupaged onto the front and back. Three-dimensional elements such as buttons or beads may be hot glued in place.
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Attach ribbon to the front and back covers. With thickened pages, the journal will need to be tied to stay closed. Poke holes with a craft knife through the covers, centered along the outside of and one inch from the edge. Cut two 12-inch pieces of ribbon. Fold the first in half and push the loop through the hole in the front cover. Pull the free ends through the loop and pull tight. Repeat on the back cover.
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Make the pages of your journal thicker by gluing two together. Place wax paper between every third page in your journal. Paint matte medium between the two journal pages and smooth together. Use a small roller or even a rolling pin to get out any air bubbles. You can do the whole book at once as long as you use wax paper. Allow to dry.
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Tear newspaper or old phone book pages into strips. Use more matte medium to glue torn paper over the fronts and backs of the thickened pages and allow to dry completely. Paint over these decoupaged surfaces with white or a pastel color. Allow to dry.
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Paint the inside covers of the book or decoupage paper or fabric over them. Your journal is ready to fill with art work. The pages can be altered by cutting, sewing, hole-punching, painting, glueing or any other thing you can dream up.
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Tips & Warnings
Unless you want the cover or some of the pages to have a warped look, avoid using paints or markers that are water-based.
References
- Photo Credit old book image by Erika from Fotolia.com
