Make That Dull Book Look Glamerous: Altered Book Preparation

Book art has been talked about and worked on in many creative circles, but enough of that. Let's create something we can keep or do whatever else we'd like with. Where does book alteration start, though?

Choosing your book:
Some people think this isn't a part of the process that really matters, but it does under certain circumstances. For example, I found a box lot full of old books once, but I couldn't use any of them for altering. Why? The bindings were so loose (moisture damage) and crumbling that it would've taken a complete reconstruct to get them to stay together during mixed media manipulations or even page turning, for that matter. (I reserved these books for projects where using old book pages were a necessary element.) When choosing your book, take the following into consideration:

1: Does the book fall apart when you open it up?
2: Is the book square and in basic "good" construction? (meaning, will it lay flat and allow for heavy manipulation)
3: Can pages be removed without the book falling apart?
4: How thick is the book? (If the book is too thick, then it's likely the project won't be finished.)
5: Is the cover intact or salvageable?

Preparing your book:
You've found the perfect book and have thought about the theme you're going for. Now what? Preparing the book for alteration is important for a variety of reasons. Some book artists prefer to alter the pages as they go and just let the book become whatever it's going to become. There's nothing wrong with that, but there are still others who prefer to plan things out and prevent possible problems before they happen. When preparing your book, think about the following:

1: Most book pages can't handle a lot of wet media or heavy manipulation. How is this problem solved? Take five or six pages and glue them together, depending on the thickness of the book and its pages. This will allow for a lot of mixed media work.
2: If you've ever altered a book and saw how the finished project looks, you'll notice it bows out considerably. To some, that's part of the art. Some artists love keeping their altered books laying out flat for people to look through. However, there are some who prefer to shelve their projects. How do you solve this problem? Remove pages throughout the book in random places. I've had a lot of success removing "half a signature" every other signature. If that isn't apparent, then I'll reduce the book by about half and I'll keep the reduction evenly spaced.

Adding to your book:
Your pages are removed, your pages are glued together and now you're ready to add elements. What do you add? This all depends on what theme you're going for and how complicated you'd like your alteration to be. There aren't very many limitations in terms of supplies you can use in book alteration, so use your imagination. Add envelopes, cut-outs, interactive sections, pockets and folds. Here's a basic supply list to get you started:

1: glue sticks
2: wet adhesive (your favorite)
3: sponge brushes
4: paints (your favorites)
5: collage items
6: scrapbook embellishments
7: scissors
8: punches
9: knife (an exacto, for example)
10: mixed papers

If you want to keep your book flat:
Even though you've removed pages from your book, it may still bow out if you add a lot of elements. I've dried my pages (with waxed paper between if it's an adhesive that needs to dry) under a heavy stack of books to keep the book from becoming bulkier than I'd like. When drying paint, I use a hair dryer or my oven (with a close eye on it) to speed the drying time and then I get it under that heavy stack of books again. I try to do one layer of media, then dry it completely before working on the next. In terms of the flatness of the book and how curled (or wavy) the pages become, this has been a very successful practice.

This is a basic over-view of how to prepare your book for alteration. Remember, there's so much that can be done in the wonderful world of book arts so try not to limit yourself.