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Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Citra Solv Altered Box Book




A Citra Solv altered box book? That is a mouthful and really sounds odd so I will explain what I mean by this. I have been in an altered book class instructed by Gary Reef. Most of the lessons have really been more of a non-traditional way of altering of books. Gary’s forte is assemblage and this is the approach he used altering old books. To be more precise the covers of old books as he guts out the book and uses the covers to house his unique assemblages.

It took me forever to make my book. I decided not to use a real book. We only have a few places near me to buy used books and the only ones I found were either too nice to cut up or not interesting at all. One of the books I bought was an old copy of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's book, 'Gift from the Sea'. Not wanting to cut it up, I was inspired to make my own. Mine is titled "A Gift from the Sea'

I constructed the book box from chipboard. A scroll design cut from mat broad and then glued to left edge of the chipboard cover served to create an embossed look. I scanned a Citra Solve page and printed it on label paper to cover the chipboard. Next, a book scanned on its side with rough pages to get the page effect. I printed this on label paper and applied it around the edges of the book. The frame around the opening is mat board. Inside the book is a scanned page from Anne's book, some shells and a small plaster bust from a mold I made for a mermaid doll. I sprayed it with copper and used turquoise acrylic to antique it. I did not glued the cover shut because hopefully I will finish the inside adding some more interesting shells that I love. At this point, I am tired of working with it!

Gary had four projects, but if I do another one, it will be a major surprise as these are labor-intensive projects. His energy and imagination are unbelievable. If I were a much, much younger woman, I would be in creative heaven knocking out all sorts of altered books and boxes.

15 comments:

  1. I never understood altered books until I started making and trading artist trading cards. Your book has so many layers of interest. I love the way you combined the citra solv page with the antiqued copper and the different effects that created.

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  2. Your book is beautiful. I really like the idea of making your own, from scratch! You are right about the labour it takes to finish book projects! It looks so simple until you hit a certain age (last year at 54) and it seems like soooo much work.

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  3. Thank you Carole, Along with age comes the the lost of good vision. Since my cataract surgery mine is even worse than before. Now it's doubly hard to do things like this with any speed.

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  4. Thank you Robin. Altered books never interested me until the past year or so. My years of creating paintings for a living, made the idea seem ridiculous. Since this one served as a way to use my shells and other supplies on hand I was motivated to create one.

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  5. What an innovator you are and to make the technique fit your abilities. IMPRESSIVE

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  6. It is wonderful..I still have yet to buy and try citri solv..I love altered books..Truly I just love books.
    Katelen

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  7. Thank you, Katelen. Citra Solv is fun to play with and great for creating backgrounds for altered books and journals.

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  8. Great job...this is a beautiful and thoughtful assemblage/book. Time is never an issue...you created a wonderful piece. I love the way you put together the cover...your way!

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  9. Wow, what a process! Looks great. Kinda fun sometimes to do something really involved like that.

    I have citra solv that I bought for image transfer but have never used it to create surfaces like yours. Will have to give it a try one day when I stop gardening!

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  10. Carole, I agree it is fun to get lost in an involved project at times. Especially when I have something I'm avoiding doing, like protesting my property appraisal :O( As for the Citra Solv, I used up a large bottle dissolving the ink in four magazines, but I have enough interesting pages to last me forever!

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  11. you inspire me - thanks ! I have citrasolv papers drying here by the dozen... !

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  12. Super!I am glad you are inspired Esther.

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  13. it looks great.hard for me to believe it.thanx to you

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  14. Thank you for commenting, Panjang :O)

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