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.