Altered Book Workshop
I am busy planning my next workshop! It’ll be in Richardson Texas, at the Richardson Public Library, on September 22, from 10:30 am – 1 pm. If you want to come, please let me know.
http://www.cor.net/index.aspx?page=18 (Just north of Dallas)
This is my fourth workshop here and we have always had a lot of fun. Check out samples on my Altered Book Tab above. I’ll post more soon. (I’ve been busy!)
Great Expectations Day 35
Pip watches as Joe tries to read his letter. He remembers that at church last Sunday, he (Pip) accidentally held the Prayer Book upside down and Joe seemed perfectly fine with it. Apparently Joe can only read two letters: “J” and “O”, for his name Joe. Pip asks Joe if he got any schooling at all as a child. Joe starts to explain his childhood to Pip. His father was an abusive drunk who treated his mother and himself badly. (I think he continues explaining on the next page.)
On my second panel of the Altered Book triptych, I glued a copy of page 38 of my Great Expectations book down on top of a board book page with a flap on it. (I had previously painted this whole panel including the flap with black acrylic paint.) I cut out the part of the page where the flap was and glued it down under the flap. I use an acrylic matt medium for gluing paper.
I then scratched out a little humble house and two primitive-looking letters “J” and “O” on the outside of the flap. On the inside of the flap I started drawing swirls with a 6B pencil. I was listening to Adele on my ipod while working. (Love her! Who doesn’t?!) In her song came the phrase “time flies”. I felt that this was appropriate for this part of the story as Joe describes his childhood to Pip and Pip is growing up. My own two children are growing up WAY too fast! I am happy with how this spread of the altered book came out. Today, I’ll work on the next panel. There will be six altogether, since I am doing both sides of the triptych. See ya tomorrow!
Great Expectations Day 34
[Page 37... a year has passed since the events on Christmas Day with the convict.]
On the page before we found out that Pip attends a night school taught by Mr Wopsle’s great-aunt. She also has a general store in the same room as the classroom, which is run by Biddy, her grand-daughter. (I’m confused by everyone’s relation to one another, and I believe Pip is too!) Biddy is an orphan like Pip and needs some “tending to”… cleaning up. But she does look nice on Sundays for church and she helps Pip learn to read and write.
Pip writes a letter to Joe to show off what he has learned. (It’s really pretty bad… poor spelling and grammar. But at least he’s making an effort.) In the letter he tells Joe that he soon hopes to teach him reading and writing and mentions something about becoming an apprentice to him also. It’s written so poorly, it’s hard to understand!
My next few pieces will be part of an altered book; a triptych using old children’s board books. They start out like this:
As cute as they are, these books have been chewed on, slobbered on, scribbled on (by babies and dogs) and it’s time to give them a NEW life! I took several different ones, of varying sizes and cut them apart. Then coated the pages with the primer Gesso, let dry. I coated some panels with black acrylic paint. Then chose three panels to tape together. I used black electrical tape.
First I glue on a page (page 37 that I scanned and printed from the book that I am reading). This gives me a base to work with and the text adds some texture. I use Matte Gel Medium to adhere the paper items on.
To start the really fun part: I glued on an old “Old Maid” playing card that I found at an antique store. It has a picture of a little boy that looks like Pip. Then I drew a picture of Dickens as a young lad with pencil and black pastel. Next, stamped a pig (since a few days ago Pip was likened to a swine) and some other designs. Then some black paint and blue scribbles to finish it off! I’ll work on the other panels over the next few days. This will be fun!
My name is Julie and I'm reading Great Expectations one page a day and also creating one little work of art (30 minutes or less) a day relating to what I read. Thanks for looking and reading. Leave a comment to let me know what you think!
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