Thursday, March 3, 2011

Happy Thursday and an Altered Book

Okay, I decided to wait to post my greeting cards for "the girls".  Today, I thought I'd write about an altered book I started some time ago to accompany one of my cloth art dolls on her round robin journey.  If you have never participated in a round robin, it goes something like this: each person in the group starts a project, in this case a cloth doll.  We were allowed to create as much or as little of the basic doll as we wanted and because there were only 6 people in my group and I knew my doll would require quite a lot of embellishment by the other artists, I started my project with the entire body, including a face I sculpted of polymer clay. We were to create some sort of a journal to go with our doll so that the other team members could document their contributions to the project.  We were supposed to choose our favorite storybook character as the theme for our doll and we would have a month to complete our additions to each one before we sent it on its way.  Okay, now that's out of the way, I need to tell you that I chose Scheherzade from "The Arabian Nights" as the theme for my doll.  I have always loved this story and thought it would be an interesting subject for the others to interpret.  Anyway, I was very lucky to have found an old library copy of the actual book for a dollar at Half Price Books and decided to alter it for my doll journal.  I was just getting interested in paper art at that time and had never altered anything in my life (artistically, at least!).  So... without further ado, here is my first attempt at book alteration.  I'm highlighting only the pages I created myself.

I covered the hardbound book in upholstery fabric that I thought looked old and had a Middle Eastern feel to it and a wide fabric ribbon with gold metallic embroidery on the spine and added the tassels... what's an Arabian book without tassels, right?  I printed and matted an illustration by Edmond Dulac and framed it with tiny metallic trim and placed it on the cover with the book title in metallic letter stickers (not sure you can read it on the photo though).

  


 









I used a large variety of products from paint, colored pencils and rubber stamps to stickers and ribbons to embellish the pages.  If you look closely, you'll see the print of the text showing through some of the illustrations that I printed on vellum paper and acetate.  And, in case you're interested, here's the completed doll that goes with it.  If you'll notice, she stands on a miniature Turkish rug and her little pointy-toed shoes were a gift from a Turkish friend of mine who brought them back from one of her visits home.  I used very large gold sequins for her finger cymbals.


So that's it for today.  I know my posts have been rather long thus far so going forward, I'll try to shorten them as much as possible and still tell you what I think you might want to know.  You can always ask questions if you want more information on any of my projects.  I hope you have a wonderful day... it's almost the weekend again already!  Yay!

Anniebee

10 comments:

  1. Love your book and your doll. I also work on altered books and started over 7 years ago. I think you made me miss doing them and better get started on them again.

    hugs,

    Beth

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  2. Hey Anniebee, I knew i liked you from the start. First of all I have only missed 2 Bon Jovi concerts in my life, 1 I was in the hospital, and 1 cause I just had a baby. 2 very good reasons(I think) Their concerts are AMAZING! Now about the chatty part, anyone who chats as much as me is pretty awesome in my book! Don;t change your blog for any reason, if somebody doesn't want to read all that you write, they wont, but those of us that want to will. I am loving you altered book and doll. I have always wanted to do an altered book, but I never had the guts. I am surrounded by people who do not understand art, crafting, ect, in any way. So I alway feel like there always has to be a reason for it. They would never understand an altered book, i could already hear my sisters, well what do you do with it, well why did you mak it ect. I have a bad habbit of worrying about what other people think of me and what I do. Sorry, see we both run on and on at the mouth. I will absolutely get pictures if I have to steal someones camera(kidding) TTYL karen<3

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  3. Wow Anne!! This is amazing! I especially love the page with "live your passion"!
    Hugs~
    Dana

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  4. I love altered books, yours is so nice and lots of detail. Love all the different colors used! Have a fun weekend!!

    Hugs,
    Patricia

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  5. Good Morning Annie! I just wanted to stop by and say congrats! You're a winner of one of my giveaways from the LSHD blog hop! Make sure you check out my blog and see what you won, also, please send me your address to createserendipity@gmail.com :-)

    -Emily
    http://www.createserendipity.net

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  6. LOVE your altered books!! You do fabulous work!! I'm your newest fan .. I'd love to have you visit my blog. :)

    Hugs,
    Tanya

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  7. I heart your work, Anne! That is an amazing write-up to go with your projects! Wonderful!

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  8. I really like this book! I really like all your work actually and I am really hoping you will join my design team. If you are interested, email me and I'll get you squared away without an "official" application. :)

    ~*~Amber~*~
    cookingcraftingcamping@gmail.com

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  9. Totally stunning. Love the vintagie feel, and the colours too.

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  10. Wow you just keep impressing me with your work!!! I love this piece! I have been working on one of these myself.

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I love hearing what you have to say so feel free to leave a comment.