more projects at © Julie R. Neidlinger www. loneprairie.net All Rights Reserved denatured books Denatured books are not a new idea. The concept of taking a book and gluing, covering or otherwise altering it in some manner was common in the past. Blank journals and sketchbooks were not as prevalent as they are now, and so old or unused books quickly became a place to glue newspaper clippings or postcards. The simplest way is to find a book (blank or other wise) and start gluing in clippings, mementos and other items to the pages. And have fun. That's it, really. A good glue to use is a PVC glue, such as Sobo, which remains flexible even when dry. Other glues that become brittle might cause your objects and items to fall out as the book and glue ages. | save images and scraps of things | find interesting and glue them into fun blank books. There are so many interesting blank books out there that I find | buy more than | could possibly fill with writing or drawing, So I use them as places to collect clippings and possibly springboard other ideas from. In the book below, I've glued random images to the pages. | periodically flip through the book and write the first word that comes to my mind for each page. It is an interesting word association endeavor and a lot of ideas of thoughts have come from what images made me think of what family of words. a left: example of an old ook used to collect clippings of interest, something ‘hat was very common years ago right: @ page from my “word association” book of clippings and ‘random words book safe ‘Another way to denature a book is to create a book safe. Create a template for the size of opening you want in your book making sure that it is not too close to the size of the actual page. Leave about an inch border from the page edge to your opening on all sides for strength. A template made of thick cardboard or the plastic from bacon works better than a thin paper one. Using a sharp Exacto knife (not for kids!), start about 20 or so pages in, and cut around the template. You can ut about two to three pages at a time if your knife is sharp. Bit by bit, youlll work your way down to the depth that you want. Leave about 20 or so pages uncut for the bottom of the hole. Glue the bottom 20 pages together around the ‘edge. Glue the pages that you cut the hole in together, and then to the bottom 20. Leave the top 20 unglued. A good glue is Sobo glue. You could stop here, your book safe ready to go. In the example below, | ined the hole with ribbon and cut a section of page from my page pieces to line the bottom of the hole. It’s only for looks. Put your book on your bookshelf and you're ready to hide your valuables, if you have any. left: example of an old book used to make a book safe for hiding things in plain sight on your bookshelf all work © Julie R. Neidlinger, all rights reserved - please respect copyrightsdenatured book examples ‘While | am not going to give step-by-step instructions for the books below, I will list some of the materials or tricks | used to make them. There are no step-by-step instructions, really. Just get started and let your imagination have fun. Don’t worry about making your book look like mine or anyone else's. Start cutting and gluing and see what happens. These books are from an art show, and are shown hanging in display cases. They all, however, close and will sit on a bookshelf, still functioning as a book. Display of your book, therefore, is a consideration if you so choose. Also, don’t forget to address the cover! Fly Away: | glued the entire book block together except for the middle. I used gesso to coat the pages beneath the blue watercolors and inks because old book pages tend to be very soft and Pulpy, making it difficult to write on. Journal: This book is very much mixed media, from stickers to ring binder circles, business cards, found items, paper and drawing scraps, gesso bases, old ticket stubs, photocopies of my hand, acrylics, marker, tags off of clothing, tissue paper, stamps, rivets...it’s all there. Which is a great way to point ut that anything can be used. Save interesting bits of junk mail, tags off of clothing, ordinary office supplies...anything. This book had sections of the book block glued together after small holes had been cut through the sections. This allowed me to create small “vignettes” that were hidden by sliding tabs and functioning paper “doors”. Lots of fun. all work © Julie R. Neidlinger, all rights reserved - please respect copyrightsRodent: This is a good example of what | meant by not neglecting the cover of the book, I cut a hole in the cover to create the effect of a mouse hole in a house wall. The cover of the book is covered with gesso and acrylics, with some scratching back into the surface of it for the line work. Watercolor was also used, with a final coating of acrylic matte medium to protect it. Inside, you'll find everything from dryer lint, paper scraps, glitter, words I printed from the computer - anything. This particular book Was in rough shape, so, to hold the spine together a bit, | used the stickers you can buy at hardware stores to label your mailbox or house. They are ‘bit more robust than your average sticker, and besides sticking well, they hold up to multiple open and closing. They also look sharp. Ship: This book has one large cutout in the book block, where I created a ship to sit on rough waves. ‘small cutout below has a miniature bottle with a ‘message in it. | poured acrylic gloss medium in this area after gluing blue scraps in. After many layers of medium, it has the look of wet water. The maps are hand-drawn with brown ink of faux parchment paper, burn on the edges, and coated with matte medium for protection from handling of the book. The waves are the acrylic scrapings from my pallette - I thought they looked very ocean-like. Ifyou want to be a good denatured book creator, NEVER THROW ANYTHING AWAY! Don’t rely only on buying things at a craft store, because your book will look rather homogenized and much like the other books people are now making according to specific raft book instructions. A all work © Julie R. Neidlinger, all rights reserved - please respect copyrights