This is my seventh altered book, which kind of amazes me because I only started making these in mid-September. I’ve been wanting to make more before deciding what to do next in regards to showing and selling them. I want to have a group of them all together and get an overview of where I’m going with this before I can let any of them go or make decisions about a show. I’ve set the goal to have ten altered books completed by the end of the year. I began working on number eight today so it could happen.

I started this butterfly book on the same day as the previous altered book with folded pages. I decided to retain the 3D accordion affect by leaving the folded pages loose and gluing one corner of each to the proceeding page to retain the shape and structure. This altered book was definitely one of the trickier ones to create. The wire I used in the centre of the book bent out of shape easily and the middle butterflies were not very cooperative about gluing onto them. The pages were also quite brittle and would tear easily. All factors that make this the most delicate and fragile altered book art I’ve made so far.

Materials used in this altered book: book, Japanese paper, resistor wire, acetate (?) butterflies, gel medium and glue dots.

I experimented with a new technique with this book. Folding the pages is yet another way to manipulate an old book, and there are so many different ways to fold the paper too. I loved how it looked when it was done because the folded pages create a beautiful pattern within the book. I decided to divide the pages into two sections and glue the edges of the paper together on either side, leaving the end pages exposed because I liked the pattern. I kept things simple with the composition of this book because the type on the page and the pattern on the end pages makes things busy enough. I wrapped the thread around the flower seed pod stem because I felt it needed just one more little thing.

My friend Siobhan was looking at the altered books in person yesterday and told me she didn’t get a good sense of them in three dimensions because so far I’ve photographed all of them flat. I decided to take more detail shots of this one to give people a better idea of what the whole thing looks like.

A sewing needle embedded into the pages to secure the thread.

A dedication written “To Elsie” on the end papers.

Materials used in this altered book: book, thread, two sewing needles, a poppy seed pod, and gel medium.

I keep looking at this and feel it needs something more, but at the same time the right side of the book is filled with many objects and feels too busy. I’ll probably leave it alone in the end. The most interesting object in this composition is the jaw bones which are the remains of the young deer we consumed at Christmas last year. (More on that..) I found the bones while walking on Bowen with Anne over the Labour Day weekend and a mere month later have turned them into art. The little red feather is from a Scarlet Ibis at the Vancouver Aquarium that I picked up on a visit there more than a year ago. (Apparently I’ve been collecting random bits with a purpose!)

While I worked on this over the thanksgiving weekend I was reading The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson which is an excellent book filled with layer upon layer of stories. I originally thought I would title this with a line from the book, but in the end my thoughts about it went elsewhere. Though maybe not so much since the past plays an important role in the plot of the book.

The materials used in this altered book: the jaw bones from a deer, small stones, beach glass, a brass button, half a mussel shell with barnacles, an ibis feather, dried berries, red thread, sewing pattern paper, a key, a ginko leaf, and a Japanese maple leaf.

My goal for the weekend was to work on another altered book which I happily managed to do. This time I wanted to try a new technique so instead of rolling pages I cut a niche into the book. In order to do this I first had to select something to insert into the niche to determine the size, shape and depth of the cut. I went with the brass bee wings which at one time was part of a doorknocker. I found it a few years ago behind the fridge (of all places) in my last apartment. The rest of the composition for this piece came together after the niche was cut and I spent a long time going through my collection figuring out what would work. I included another found object, the rusted metal wire, which is something I picked up on a walk and have been holding onto. I can see I’m going to be on the look out for more such things to use in future work.

This collage includes a glass heart, two lock mechanisms, a broken earring, a rusted metal wire, part of a brass doorknocker, rubber stamping and ink, sewing pattern paper and acetate (?) butterflies.

This is my second altered book, which I worked on in stages over the course of five days. It’s the gluing that takes the longest because I usually need to leave it to dry and set before I can move on to the next phase. I love making these because they require careful planning a few steps ahead, like putting the hanger on the back of the book before it’s even started, or knowing how many pages to leave unglued for rolling.

I decided to use the page rolling technique again even though there are about a zillion different ways to alter a book. The type and age of the paper makes all the difference in workability. This book’s pages were heavy and brittle which made it tricky to roll without ripping the corners.

The only thing I had in mind when I started was to cut into the rolled pages somehow and have the bits sticking up. The piece came together when I decided to use the wooden tiger and create a scene around him, with the cut pages as grass. The rabbit was added as an afterthought at the bottom because I felt it needed something to create more of a narrative and balance out the composition. I googled what do tigers eat? first to make sure tigers have rabbits (hares) as prey in their natural environment, and they do.

The tiger and rabbit came from a bag of wooden animals I picked up at a garage sale last year. I’ve been saving them for just the right thing. The collage also includes metal stars, Japanese paper, rubber stamping, ink, and metallic paper flowers.