Faux Riveted Patchwork

I had every intention of posting this a few days ago but we were hit with a one day heat wave & I was just too hot to do anything.  Then I forgot all about it,  got all tangled up with some other stuff I am working on and my space is way messier than usual since we have finally begun to put shelves up in my room.  Yippee for the shelves, bummer for the mess, but anyway. . . 

I finally got my hands on A Compendium of Curiosities, Volume 2 by Tim Holtz – I love the first book, so I was ready to love this book, too, and I did.  I find lots of inspiration from Tim Holtz’s creations and I love finding new ways to use the stuff I already have as well as adding more stuff I absolutely need to my huge list of needs (notice I didn’t say want).  One of my favorite techniques in Volume 2 is what is called “Riveted Patchwork” using Inkssentials™ Metal Foil Tape and Adirondack Alcohol Inks.  The only problem was I didn’t have any Metal Foil Tape, and I really wanted to make something that looked as cool as what Tim did, so I did what every good crafter (artist?) does, I improvised.  This is what you’ll need to make the cute little box that I made:

• Metal Foil Tape (I used 3M Metal Repair Tape that we got a Lowe’s for about $8)
• Adirondack Alcohol Ink (I used Eggplant)
• Alcohol Ink Blender tool (which I never thought I needed but am now SO glad I got it)
• Alcohol Ink Blender Solution
• Small Box (I used plastic, but I imagine this Metal Foil Tape will stick to almost anything)
• Wooden Feet (buttons, whatever you’d like to use)
• Krylon Silver Metal Pen to color your feet (if you want to)

Make sure your box is dry & clean.  The box I used is a plastic box with a partial lid on it, that held cosmetic applicators that look like pointy cotton swabs, and measured 3 ½” x 3 ½” .  I chose this box because I liked that the lid had a portion that stayed on the box completely rather than a paper mache box where you just lift off the whole top (this a bit clearer when you look at the picture of the box).

I covered the box with the Metal Repair Tape.  I took the top completely off the box for this step and started at the edges of the box.  I figured this way I could get the tape right up to where the top went back on without too much hassle.  Once both pieces, the top & bottom, were covered with the tape I burnished the spots that needed it (like the bottom.  This box had little tiny plastic feet that I didn’t even know was there until I went to cover them.  So I fit the tape the best I could around the little feet & decided I was going to use something else for the feet that would fit right over the plastic bumps).  If I had wanted to make the tape look riveted this is where I would have used whatever tools I had to make little circles with the dot (rivet) in the center, but I decided that for this box, the rivets weren’t necessary (plus, I didn’t really feel like drawing all those little dotted circles).

After letting the box sit overnight (thought I doubt you’d have to) I used the Alcohol Ink Applicator and started to sponge the eggplant alcohol ink around the box & top, taking care to try to keep the pattern somewhat consistent.  When the ink color got soft, I put some Blending Solution on the pad & smooshed it around again.  This is where I also inked another small piece of the metal tape to use for the hinges of the top (I have many pieces of cardboard that I got in packages, you know the kind you get to keep sheets from getting crinkled when they are mailed or filler cardboard used in bigger boxes, not corrugated because that will bend.  I took some waxed paper and covered the cardboard & I use these to put my stuff on to dry.  It’s awesome because you can paint on them, glue like a mad woman, make a huge mess and it doesn’t go anywhere but on the cardboard.  When it’s too inky or messy, I just either rip the waxed paper off of it, or put another piece on top.  These work great if you are like me and make a few different things at once – the whole reason I am even telling you this is because I used one of my waxed paper boards to put the small piece of tape on and set it aside to dry).

Once everything was dry & I liked the pattern of the ink, I attached the top of the box with the tape hinges and used my Krylon Silver Leafing pen to cover some wooden pieces I had for the feet.  Then I attached the feet with some glue & sprayed it with some acrylic sealer. 

The sealer didn’t make it as shiny as I like, so I am debating if I am going to try some Inkssentials Glossy Accents or maybe some Modge Podge on it, (and I just got my order from Amazing Crafting Products (you HAVE to go see what people do with this stuff!)– the resin & the putty – so I might get crazy and mix up a batch of resin for the top, but here it is for now.  And, no, I have no idea what I am going to use it for. . .maybe a gift? 

Here it is all done! This view is from the front.

This is from the side - see what I mean about part of the cover staying on?

The cover is open and you can see the shine from the Metal Tape through the plastic.

A really good view of the hinges, kind of taken under the top.

And finally the bottom with the pretty silver feet.

I should have taken a before picture.  I'm still new at this!  Hope you like it and I would LOVE your comments!

The Shell Book

This is the first altered book niche I have ever made.  I read so much about the technique for so long I sort of stunned myself into inactivity.  I have a horde of books saved up to be altered so I grabbed one and decided I was going to carve a niche in it (after re-reading one of my FAVORITE books on altering books, New Directions in Altering Books by Gabe Cyr, which is the same book as Mixed Media Books – Dozens of Experiments in Altering Book, but they have different covers & I only tell you that so you don’t buy both books like *I* did. And another fantastic favorite is Bev Brazelton’s Altered Book Workshop, it was actually her book that turned the light on in my head that trying to cut ALL those pages with an X-Acto knife probably wasn’t the best way to do this and I might have better luck using a box cutter – she calls it a craft knife – you know, one of those gray utility knives.  OK, enough blathering about books. . .at least about reading books).

 So, I blocked off a bunch of pages & decided where I wanted the niche to be and started cutting.  I went slowly, like everyone suggested, and sooner than I expected I was done.  In hindsight I would chose what I was going to put in the niche prior to cutting it since I had no idea what I was even going to do with this book I had no idea what I was going to put in the niche, but I cut on.  Unfortunately, while I was flinging the book around trying to get all the page crumbs out of it, I tore the front cover off.  Note to self, do not fling books.  I had a solution to that situation which I will reveal later. I saved all those “inner” pages for use later on (I am obsessed with cutting out words and sentences to use later) and put them aside.  Then I used my Golden Matte Gel and gelled the hell out of the book.  I didn’t go in between the pages because I felt if I gelled the niche block of pages correctly, I wouldn’t need to gel (glue) each page separately.  That took more time than the cutting did because I learned if you gel on gel that isn’t completely dry you can get bubble like uprisings and the only way to get rid of them is to cut the paper where the bubble is.  Did that a few times until I decided to coat the book in the morning and then at night before bed.  I did that for about 3 days – but it depends on how thick your book is, how deep your niche is and how thick your gel is (I watered mine down, right on the book the last application).  Then I gessoed the book, using the same one time in the morning, one at night routine for about 2 days (partly because I was afraid to actually do something with the book and ruin it & partly because I didn’t know what I wanted to do with it yet).  After leaving it alone for a few days, somehow the idea of beach & shells popped into my head.  I honestly don’t know why because I am not very fond of the beach, but that story is for another time.  I dragged out my acrylic paints and picked a few blue ones, Golden Cobalt Teal and Ultramarine Blue.  I added some Titanium White to the teal & some acrylic glazing liquid and painted the whole inside of the book, wiped the paint away while it was still wet to kind of give it a weathered appearance.  Then I did the same with the blue, added the white & glazing liquid, painted and wiped.  I also reattached the front cover.  My main squeeze had gotten me a roll of gaffer tape & I knew that would work just perfect to put the cover on.  I put about 8” of the tape on a piece of wax paper and painted it the same shade of blue as the outside cover.  I taped the front of the cover, but I didn’t think that was going to hold the book well enough, so I taped the inside, too.  I painted over the inside with the teal mix and while I should have measured the tape a bit better, I don’t think it looks too bad.  I gelled over all of that with more matte medium. Let that dry while I chose my embellishments. 

I had first found a picture of mermaids that I wanted to put on the inside cover, but, while I was wiping the inside of the cover down with a baby wipe I accidentally hit the corner of the mermaid photo (you can see the picture with my wonderful circle drawn around the boo boo) so after debating the issue, I ripped the mermaids off the inner cover and re-gessoed, repainted, rewiped, re dried.  And hunted in my stash for something cool to replace the mermaids with (I did find out about a product to spray on your printed pictures so that you can’t wipe the color off with a baby wipe, called “Preserve Your Memories II” by Precision-Blue.  I just ordered some to try, but I expect that it will work like a charm based on what people told me & what I read online about the product – here is the manufacturer’s website www.precision-blue.com).  I rummaged through my stash & came upon these really cool pieces of wall paper I had saved out of a book of discontinued samples I had gotten from a design store – I think they actually look even better than the mermaids, and I had a butterfly that matched so I used that as well. 

After I adhered everything, the shells, the bit of music in the niche and the wall paper I touched the book up again with the acrylic paint mixtures (and I determined I needed a palette that shut so I could keep my mixes wet for a while and wouldn’t have to remix a new batch each time I have to touch up something, or repaint the spots where I had to tear off a picture.  But, after looking online and seeing that the cheapest one was over $10, I then decided that an old piece of Tupperware would work just fine.  Now I have to dig something out of the dreaded Cabinet Full of The Unknown Plastic Containers.  But I saved $10) and once they were dry I coated the book a few more times with matte gel – taking care to let each coat dry thoroughly.  There you have it!  My first foray into nichedom. . . 

 This is the first edition of the Shell Book - I marked off where I messed up the photo I printed off the computer with the baby wipe. . .

 This is a picture of the niche - that was my goal making this, attempting to cut a niche, or window, out in the body of a book.

TA DA! I think this actually looks better than the mermaid picture and you can't tell I ripped the picture off at all :)  I also like that even though I coated the book in matte gel medium there is still a slight sheen to the book.

And here is the unaltered cover of the Shell Book.  Monster is my resident critic and she is giving her opinion on the cover. . . she can be SO tough!