In Lieu of Writing
I haven’t been writting much lately, but I have been mucking about with my collage projects. Here are a few pages from my first attempt at an altered book. The original title of this 1940’s darling was Nancy Dale Army Nurse. I decided to alter it for my friend Emily, who is an amazing critical care nurse and a spunky hot chiqua to boot. I’ve just learned how to do image transfers so I used a set of Mexican playing cards as an anchoring theme and did four or five page sets using the book’s orginal kitschy illustrations. The final page was an ode to Emily’s alluring personal spirit.
I’m still learning how to use an older books delicate pages and how to plan out the book as a whole. But all in all, I think the project turned out pretty well, and I certainly enjoyed working on it.
Here’s to Emily! SMACK!
wow rachelle, those are beautiful! i’ve thought about doing altered books like that too (or making a book from scratch, even handwriting a story from beginning to end), but i’ve been too absorbed in paint to get around to collage. someday though. it is is such a fun medium after all, and it’s a great way to tell stories.
there are some old books at an antique shop nearby here… i actually came across a bible that was at least two hundred years old in there (at least, it had been written in pencil on the inside front cover: “1700’s?”). it had all this water damage, the cover was still textured but worn white, and there were a few burnt spots in the pages too, if i remember correctly.
i wonder if its possible to preserve the pages while creating art on them. tape lamination or somesuch