According to Beth Cote, “The basic rule about altered books is this: There are no rules!”
With that in mind, let’s get started. First, choose your book. Any book will do. Next, go through your book and bookmark (I recommend using paper clips), which pages of the book you want to use, and which pages you are going to cut out. You are designing the “structure” of your book. Once you have a basic plan in mind, you are ready to embellish your book. Here are some page ideas using Shapelets, molds, and rubber stamps to get you started.
“Ophelia”
* Olive Green Lumiere Paint
* Black Brilliance Stamp Pad
* Galaxy Gold Brilliance Stamp Pad
* Aztec Gold Pearl Ex
* Craft Knife
* Ophelia Stamp / Stampsmith
* Shakespeare Stamp / Stampsmith
* Script Stamp / Raindrops on Roses
* Background Stamp / Raindrops on Roses
* Repositionable Tape
* Crafter’s Pick Adhesive
Polyform Products:
* Shapelets (Square Shapes & Segments and Classic Designs)
* Cutting Blades
* Etruscan EZ Push Molds
* Victorian Décor EZ Push Molds
* Premo! Gold Clay
* Premo! Translucent Clay
* Leaf Green Premo Clay (mix a little black into Premo Green)
Directions:
For these pages, we are going to mask words on the page. I found that the Shapelet positive (that is the part of the Shapelet that you punch out) makes a perfect mask. To use the Shapelet positive as a mask, put repositionable tape on one side of the Shapelet positive. Position the Shapelet positive over the words (or pictures) that you want to mask and adhere to page. The small Square Shapes & Segments Shapelets make perfect masks for words.
Once you have your Shapelet positive adhered to the page, you are ready to color your pages. In this case, I stippled Lumiere Olive Green paint over the page (over the Shapelet positive too) and let it dry.
While the paint is drying, roll conditioned Premo! Gold clay out on the number three setting of the pasta machine. Stamp Ophelia image onto Gold clay using Black Brilliance stamp pad. Position Shapelet from Classic Designs pack over image and cut out desired shape.
Roll out Leaf Green clay on the number three setting of the pasta machine. Spritz Raindrops on Roses Background Stamp with water and stamp onto Leaf Green clay. Rub a little bit of Aztec Gold Pearl Ex on top of stamped Leaf Green clay with your finger to bring out background design.
Position Premo! Gold Ophelia stamped clay on top of stamped Leaf Green clay. Use your flexible cutting blade to cut out a mat for the Ophelia. Set aside on baking tray or baking tile.
Clean Ophelia stamp well. Spritz stamp with water and stamp impression onto conditioned Gold clay. Position Shapelet from Square Shapes and Segments pack over “Ophelia – Hamlet” words. Cut out desired shape.
Roll out excess Leaf Green clay on the number three setting of the pasta machine. Once again, spritz Raindrops on Roses Background Stamp with water, and stamp onto Leaf Green Clay (you may even have enough stamped Leaf Green Clay from before to do this). Rub stamped clay with Aztec Gold Pearl Ex to accent design.
Position stamped “Ophelia – Hamlet” words on top of stamped Leaf Green Clay. Using your flexible cutting blade, cut a mat around Gold Clay. Set aside on baking tray or baking tile.
Roll out conditioned Translucent Premo! Clay on number four setting of the pasta machine. Stamp Shakespeare stamp onto clay using Black Brilliance Stamp Pad.
For molded clay pieces, push conditioned Leaf Green Clay into square from the Etruscan Push Mold set. Remove clay and cut square in half on the diagonal to create two triangle shaped pieces. Repeat so you have six triangle shaped pieces total. Push Premo! Gold clay into scroll border from the Etruscan Push Mold set. Remove clay and cut to desired length. Repeat so you have four Gold scroll borders. Push excess Premo! Gold clay into frame from Victorian Décor Push Mold set. Remove frame and place on top of Shakespeare stamped Translucent clay. Trim Translucent clay around the frame. Rub all molded clay pieces with Aztec Gold Pearl Ex. Place all pieces on baking tray or baking tile.
Bake all clay pieces for 30 minutes at 275 degrees Fahrenheit.
While clay is baking, remove Shapelet masks from the page. The Lumiere Paint should be dry. Stamp page using Black and Gold Brilliance stamp pads.
Once clay is finished baking, adhere to page using Crafter’s Pick Adhesive. If you want the book to lie flat, position clay pieces in a carved niche.
“How Do I Love Thee”
On these pages, I used Shapelets to cut out stamped shapes. The letters rival expensive Scrabble embellishments and stickers. I also used Shapelets as stencils to stencil the heart background on the pages.
Materials:
* Halo Pink/Gold Lumiere Paint
* Olive Green Lumiere Paint
* Alphabet Stamps (Hero Arts)
* Crafter’s Pick Adhesive
* Black Staz On Stamp Pad
Polyform Products:
* Premo! Ecru Clay
* Heart Shaped Shapelets
* Square Shapes and Segments Shapelets
Instructions:
* Roll conditioned Ecru clay on thickest setting of pasta machine.
* Position Square Shapelet over conditioned clay and cut out shape using a craft knife.
* Stamp letters onto clay with Staz On Ink. Repeat for each letter.
* Bake clay for 30 minutes at 275 degrees.
* Color pages of book using Lumiere Halo Pink/Gold paint. Let paint dry.
Once pages are dry, position Heart Shapelet on page and stipple Olive Green Lumiere Paint onto page. Remove Shapelet and repeat going across the page to create Heart Background.
When clay letters finish baking, let cool. Adhere to page using Crafter’s Pick Adhesive.
"Believe"
On this page I used Shapelets to carve a shallow niche in the center of the page. I used molds and rubber stamps to embellish the page. A clay pocket holding a tag that says “aspire to be” adds dimension and interest.
Materials:
* Angel Stamps and Scroll Stamp on Pocket (Raindrops on Roses)
* Black Brilliance Stamp Pad
* Kaleidecolor Stamp Pad (Cappuccino Delight)
* Believe & Aspire to Be Stamps (PSX)
* Brilliant Gold Lumiere Paint
* Tag
* Sanding Block
* Perfect Paper Adhesive
* Aztec Gold Pearl Ex
* Crafter’s Pick Adhesive
Polyform Products:
* Premo! Gold Clay
* Premo! Black Clay
* Classic Designs Shapelets
* Victorian Décor EZ Push Mold (Angel)
Instructions:
Roll conditioned Premo! Gold clay on thickest setting of pasta machine. Spritz Scroll Background (Raindrops on Roses) stamp with water and impress into clay, creating a scroll texture on clay. Randomly tear stamped Gold Clay so you have two pieces.
Roll excess Gold Clay out on thickest setting of the pasta machine. Spritz “Angel” reverse word stamp (Raindrops on Roses) with water and impress onto Gold Clay.
Roll conditioned Premo! Black clay on thickest setting of pasta machine. Spritz Angel Face Stamp (Raindrops on Roses) onto Black Clay, to create an impressed image. Cut into desired shape.
Press excess Black Clay into Angel Push Mold (Victorian Décor EZ Push Mold Set). Remove from mold.
Rub Aztec Gold Pearl Ex on all clay pieces and bake at 275 degrees for 30 minutes.
While clay is baking, position Square Shapelet from Classic Designs Pack in center of one page. Adhere to page using repositionable tape. Using a craft knife, cut on the inside of the Shapelet (using Shapelet as a template for niche).
Leaving the Shapelet in place, position a second page under the first. Cut out a square shape, using the top page and Shapelet as a template for the second page. Repeat until you have cut through about seven pages to create a shallow niche.
Tip: You can use the same technique to cut a window using Shapelets as a template, only for a window, you just have to cut through one page.
Glue pages together using Perfect Paper Adhesive. Let glue dry.
Using a brayer, brayer ink over the page using the Kaleidecolor stamp pad. To keep from brayering inside the niche, position the positive part of the square Shapelet (the part you cut out) inside the niche. Separately, brayer a tag using the Kaleidecolor stamp pad.
Paint a coat of Gold Lumiere Paint on top of the page (over the Kaleidecolor ink).
Once paint is dry, sand off some of the Lumiere paint using a sanding block. This will reveal some of the words and the Kaleidecolor ink underneath.
Stamp Angels (Raindrops on Roses) and words (PSX) on page using Black Staz On Ink. Stamp “aspire to be” on tag.
Once clay pieces are baked, let cool completely. Adhere clay elements to the page using Crafter’s Pick Adhesive. For pocket at the bottom of the page, apply Crafter’s Pick Adhesive only to three sides of the torn clay.
Once adhesive is dry, place tag inside the pocket.
As you can see, with Shapelets, rubber stamps, molds and a little imagination, you can create eye-popping altered book pages. Keep checking back at the Sculpey web site for more ideas for altered books.