How to give a book a new life as bookbox

Adhere cheesecloth to the book (front and back cover. Paint the front with black gesso, and the back with white. We will do the front cover first.

Use the stencil to add black structure paste to the surface and leave to dry.

Close-up of the stenciled structure paste.

Use some lace form an old curtain, cut it to pieces and adhere to the surface with a white glue. Leave to dry.

Paint the lace with black gesso. Leave to dry.

Have you seen the moodboard on the Facebook group from Art Anthology, yet? Join in the fun!

I chose some colors to go with the moodboard. I ended up not using all the colors shown here.

With a sturdy brush, start with applying a first blue, Blue Topaz.

Apply the second blue, Honolulu Sorbet.

Now for the third one: Baby Blue Eyes Sorbet. Just add tiny bits of color. Don't try and cover it all up.

Now for the fourth one: add Aloha Velvet...

Don't dry the paints inbetween the blues, just wipe the color off the brush every time you switch color. Now for the fifth color: add Fiji Velvet...

... and finally add the Mermaid Sorbet with the sturdy brush! You can see how nice it looks, all the different blues.

You get to see the structure from the structure paste, cheesecloth and lace in these steps!

Leave the paints to dry VERY good, and then add a layer of multi medium matte. Leave to dry. I know, you need a lot of patience with all the drying going on.

Now for the contrasts! I tried adding yellow over the blue, but that ended up muddy. So take it from my error: add a layer of white acrylic paint first as shown. Dry brush it on! Leave to dry.

Dry brush a second layer of white acrylic paint onto the surface. Leave to dry.

LOVE the texture! AND needless to say: maybe this was a good time to stop adding color. BUT, yes the moodboard!

Add a layer of multi medium matte, and leave to dry. Dry brush some yellows onto the surfce, starting with Mayan Gold Velvet and Tango Velvet! LOVE the contrasts!

And now for the magical touch: Ferrari Sorbet is so vibrant and shimmery.

A close-up!

Beautiful detail of the shimmery Ferrari Sorbet...

I cut and glued the inside of the book to create a bookbox (Google on "bookbox from book") and painted it with black gesso and Blue Topaz Gemstones. After that dried, I adhered some handmade paper.

Some photo's of the front cover, after adding some ART letters, painted with white acrylic paint.

Don't you LOVE it?! I do. Forgot to mention that I've added some white accents to the 'drops' with a white acrylic marker.

Now for the back cover! Adhere cheesecloth to the back cover. Paint the front with white gesso (hmmm, I said this in the first step, too!)

Use the stencil to add white structure paste to the surface and leave to dry.

Again: use some lace from an old curtain, cut it to pieces and adhere to the surface with a white glue. Leave to dry.

Apply a layer of white gesso over the lace and leave to dry.

..as with the front cover : with a sturdy brush, start with applying a first blue, Blue Topaz.

Apply the second blue, Honolulu Sorbet.

... add Fiji Velvet...

.. and Aloha Velvet..

...Baby Blue Eyes now..

...as with the front cover.. a layer of white acrylic paint dry brushed onto the surface. Leave to dry.

...and a second layer..

.. apply a layer of matte medium gel. ... leave to dry of course!

Dry brush some yellows onto the surface, starting with Mayan Gold Velvet....

... and Tango Velvet!

And the last color : Ferrari Sorbet!

Finished!

Here you can see how I finished off the back of the front cover: a piece of sturdy cardstock with homemade paper adhered to it.

Mission accomplished... I wanted to know whether I like to work on a white or black surface better?! I still don't know the answer.. I like them both.

One last glimpse..

This was my last post as I step down from the Design Team from Art Anthology after being there for a year.. go check out the website, there are some new DT's !!