[Emjay]

I love making my own altered books for Halloween. I've had a few people ask how they are done so I'll post all the information you will need starting with a very simple "print and paste" book. Over the next while I'll add more complicated books. Have fun with the first one

Here are the instructions and graphic sheet for "Anatomy of The Bat" please follow the link below:

http://lifeartcollide.blogspot.com/2011/09/halloween-easy-altered-book.html

 

[Tannasgach]

Those books are amazing Emjay! Thanks for the link.

 

[Emjay]

Goblin Altered Book
Here is the link for the downloadable instruction sheet for this project:
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0By...ZDljMDk2NDNiNGNm&sort=name&layout=list&num=50

Have fun

 

[Barbarella]

Emjay, your books are absolutely delightful to look at! Can't wait for more how-to's!

 

[Emjay]

Thank you! I love doing these, more tutorials coming.

 

[Tannasgach]

omg I love the Goblin book! And I have all the supplies except for the varnish. Keep 'em coming Emjay...

 

[ScaredyCat]

Those look so old and creepy (in a good way)! Thanks for taking the time to post pictures. I look forward to the next tutorials. Keep 'em coming!

 

[jenscats5]

I love this! Thanks for the tutorial....

 

[Emjay]

SPIDERS! Another tutorial for a Halloween altered book.

Here is the link for the INSTRUCTIONS

Here is the link for the GRAPHICS

 

[allmapa1]

Augh, not enough time, these will be my first project for NEXT year! They are simply fantastic!

 

[Went]

Working on Anatomy of the Bat right now I really want to make the Seer book... oh, what am I saying? I want to make all of them!

 

[Emjay]

I'd love to see your final results!

 

[Went]

This was such a fun project! Super easy, took me about 7 hours from start to finish (most of the time was waiting for tea/paint to dry.) It turned out awesome!

before

after

 

[Emjay]

Wow, what a fantastic result! I love your idea of removing paint to allow the original black cover to show through. It looks like it has been made from a piece of ancient wood. Great job! Bet you can't stop at just one book, I literally dream about ideas for new covers. So glad you had fun!

 

[Went]

Thank you! And you're right... I couldn't stop with one. I've made one called, "vampyre Field Guide," and plan on making the spider book just as soon as I can find a spider.

 

[Rxtorres]

Omg!! these are the coolest books ever, Thank you so much for sharing, the instructions are great! btw what kind of varnish do u put on these? Thanks, Ruth

 

[Emjay]

I'm so glad to see everybody having fun with these. I just found another box of old books at a garage sale, already have some ideas for them! The varnish I use is by Delta Ceramcoat. The description on the bottle reads, "MATTE Exterior/Interior Varnish Super-Tough Polyurethane". I picked mine up at Michaels. Regular price $10.55 for an 8oz bottle. Use one of their 50% off coupons and it becomes a more reasonable price. Make sure you buy MATTE in whatever brand you find. Matte finish will not add shine to your book. I often sand the matte off a bit to kill even more of the shine and retain the old look of the book. Hope that helps!

 

[MissMandy]

These books are fantastic! Thank you for sharing

 

[Paulaween]

I would really love to have a link to the graphics yoou used for the bell witch book. My Mother grew up in Tennessee and so I grew up hearing tales of the bell witch.

 

[clnkblank]

I've just found the time to get through all these post and I have found my next Halloween projects with this post. Your work is awesome and I can't wait to make them!