Sailing the Seas Book Sculpture

I have an Ocean Racing & Offshore Yachts book that someone gave me and had an idea to recreate a similar book sculpture I created a few years ago. I hand colored that other book sculpture with watercolors and later wished I had let it remain the natural whites of the pages. I created this piece with sculptures cut and folded from the pages in this book. Wow! It really is fun when I get going and good use for old books and old plastic drinking straws so they don't end up in the ocean!

I am part of an Altered Paper, Prints and Books exhibit that opens June 23rd, 2021 at Warwick Center for the Arts, Warwick, Rhode Island. The exhibit runs through July 24th with an opening reception on July 1st, 6:00 - 7:30 pm. Here are a few of my altered books.

 

Book Sculptures: Fold • Cut • Glue

Here are a few old books that I have been creating into book sculptures. The first is a book about fresh and salt water fishes. I cut out many of the fish illustrations before I folded pages. 

The fold pattern for this book is to alternate: 1.) page folded in half vertically with 2.) page in which corners are folded inward from the edge to form a triangle. Keep folding these two patterns until the whole book has been folded. Below is my sample book to demonstrate.

I glued decorative paper to the end pages of the book, then positioned and glued on my fish. For glue, I used a glue stick for fish on the end pages, white craft glue and a glue gun for other areas. I also added some fishing line, lures and bobbers for embellishments. 

I had been thinking about a circus tent of a a book and finally found this fun circus book in which to create it. I liked the end pages so I didn't have to cover them with paper. I cut out many of the illustrations to use and glue back on. The pattern for folding is to fold down the tops of each page to form a triangle creating the point. To make the entrance, I folded some of the middle pages inward. I created red flags out of paper and added a gold ribbon to hang the flags. I really like the way this one came out!

I had found an aquarium book with colorful fish and corals so I wanted to make a book that appeared to be an aquarium. First I glued all of the ends of the pages with gel medium and when the glue was dry and the pages glued into a "block" I could hollow out the insides with a utility knife. This is not easy and takes a while to do. Your hands will tire quickly! Next I glued turquoise Lokta paper to the backgrounds and started adding in fish. 

 Here I have added black handmade paper with gold flecks running through it (I'm not sure of the name) and glued more fish on top of the black paper and coming out of the cut pages inside.

Spring to Life

I created this book sculpture using one of my dad's old engineering books from college in the late 1940s or early 1950s. I had saved several of old books that belonged to my parents that didn't seem to be classics and have given them another life by creating book sculptures out of them.

I cut a template for my flower vase/base and then cut sections of book pages with a utility knife (see below, template on the right). This can be a tedious procedure and take a while, I needed to use about 3 paperbacks for this vase, I could not use the pages from the engineering book because they were too thin. I tore them out and saved for another project.

I used marbelized paper I had previously created for the end pages and put together paper flowers cut and folded from other book pages, some previously colored with watercolor paint. I construct a variety of different flowers and some curly leaf shapes to compliment them.

Three New Folded Books

Here are three new folded books that I created last week. I'm teaching an altered book workshop at Providence Art Club in a few weeks so I decided to sit down, fold a few more books and write down all the instructions for my students. 

I will credit Johwey Redington's website for the instructional videos to create these three sculptures. Click on the link and you can see the different folded books on her website. I added my own ideas to the books I created. The Yin-Yang book (middle) was a colorful book containing some maps and map images on the inside covers. I tore out a few pages so I would have just enough to fold so the end inside cover illustrations would show. 

I did the same for the last book here with the red end pages, I tore out a few pages so the red would show at either end.

Altered & Handmade Book Talk Tomorrow

Everyone is invited to my book talk tomorrow Monday June 17 at 3 pm at the Providence Art Club, 11 Thomas Street, Providence, Rhode Island. It is free and open to the public. I will be talking about my process of altering used books and turning them into book sculptures. I will also be talking about my handmade books that incorporate mediums such as colored pencil, watercolor, printmaking and collage into the illustrated pages. I will also be showing a PowerPoint presentation of my works and examples of other artists' works to show just what can be done with the art of books!

My Newest Book Sculptures

 I have been negligent about writing on my blog this past year. In May I was contacted by GMC Publications in London asking me to write a book on colored pencil for beginners. This book will consist of basic colored pencil information, step-by-step projects and a few focus features and should be published sometime by the end of 2019. In a period of six month, I have written all of the content, drawn all of the illustrations and diagrams which was quite a lot of work. But I was really excited to have been asked to write the book on colored pencil for GMC's fine art series of books! And will be more excited to see the finished project so bear with me as we are still in the editing phase.

Meanwhile ... I have also been working on a different sort of books ... recycled book sculptures.The top two photos are a sculpture (front and back) that I created from a sportfishing book I found in a flea market in Maine. I was intrigued by the illustrations of all of the different fish. I cut out fish from the pages and then folded the remaining pages and glued the fish back onto the sculpture with a few added extras including fishing line, netting, bobbers, flyfishing flies.

I am very excited because this book sculpture was accepted into the Newport Art Museum Annual Member Exhibit 2019. Only 90 entries were accepted out of 265 entered. The opening is Friday February 1 from 5-7 pm and I am excited to attend and see all of the works.

 This book sculpture is created from a book I found that is all about growing fruits in the garden. I liked the colorful illustrations of the different fruits. I cut out many of the fruit and leaves and folded the pages then glued the fruit back onto the pages.

I exhibited this book at Imago Gallery's Community Exhibit in January and was thrilled that it won a Recognition Award. 

 The two sculptures above, lady bugs and butterflies were created for two different ladies in memories of each one's mother. Every time Judy sees a lady bug it reminds her of her mother and every time Ann sees a butterfly it reminds her of her mother. These two books will be permanent memories to be displayed in their homes. Both the ladybugs and the butterflies were cut from book pages that I had watercolored in various colors. I added the black paper and cut out spots with a hole punch for the ladybugs. Some of the bugs and butterflies are suspended on wire and some are glued onto the pages.

If you look closely in this cabinet you will see my two masted sailing ship book sculpture (on the left). I created this book sculpture of a ship riding the waves and a whale diving into the waves. My customer who purchased the book sculpture is displaying it in this cabinet and I think it looks perfect with all of her lovely curios!

Nineteen on Paper Art Exhibit

Nineteen on Paper group of artists reading artwork on or with paper will be having a group exhibit 

at the Wickford Art Association, Beach Street, Wickford, Rhode Island. 

Opening reception is Sunday, January 14 from 1-3 pm. 

I am exhibiting my book sculptures and colored pencil drawings, Personalities of Birds 

(hand folded and cut from Field Guide to the Birds book), 

Looking Towards Earth and Exuberant (colored pencil works) are pictured below.

Creating Books and Book Sculpture

These are two of my book sculptures which I have entered into an open exhibit at Imago Gallery in Warren, RI. The pieces are hung quite high on the wall but still can be viewed well enough from below. I went to the opening wondering what kind of reactions I would get from people because I think they're just fun and different but as an artist, we never know how our work will be received. I was especially happy because the piece on the right in which I titled Flying Away was sold during the opening. The buyer introduced herself to me and told me she loved the piece and had exactly the right spot in her office for it. For me, to make people happy with my art is the greatest reward.

This collection of small drawings are being made into an accordion style handmade book. When I teach colored pencil to my students, I usually draw along with them. I will pick one subject from our still life and work on my drawing while I help them to work on theirs. I have quite a collection of these small drawings so I have decided to put several together into a handmade book which can be displayed. I am part of an upcoming student/mentor exhibit at Spring Bull Gallery in Newport, RI and I plan for my book to be included in the exhibit.

Fly Away - Book Sculpture

Here is my second book sculpture creation. I took an old mathematical table book that belonged to my dad when he attended engineering school. I folded each page in half and creased the folded edge with a bone folder to ensure a crisp edge. When the pages are folded, they create a semi-circle pattern. Next I glued marbleized paper to the inside front and back cover to make the background more appealing.

After that was finished, I tore multiple pages out of another old book and hand colored them with watercolors, letting the two or three colors on each piece to flow and mingle together. My first attempts at watercolor were too muted, so I chose to use the brightest colors. The next step was to find and cut out butterfly, dragonfly and bug patterns in workable sizes and interesting shapes. I have to admit I spent two days cutting bugs and butterflies out of my watercolored pages. I found that too many legs or antennas could easily tear and larger bold shapes worked better. In all honesty, I have many unused bugs waiting for my next project.

I attached the butterflies to colored jewelry wire by making holes in the bodies with a small awl and weaving the wire through. Next I attached the wired butterflies to the book so they could "float" or "fly" above the book. Others I just glued to the pages of the book.

I am really enjoying this creative hiatus from my colored pencil drawings. I believe that each and every medium and art project influences another. To work in another form of art and especially in sculpture is a learning and growing experience.