Altered books? Why? I don’t get it – what is the point of altering a book? I guess I am just going to have to do one to find the answer.
I found this great site to get a few pointers.

This is not a tutorial but more like a ‘what not to do’ when altering a book as I am bound to make loads of mistakes and possibly some ‘happy accidents’ along the way. Please join me on my mini adventure into the world of Altered Books.

I have no plan and no idea what I will do but I DO have a book so here goes!

Stage 1.
The book is a hard back, Innocent Blood by P.D James, and no I have not read it but have nicked it from my husband Harry. Don’t worry though he was just going to throw it out anyway.
I ripped some pages out of the book to allow for the extra thickness created by some of the altered pages possibly being thicker or having 3D embellishments on them.

Stage 2.
I have had a wee think about themes and have decided on Death! I know that sounds a bit macabre but it doesn’t need to be, after all death is just an altered state of life.

I painted the cover all over with black Gesso to prime it and once it was dry I roughly painted with distress crackle paint aged mahogany keeping some areas lumpy and some quite flat to add a bit of texture. After it was dry and the cracks appeared I then painted over some areas with acrylic crimson, sprayed with a little water and smudged it into some of the cracks. To darken it all down (it was a little too pink still) I used the direct to paper technique and swiped some distress inks, aged mahogany and black soot, over the top then wiped the excess away.
I know it looks like a right old mess just now but I will leave it like that for the time being and add the embellishments later.