This is one of the altered books I made in 2008, although I have included tip-ins from swaps I made in 2004-06. From notes I wrote on one of the last pages, it appears it took me about two months to put this book together. Of course, I had been collecting images for this for many years and had everything ready to go when I started it.
Please take some TIME and enjoy this book, just as if you were sitting at my kitchen table looking through it. The pages are in order of appearance.
I've broken this AB into five posts, because I knew I would never get them all in a single post. However, you may start at the beginning.
With any luck at all, the comment form will be at the end of the final TIMEless post. I hope you will let me know you have been here and maybe even what you thought of this AB.
Not all the pages will be brilliant, and many are not even good compositions. But as I learn, I improve. So, please enjoy as we begin our journey over TIME.
The front cover: it was the first TIME I sewed a cover to a book. The clock was from a children's toy department at a local discount store. The back was bright yellow and the heart, which can be removed, was bright red. It's amazing what one can do with a bit of paint and glaze.
I'm fairly certain you can read the quote, which led to the Memories and Dreams I created from stickers.
I believe this may have been the first time I was in a TIME swap. The front of the tip-in was made using a transparency behind which I added bits of shaped confetti. I was trying to learn to stamp, and this was one of the few times I actually stamped on a tip-in. The acrylic letters kept falling off the acrylic block. I was so disappointed, I almost stopped stamping all together.
This is the back side of the tip-in. I was helping my friend clean her house and a label fell off a timer. I asked for it, brought it home, scanned and printed it, and used it for the back. I created the polymer clay hand from a mold I made. Obviously, Bleubeard was not participating back then, since I now sign everything Bleubeard and Elizabeth.
Ironic that I would include this page at the beginning of the book.
Another piece I made for a swap. I only have the front of this one. BTW, it was hard scanning these, because my setup isn't ideal. I need to input all the information, click "scan," then rush to position the book on the scanner. I couldn't leave it on the scanner, or it would fall on the floor, and pages would bend like the one above.
This was also for a swap, but it was a "Memories" swap. I started to cut the image from the page, then realized how much I liked the background. Silly me had already started the cut when I realized I should keep it intact. I used a bit of green scrim for the backing.
This was a magazine image and a strip of hand painted cardstock.
Pigment ink (direct to paper) and a magazine image were used here.
More magazine images and a computer generated quote.
Magazine image and different sayings also from magazines.
A filler page. I didn't want to cover over the words on the page, so I made a quick tag. You can see I'm not very good making tags.
I'm not sure why I have this in the book, other than it's a piece of some old wallpaper I found when I was redoing my kitchen. The stamp is from River City Rubber right here in River City, aka Wichita, KS.
For some reason, this tip-in sounded better in my head than on paper. Another transparency covered the letters.
For the back, I used a large plate to outline the round clock, and added bits of handmade paper that I stamped on to mark the hands and the hours. Like I said, it sounded better before I completed it.
On the other hand, I like this collage.
The background was a paper towel used to mop up paint, over which I added a magazine image and computer generated words.
My attempt at humor with band aids and a quote I found on the internet.
I like the background of this two page spread better than the images.
Although the idea was clever, the image stamped and embossed, I hated the color of the piece with the background. It was truly a bad color combination that I realized once I had it in place and under a light source.
I remember working long and hard on this background. I was reading an art book at that time that talked about first adding warm colors, then cool colors, then warm colors again. At the time, I fell in love with these two pages (see the one below). Now I am not so sure.
At least I added a bit of texture.
Obviously, I named this the Timekeepers and used magazine images.
I'm not sure what I was thinking with this one. It seems as if one of the words is missing. Of course, I'm not surprised, since I found several glued images had come loose from wear and tear. This goes to show glue sticks, no matter how good they are, just don't hold up under the pressure of these altered books.
Paint, cardstock, a circle cut from a circle punch, real clock hands that move, a brad, and computer generated words make up this side
with stamped handmade paper and computer generated words added to complete the saying.
This concludes the first set of photos. Now on to the next ones, please.
