This is my first tutorial attempt for Rhedd's Creative Spirit. Please bear with me as I may run a little long and a whole lot confusing! This project started as an altered book cover, a hybrid digital make using Mischief Circus's kit by Holliewood Studios called "Ode to a Muse". The first part was for another design team I am on devoted to projects concerning Poe. I will show a small pic of the cover but the inside of the book is what we will be covering today.
I wanted to turn an old encyclopedia that a used book store was giving away for free into a Poe shadowbox. I removed the pages from the spine leaving the very old and fragile cloth that was the binding cloth. Unfortunately, I put the cover on so that my shadowbox opens backwards but I can live with it. Here it is open:
After gutting the book, I covered the inside with designer papers from my stash and constructed a frame and shelves out of cardboard strips covered with pages from the book. I used Mod Podge but normally use glue and water as it has less shine to it.
On what should have been my first page, I took torn pieces from the book which happened to reference Poe and glued to the bottom paper. I took black corrugated paper and tore back parts to reveal the original color and layered that with more designer paper and added another piece of a page concerning Poe to that. I made a fake eyeball by gluing a rhinestone to a white enamel dot that I made by melting beads and stuck onto a stick on from a kit again from my stash. The skull came from the MC kit and I copied 2 and adhered with silicone to give dimension. I also stamped a raven on a corner of the page paper and one on vellum. I used stick on letters to spell "POE" and added a watch face, some paper ribbon, and a red gem. I also stamped an awesome skull and crossbones in the red distress ink.
In this shelf I put a piece of broken mirror..yes this week broken so 7 years bad luck?? and glued another fake eyeball on a strip of the black cardboard on to that. I took a label holder sticker and stamped "RAVEN" in red distress ink.
For this compartment I made a flower from an egg carton. The paper kind and I tore the cups apart and then cut strips out of the top. To make the rose, you layer two of the cups cutting 3 to 5 petals and shaping and then roll a long strip from the top into the center. Then I inked the edges with black ink. I added another vellum stamped raven but be careful what kind of glue you use! Glossy Accents made them curl up quiet a bit. The label is another strip of black cardboard with a smaller reverse side glued to it and a piece of paper that I ink things up on was cut smaller and stamped again with "Poe".
I lacked skeleton pieces..don't you just hate when that happens!! so I cut up a plastic flat skeleton that I had painted gold for a necklace. Inked the pieces with brushed cordory distress inks and layered with silicone for some depth. The skelly with the awesome mohawk nail hair do came from the MC kit and I added a top one with a haircut to give some dimension.
This chamber is my favorite! I layered the black cardboard, brown rice paper, and Poe page with a cool nib pen cut out glued on top with a small red rose. I used stick on letters to spell Ravens at the top. I had this lovely antique bottle that I filled with strips of cut pages, curled around a pen and stuffed into the bottle about six strips. I tied a tulle ribbon on the top and added a cool skull poison label antiqued up with distress inks from Graphic Fairy's website of awesome freebies! Then I had fun making my own raven out of Crayola children's air dry clay, shaping and letting dry after making some wire legs and inserting into the clay. When dry I colored with some sharpie markers and added a red glass seed bead eye!
To finish my edges and seal any cracks around the bottom I held a black crayon very carefully and used my heat gun to melt it onto the tops of the edges and around the sides of the page covered cardboard strips. It dripped in places leaving lovely splats! And for the inside of the compartments I used a reddish crayon and melted along the edges and that produces a lovely effect also.
I hope this will inspire you to make your own shadow box. I had been waiting for a purchased shadowbox to do this but a book and some cardboard and I made my own and am much prouder of it for doing so! Last warning: when using a heat gun and crayons use something long to hold the crayon and heat guns get very, very hot!! So do be careful!
Thanks for your patience with me and now you can go alter something that has caught your eye and enter our lovely challenge at Rhedd's Creative Spirit!
That's it for me and hope you saw something you want to try!
