Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Plan B

Yesterday I posted a tutorial (kinda) of a book cover I made in haste for the Carl Skoggard book entitled Rooms. When I finished my new book cover  I realized I had glued the cover on upside down!  Well, I really wasn't in love with the cover anyhow.  It looked lumpy to me.  Not so much in real life,  but definitely in the photographs. Plus, what was I thinking? Velvet?!  I have six cats!  (Why do you think lint brushes are made of velvet, after all?  Cat.  Fur.  Magnet.)  So I did what I always do. I dwelled on it all night to the point that I couldn't sleep.  Really. According to the news the world is falling down around us and Andie loses sleep over a book cover.  I know.
So here I am.
I changed it.  Again. Well, if Skoggard had put a better cover on it in the first place I would still be sleeping now!
I had an extra giclee of  The Ascension of Christ just lying around the house.  (Doesn't everyone?so I decided to apply it over the velvet.  I carefully cut the antique vestment applique off the front first to use for another project, then simply cut and applied the canvas to the book in the same manner as the original dust jacket.  I left the edges unravelled so that, in time, the cover would take on the look of an antique painting remnant.  It wasn't long enough to cover the back so I simply folded it and allowed the red velvet to show.

Before...

After...





The back...
Funny, it doesn't look that lumpy in real life!?
Rayon velvet is really difficult to photograph!


I may antique it with a dark glaze or I may change it altogether!  I'm so capricious!  I'm still using my ostrich feather bookmark, though!  At least until the kitties discover it!

I really like the idea of using a canvas to cover a book.  I purchased about 20 canvas giclee reproductions on ebay a few years back.  Many of them are 11x14, which is a bit on the small side for this house of ginormous proportions.  I am looking at my other decorating books to see who's next!

11 comments:

  1. In the future a shot of cognac may help you get to sleep.. but, i admire your creativity.. I love the idea of the canvas covers too. You can create quite an interesting collection !!

    If i was a better photographer I might offer you a lighting trick to help with lumps, but I believe you.. the velvet was lovely too..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the advice, Verdigis! My husband started 12 hour midnight shifts on the First of January and we are all trying to get used to it. *yaaaawn*
    Blogging is a very quiet hobby!
    Thank you for coming to my blog. I truly appreciate it!
    ~Andie

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Andie...I finally made it over to your blog and how wonderful it is! Love what you did with the book cover and BTW ALL velvet is hard to photograph!You should try silk velvet sometime with its natural sheen. I love that crown you have sitting on your coffee table and those angel wings in the background, a woman after my own heart, I collect angels!In answer to your question I only have Dylan dog now my other two boys, cats, expired at the ripe old age of 18 and 19. We're thinking of getting Dylan a couple of kitties since he loves them...neighbor cats wander over all the time to use Dylan as a blanket. Beautiful blog and thank you for your comments!....Debra

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your befores and afters are both lovely - I can understand about the cat hair! I really enjoy your writing style :).

    ReplyDelete
  5. I like your book cover and how you made it your own. Being upside down isn't a bad thing to me, sometimes this is how I feel when life tosses a few lemons my way. smile... I don't have cat hair, but dog hair does this count? xo

    ReplyDelete
  6. you have quite a collection there. Many interesting and beautiful pieces.
    and the best thing is that you get them from E-Bay.
    It's like stepping back in time. So cool.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hello Andie, love that you are so adamant about giving this book a better or rather proper cover!
    thank you for popping in on my blog-
    this particular shoot I posted about , will be published in April- it is only a page and a bit and not on me only, it is one re invention so different products from different suppliers will be featured.they shoot 3 months ahead...there is going to be another shoot on our house for a different magazine..will keep you posted and of course will be happy to forward to you if you like.of course I am not allowed to share the images taken before publication, therefore the pic's I took.
    can you believe it is so hot right this minute, 7,3o in the eve and we are in the pool with cantaloupe and parmaham for supper outside...~xo Colette ~Afrique du Sud

    ReplyDelete
  8. Andrea,
    I enjoyed reading both of your posts on recovering a book! But both ways you covered them they look good.
    Mary

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh my gooness YES!! The cat hair!! I swear I spend my life fighting animal hair (And I'm losing BTW)....Well the dust is doing a pretty good job of kicking my a$$ too! *winks* Gotta say I do prefer the new interpretation of the cover.
    I have a hard time sleeping too when my hubbs isn't there. Vanna

    ReplyDelete
  10. Vanna, being the Crazy Cat Lady that I am, I am actually saving all the hair from brushing the kitties. Soon I will have enough to be made into yarn and then a cat hair scarf! Yay! Then I won't mind if I get cat hair on my scarf.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh velvets and pets...{{{shudder}}} from memories of the past! LOL I really like the look of the new redo. th canvas looks wonderful on the book. I think I just got inspired to recover a couple of my own books. Hope you are having a wonderful day!

    ReplyDelete

I love hearing what you have to say!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...