A real bibliophile will dismiss this as contrived, spurious, even heretical.
After I created the pretty magazine slipcases with Beth’s (Tattered Vintage),
the rest of my library clashed.
So, I recovered everything that wasn’t a soft, light color in
various papers of white, buff, oyster, and gray!
Library before. Too many bright or dark hues.
I merely printed out digital art I own of old French documents on the good side
of used paper from work, cut them to size, and taped them around the spines.
With favorite titles, I printed labels in Word, but for the most part
I just penciled them in script right on the paper.
The Victor Hugo volumes are printed from a photo on the excellent French Blue website.
Here, two books in the middle had their paper soaked in a shallow pan
of my leftover morning tea, and I squeezed the tea bag over it to make ‘water damage’.
Let dry on old towels (they stick to smooth surfaces).
Photo courtesy of French Larkspur
Tracey at her wonderful blog French Larkspur posted a crumbling antique book
she recently picked up in Paris that influenced the spines and labels I created.
I used the Word fonts ‘New Century Schoolbook’, ‘Arial Narrow’,
and ‘High Tower Text’ within text boxes (changing the borders to mimic) et volia!
Photo: 3 Fine Grains
Another dream – to reproduce these beauties Stine posted on her pretty blog.
Cheap paperbacks look wonderfully shabby with their back and spine covers ripped off.
One can find these for free at libraries, yard sales – even the bathroom at work.
I’m going to try soaking them in water and rubbing them on a
rough surface to see if they’ll imitate ancient paper tomes.
Midway through my project I wondered, ‘What would Beth do?’
What luck! As it turns out, she’s passionate for old books, and created these
heart-stopping designs now available at her Etsy shop Tattered Vintage for around $4 each.
My favorite - #213 - cut to fit a paperback. Dreamy.
More Tattered Vintage book covers and book marks in gentle colors.
So much prettier than plain paper and labels.
If you have Photoshop, you can write the actual titles in the graphics.
Some call it sacrilege. I call it shabby!
So ‘till next time, stay shabby!
I’ll be sharing this with:
Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage
Favorite Things Friday at A Few of My Favorite Things
Show & Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Please stop by and see all the interesting entries!
.jpg)
