Altered Book 1 - Ticket Folder

My first altered book is completed and I finally feel good about posting a member page on the ISABA Web site. I'm the Web manager of that site so I could have done it anytime. But I really didn't feel right until I had something to show for it. I volunteer, but it gives me inspiration, which I need desperately.

It was a fairly simply first project. I've been collecting ticket stubs my entire life and I never found a good place to display them. Throwing them in a box, like I do with my 4x6 prints, was not an alternative to me, nor was adhering them to a surface from which I would never be able to lift them off.

I saw an example of a book like this is in The Complete Guide to Altered Books and knew I could make practical use out of it. I used a small book to get started since I didn't want the book itself to overwhelm the contents. I found in my bookcase one of those small, skinny self-help books you find at the check out line of book stores. This one happened to be about stress management. The book was full of useless information, which stressed me out, but it was ironically very stress relieving to destroy it. I mean, alter it.

I folded each right page down from the top right corner to create a little pocket. The pyramid shape formed naturally from the folds. This left me with what looked like a elementary school project for a report on Egypt.

I had no idea what to do with inside front and back cover, or the bottom (the outside front and back cover). But after picking the thing up a few times I realized the paper quality of the cover was too flimsy to be a proper base for the structure, so I glued the entire thing to a relatively thin piece of cardboard, the kind you find at the end of any basic writing pad. It was bigger than the structure, and rather than cut it to size, I painted the frame black so it would make the white pages stand out more. Then to decorate the inside front and back covers I glued left over stubs and pieces of stubs to create a collage.

After it dried, about a day later, I put my tickets in the pockets and I was amazed how great it looked. I mean, it actually looks like a piece of art - a legitimate altered book. The pages remain a little stiff, but the whole thing needs to be handled gently anyway when browsing through. Some of the tickets are too big for the pages so either I glued them to the cover as part of the collage or just folded them over to fit.

I'll be able to use it for a while before I need to make a volume II. I'm on the prowl for ticket stubs I KNOW I have but for the life of me can't remember where I put them. Someplace safe obviously. In any case, I'm pretty happy with my first result.

I'm working on many Singles now (single journal pages) that I am keeping in a box I decorated for them. I'll be photographing those next. Then I would like to finish my 'bird wisdom' book, which I think will be great if I can ever stop trying to add to it. It's about 11 pages and I need to create a front and back cover. The middle is almost complete. I will probably bind it myself, which should be very interesting.

All images © Ginny A. Roth