Book of Wisdom

Hi friends!
I'm sure a big bunch of you is as much in love in old books as I am! There is something really magical in the smell of the old pages, a touch of the weathered, worn out covers - so many hands were touching them, so many stories to tell!
Personally, I have a small collection of the old books - I keep buying them on the car boot sales and flea markets and bringing them home to use as journals or simply as a decoration. Sometimes I take a book from my shelf and give it a bit of makeover - just like this time!

(note: if you'd like to start altering books and learn some really cool mixed-media techniques you can try taking my online class - Book of Possiblilities! You may be surprised how much you can do! )

I called this project "Book of Wisdom" - and as you can see my plan was to create something a bit mysterious, magical - almost like taken out from Harry Potter stories! Worked on the textures a lot but decided to keep the composition quite simple - and I added an "eye" of course! Perfect detail for a book of spells or prophecies, don't you think?

Most of the details you can see are done with Art Basics products, married together with a bit of Mini Art Stones and Art Pebbles. I created the "old leather" look using 3D Gloss Gel and a palette knife - it is a quite interesting alternative to Crackle Paste! Then I glued down all the elements using my favourite Heavy Body Gel. After drying I applied a good coat of Art Basics White Heavy Gesso and dried everything completely.

Next step was rubbing on the Art Alchemy Antique Brilliance Waxes - they are a unique mix of brown antiquing wax and beautiful, metallic shimmer! Using a big brush I applied a generous amount of the 3 colours and then started to clean off the excess of the wax to reveal the details of my texture. You can do it when the wax is still wet, but don't wait too long! Art Alchemy Waxes will dry to be permanent! Finally I added a bit of Blue Micro Beads as a finishing touch... and the Book of Wisdom was ready!

Would you like to know how to get similar, antiqued effect on your projects? Or you feel you need to learn more about the most beautiful Antique Brilliance Waxes? Here is a video which may help! Enjoy!

Here is a short list of products I've used to decorate this book cover.

All of them linked to our Mixed Media Place Store!

Wishing you all a great, creative week!