Easy Cutout Technique for Altered Book
Pages
by Diane Windell (windelld@hotmail.com)
Description: You can add interest to
your altered book pages by cutting out a silhouette against a background page.
This can be done with collage elements as well as your own drawings. On this
page, I’ll describe the basic technique for doing this, as well as variations
that you may want to try. I hope you
have fun with it!
The Basic
Technique (using collage):
Figure A
Materials List:
Paper cutter
Scissors or exacto
Glue
Paint, pencils, stamp pads
(whatever your favorite means to get color on the page, mine is radiance reinkers (applied with baby wipes) and metallic markers on top)
Picture for collage or you can drawing directly on the page.
Wax paper
Directions:
1. Pick
2 sequential pages in your altered book
2. Select an image with an interesting outline (profiles of faces work well, mountain landscapes, geometric shapes). It’s nice if the picture fills the height of the page, but it doesn’t have to.
3.
Depending on the image you select, you’ll determine
which side of the page to glue the image. Here the image I picked faces left,
so I glued it facing outward on the left-hand page (Fig B). Glue the image
down.
Figure B
4.
Cut away along the outline exposing the back sheet (Fig
C – starting the cut, Fig D – fully cut).
Figure C
Figure D
5.
To make the image more prominent, I’ve painted the page
behind it (Fig. E).
Figure E
6.
Finally, I’ve gone ahead and edged the back page with
metallic markers (Fig F). And that’s it, you now have a cutout page
Figure F
Variations & Samples:
1.
Draw your own picture, and color it in. Cut away the
rest of the page. Here I’ve drawn a picture of a hawk, and tipped it into the
last page of a handmade book. (Fig. G)
Figure G
2.
Cut two layers of pictures each one partially exposing
the back page. I’ve drawn two ravens, in different poses, on sequential pages.
When they’re cut out, they create a layered scene. (Fig. H – cut away top
image, Fig. I – cut away second image,
Fig J – final result with both images on top of a contrasting sheet)
Figure H Figure
I Figure
J
3. Use an exacto to cut half part of the picture away and fold the
other half under.
A Valentine pocket page sample (Fig. N).
First I painted the front of the page red and the back of the page pink. Then using
a heart template (Fig. K), I cut away only the right half of the heart (Fig. L).
Then I folded the remaining half over (Fig. M) leaving the cut away part
sticking out. Finally, I stitched the folded part to the back page, making a
pocket, the perfect place to keep your Valentines!
Figure K Figure
L Figure
M
Figure N
4. Layering corners or folding corners (cut away left half pg 1, top half pg2, bottom half pg3) or diagonals. Remember those old slam books that we had? We’d fold one page diagonally, the next in the other diagonal, and the third into a point?
5.
First, I sketched the sun face on the page (Fig. O). Then, I painted it and cut
out the circular outline on that page and the page under it (Fig P). Finally, I
glued some rays cut out of construction paper between the front page and the
page beneath it, and then glued the two pages together. Also, I painted the back
sheet to make it more prominent (Fig.Q).
Figure O Figure
P Figure
Q
Notes:
1. Helps to have a good silhouette. What does that mean? The shape should be identifiable by its silhouette
2.
If
you want the shape to stand out use a background page that is a different color
from your image.
3. If you want to make the shape blend subtly, make the background sheet the same base color as your picture.