An Art Adventure Handmade Book with Acrylic Wax by Lynne Moncrieff

Hello

Another handmade book. Having a tub of Liquid Acrylic Wax is a way to transform your papers. I especially like using it along with stained papers, whether with That's Crafty! Flat Matte Sprays, their Lustre Sprays, eco staining/dying. It is definitely an essential for me to have.

Here I worked with the Liquid Acrylic Wax on papers for the cover. I need to add that I did use a piece of stabilizer, to provide that extra layer of stability for the cover.

If you like books with a tactile quality, then the Liquid Acrylic Wax certainly brings that to all manner of papers.

I don't have photos of all the steps because I have a habit of creating batches of papers, storing in my stash but I will talk through the process.

Supplies
That's Crafty! Lynne's Mark Making Stamp Set 1
That's Crafty! Lynne's Mark Marking Stamp Set 2
That's Crafty! Clear Stamp Set ATCoin 11
That's Crafty! Walnut Ink Crystals and Tea bag Paper Pack
That's Crafty! Lustre Spray Aubergine, Lustre Gold
That's Crafty! Liquid Acrylic Wax
Memento Ink Tuxedo Black
Needle
Waxed Linen Thread
Papers for Page Inserts
Awl
Stabilizer and Iron

Instructions

You really do not require any specialised  bookmaking tools, although since working with waxed linen thread, I definitely prefer it for stitching the signatures, that said, I would reach for any thread/twine I had hand so long as it allowed me to complete a book.

So, I dipped into my stash of prepared papers and firstly, pulled out a piece of Walnut Ink Crystals and Lustre Aubergine, stained tea bag paper, already prepared with the Liquid Acrylic Wax, which I had ironed to a piece of stabilizer..ironing before applyiing the Liquid Acrylic Wax.

Next, I took another piece of Walnut Ink stained paper, which would form the inside cover. I applied the Liquid Acrylic Wax, allowing to dry before commencing.

Paperclips or mini cramps are a great aid.  I had three layers at this stage, the photo below is the upper layer (front cover), stabilizer is the middle of the sandwich with the other piece of stained paper the inside cover.

I often machine stitch but decided I wanted hand-stitching for this cover, so with an awl, I created holes around all four edges.

I am slightly fond of layers (!) and books are no different. Taking a smaller piece of tea bag paper, again from my stash, it had been stained with Walnut Ink Crystals, Lustre Aubergine and Lustre Gold.  I then applied Liquid Acrylic Wax to this panel.

I cannot give the guarantee that the Liquid Acrylic Wax will work as an adhesive for all paper types but so far, I've used it as an adhesive for Tea Bag Paper, Rice Paper, Handmade Paper, Skeleton Leaves.

                                        
   
This was left to dry before I hand-stitched, with brown cotton thread, around the edges.
I had a stack of papers already prepared for this size of book. Maybe I work in a strange way, in that, when possible, I always create too much of what I need, knowing there will be a time, it can be many months away, when I can utilise those pieces.

The papers were separated into bundles of four, as I wanted four signatures for this book. With the awl, I formed holes in each bundle.  For the cover, there were four rows of four holes.
With waxed linen thread, the signatures were stitched into the cover.

At this stage, the book is finished but of course, it is not complete! Time for stamping.
Onto pieces of tea bag paper, again stained with Walnut Ink Crystals, two of the trio of frames from Mark Making Set 1, Art and large frame from Set 2, stamped onto the paper.

Onto another piece from the same paper, I stamped words from the ATCoin set. This is a brilliant set of stamps to have!

I selected An, Adventure, cutting into word tiles, to place inside the stamped frames.

Returning to the front cover, I applied Liquid Acrylic Wax

At this stage, I decided the initially stamped Art, wasn't defined enough so I stamped the word again, onto another piece of paper which had been lightly stained with Walnut Ink Crystals and a light touch of Liquid Acrylic Wax.  Simple stitches added, purely for decorative purposes.

The completed book has a cover size of approx 5" x 3.5".  It's quite a chunky book, holding it closed, I would say approx 1.5"

When preparing papers with the Liquid Acrylic Wax I would suggest preparing a variety of papers. I also like the variation of sometimes applying the Liquid Acrylic Wax to both sides of paper, to heighten the translucency.

For stamped pieces, I have both stamped prior to applying the Liquid Acrylic Wax and stamped after the application.

Thank you always for taking the time out of your day to stop by.

Wishes
Lynne