My World of Oddity Vignette's

This book has seven pieces. The book itself is two layers of two inch styro glued together using Tacky Glue that you can get at just about any craft store. The binding is created using my own templates. For more info on making perfect strait cuts see my tutorial at http://buildingnewworlds.net under the title of "Another Bridge Tutorial".

 When painting styrofoam i use a technique called dry brushing. This is used by ceramic painters. In ceramic painting rule of thumb is painting from dark to light. You start with a dark base coat usually a black or dark brown.

I use a water base acrylic craft paint that you can get at your local craft store. I like using Folk Art brand. Normally i would start with black, but i am going to give my book an aged look so i will be flip flopping my colors. Light to dark and back to light.

My first base coat will be a tan color using a two to one mixture of Teddy Bear Brown and Burnt Sienna. Cover the entire book with two coats. Once it dries go over the book and fill in any white spots the best you can.

Next comes the dry brushing. Because this is a big book i will start at the center of the book cover heavy with Pure Black and paint outwards to the edges. Once you get close to the edge of the cover dry the brush off a little and feather out lightly over the base coat. Here in these pictures you will see the effects of my aging technique.

At this point you could finish the pages and leave the black as your final color, but i am going to add two more colors to give it a dark tanned leather look.

Next color will be a Burnt Umber. Take a paper towel and fold it three times. Squirt a little paint on the towel. Load your brush with the paint and then wipe a little off onto the towel. Lightly brush over the surface of the book. This will place the color on the high spots of the book and it will allow the color underneath to show through.

At this point again you could leave it like it is, but i am going to add my last layer of color. Also you want to dry brush your Burnt Umber over the pages of the book. Later i will give it an aged white look.

For the pages dry brush a layer of Antique White and then Teddy Bear Brown. In a cup water down some Burnt Sienna. Brush it on the pages. With a damp piece of paper towel, wipe off the excess in random spots. Try to remove some of the wash from the carvings exposing the black base coat. After everything has dried seal the entire book with a Satin Varnish a water base product by Americana.