Re: [BKARTS] Thanks for the tips

[Carol Pratt <jcpratt@xxxxxxx>]

Dear Jessie,

Your question really gets to the heart of the problems that altered 
books generate.  If you can tolerate a huge number of emails daily, the 
altered book list can be joined by visiting the site  
<www.groups.yahoo.com/group/alteredbooks>.  Participants exchange a 
wide-ranging variety of information (with enthusiasm).  (The commentary 
will give a conservator heartburn at best and may cause hysteria in the 
susceptible).

The binding of an old book was never intended to suffer the sorts of 
things it must endure as an "altered book".  The stitching is getting 
old and may be broken already.  The glues are weakened.  Paper is 
usually breaking down.  Linings are already loosened.  When stuff is 
added to the page, it adds weight, thickness, and stiffness.  The book 
structure, which may already be already approaching "fragile", is 
stressed.  No small wonder that it begins to break down faster.  Even a 
fairly new book is going to have problems adjusting to these "insults" 
against what it was originally made to do.  However, newer books are 
more likely to be glue-bound, and they will just split.

Having said all this, I can admit that I also enjoy altering books, 
although I don't have time to actually do very much of it.  It is a 
whole lot of fun, very much a liberating thing to do, if one is 
inclined toward a multi-media form of art.  At the same time I need to 
say that I have worked on the repair and conservation of many different 
kinds of altered books.  They are fascinating pieces, but also 
frustrating, because the maker did not know, understand, or perhaps 
even care about the structure they were affecting.

If you add a lot of stuff (or maybe even a little) to the pages, the 
book is not ever going to close properly.  Probably won't behave 
"right", even if you remove pages to provide stubbing.  If you wet out 
the pages (i.e. with gesso, ink, paint, or glue), do what you can to 
restrict the paper while it dries.  I've used blotter or thin chipboard 
to provide a firmer backing and clips to secure the edges, making a 
kind of "stretcher", and it has worked pretty well.  I use a rollataq 
system to attach papers, because the adhesive film is so very thin that 
it does not cause warping or cockling.  Or I use gudy 831(Neschen makes 
this) or Scotch 3M 568 Positionable Mounting Adhesive, both of which 
are sticky films, i.e. dry adhesives.

In regard to the structural problems, I think the best course for your 
work is going to be preventative.  Choose a book that is not just 
"old", but is also sturdy.  Or else plan to refurbish it before or 
after. and that is going to mean learning to do the repairs properly.   
Badly done repair or restoration is not going to help—it will only 
hasten the breakdown.

Carol
Eugene, OR
=========


April 16, 2004, at 08:30 AM, Jessica Barrett Koenigsberg wrote:

> Thank you all so much for the stab-binding tips.  They were all so 
> helpful!  My sketch book came out pretty good, I'm pleased with it.
>
> I do have another question--I've been working with altering old 
> discarded hardcover books--and I've been having the worst time keeping 
> the pages from crinkling, warping, and the binding from just falling 
> to pieces.  I've been applying gesso to the pages and that gives me a 
> good base to work on, but the more I work on it, the book just goes to 
> pot. And it won't close neatly. Please help me.  I ruined an 
> unfinished piece that I had included in a show.  I think I can salvage 
> it by turning it into a sculptural piece, but its finished as an 
> altered book.
>
> Thanks so much,
> Jessie K.

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