Sketch Book BoS with Puffy-Paint

I'm not really a big fan of puffy-paint (aka, dimensional fabric paint), but I wanted to spice up these sketch books a little bit, and I didn't want to invest a lot of time or effort into them. They started out as Alvin brand large format sketch books, that I bought in bulk at Marc's. These things normally sell for $10-$20 each new at the art supply store (depending on where you shop). I found them on sale for less than half that, so I bought all that they had (at three locations). These sketch books make great Books of Shadows. For those of you who don't know what that is, a BoS is a grimoire. It is a spellbook/diary for a person who practices magick (I'm talking about witchcraft, not stage magic). They can be plain, or ornate, and are usually personalized to some extent.

I started off by making a stencil of a triquetra, and a pentagram, using my photocopy and vinyl contact paper method that I also use on glass etching and marble etching. Then I spray painted the designs in gold and silver. I left them like that for several weeks, content to let that be the extent of the mod. I figured, a blank book with a pentagram on it is worth a couple of bucks more than a blank book with nothing on it. I put four of them on the shelf that way, and sold one. When the others did not sell after a month or two, I decided they needed something more.

I used a black Sharpie to sketch out a vine pattern on the cover, intertwined with the emblem. Then I traced this design with iridescent green puffy-paint. Then I outlined the emblem with iridescent silver puffy-paint. I didn't like the way the silver emblem showed through the leaves, so I decided to paint in the leaves. Lastly, I decided to add some leather snap closures to the cover. I had never used snaps before, so I had to do a little experimenting with them to see how they worked. I added the snap base to the front cover, one near the top, and one near the bottom of the closing edge. Then I put the other half on a piece of green leather, that I glued into a strip, doubled over. The other end of the strip I glued (using Barge brand cement), and then riveted, to the back cover.

One the one with the gold pentagram, I decided to skip the ivy and add some corner pieces like I use on the prop books I made. I did use puffy-paint to outline the pentagram, and I made the same type of leather closures, but I used brown leather and brass snaps.

I've already begun modifying some of these large format books with some of my more involved recovering techniques. I have two of them in production right now. I should have them finished and ready to post in a week or so.