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Multiple Niches in an Altered Book By
• Your book PLEASE READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE YOU START This multi-niche page is unique in that the niches are of of different widths and depths - some are only 20 pages thick while others are 2+ times deeper to accommodate their objects. The niches are not shown completed as I sold the book and one of the conditions was that the finished work was never to be shown in it's completed state online. Instructions: 1. Using my straight edge, I drew out my niches lightly with pencil – if I needed to erase, I was still able. 2. Once I had my layout the way I wanted it, I placed my cutting mat behind the first page only and I started cutting. I placed my straight edge on my page to where I can run my blade along that straight edge and make a very straight, exact cut. 3. As you can see, my openings are not symmetrical or sized the same. Please don’t overwhelm yourself with several deep niches for your first time out – the cutting alone can be daunting. When you plan your niches, be very mindful of how many pages you’re going to have to cut through – the first page is the easiest.
4. After you have your first page cut, take the cutting mat out of the book and using a colored pencil, trace the openings onto the next page. I used a green pencil in this step, so you will see me refer to my “green” lines later .
5. Now, open your front page and use a clip to hold it out of your way. Get your straight edge and a regular pencil – I like a mechanical pencil for this. I place my straight edge outside of the green lines and draw. It’s like 1/16th of an inch outside my green lines all around – this way, less of your cut edges will show a lot through your front openings. If you make your back cuts a lot larger than the front openings, it will be very obvious to the viewer, but this is a personal choice for you to make after you’ve made a niche or three.
6. Again, using the straight edge, start cutting through the first few pages. After the first few layers, you won’t really need the straight edge – you will be using the cuts themselves as your guides.
7. As your niches get deeper, you may want to open a few of the pages and clip them to your front page out of the way and keep working down. After you get as deep as you’d like to go, you will probably notice some jagged edges on the insides of your niches – sometimes I use my blade and repeatedly scrape back and forth in the entire opening to smooth those edges down and make the edges uniform. Sometimes your blade will get away from you during your cutting, Be patient with yourself – if your blade goes way outside the line – tape it back together so it won’t continue to be a problem during future cuts.
Note that I don’t work in my book with it open wide, but rather with the front cover at a 90 degree angle to the page I’m cutting. This is how I work to keep my niches straight. Cutting the niche with the book open flat will yield a situation where, when the pages are glued down, the book won’t want to close – some like to have their books stand open. This is a choice you’re going to make. NOTE If you make a few deep cuts on the insides of the lines, get your cutting mat, put it behind a few pages at a time til you get it back to the size it’s supposed to be. 8. After you get your niches as deep as you’d like, you need to decide what you’re going to do ‘behind’ them. J I painted the page behind the niches with warm white acrylic paint. Your decision about this background is important – try it out with the item(s) you’ve decided to put in your niche(s) you want enough contrast so that your chosen item(s) show up well and aren’t over powered by the background. Slip a sample of your background behind the niche(s), hold your pages open and take a “preview” look. Slip your item(s) into the niches and see if it’s what you were going for. 9. Once you’re decided on your background(s), it’s time to start gluing the pages together. Now, you need to know that you do not HAVE to glue here – you can use brads all around, eyelets, Chicago screws, wire, you can punch holes all around and ‘sew’ the book together with your favorite ribbon or fiber or leather lacing. The sky’s really the limit here – also, if you’re going to use some transparency “over” one or more of your niches, make sure they’re the right size and centered correctly, etc.
10. After your backgrounds are done, it is time to start gluing. I brushed a light coating gel medium on the back of the page I was gluing down (as opposed to putting it on the page I was gluing the page to). It makes more sense to me to do it that way – you don’t have to worry as much about getting the gel medium on your newly created background(s). With each and every page, I followed the same procedure – apply gel to the page to be laid down, close book and press. By closing the book each time, you are ensuring that the openings of the niche will line up correctly. A note on glues – do not choose a very ‘wet’ glue for this step – your pages will become very difficult to handle. If you do not have access to gel medium, use a very good glue stick like UHU or Ross Photo. 11. After you glue all your pages down, insert waxed paper in the pages right before where you've glued and right behind. Close the book and weigh it down. Let it dry. NOTE If you cut your niches with the book open, you will need to leave the book open and weigh the pages down with another book or other heavy object. DON’T FORGET YOUR WAX PAPER INSERTS TO KEEP PAGES FROM STICKING TOGETHER!
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