Experimenting with Cages

Altered Miniature Book-

Recently I have been experimenting with altering these tiny books even further, like this :)

This little book was made using almost the same technique as this tutorial:
http://craftybitz.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/tutorial-how-to-make-altered-matchbox.html
Except with a few obvious changes! ;)


I used quite thick mulberry papers -teared a hole in each individual page,  and then dyed with some Tim Holtz walnut stain distress inks, before assembling. It was a lengthy process, but worth it in the end.

The cover itself was quite a challenge, being so small there wasn't much room to glue everything down, especially around the front hole. I would recommend making a slightly larger book, if you wanted to try this.

The grill/cage on the front was made separately using some plastic mesh tape. Painted black with gold highlights. The key within the book was a plastic charm which was painted in the same way.

Altered matchbox Book cover -Metal Cage

This little matchbox turned out looking very masculine, and has a very different feel to my other altered matchboxes. In some ways it looks cold, almost haunting, but I think that adds to character of the cover. Again, this matchbox was altered using almost the same technique as shown here:
http://craftybitz.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/tutorial-how-to-make-altered-matchbox.html 

The only change is the grill/cage on the front. This was made by opening up the matchbox, cutting out the frame, and gluing some small mesh type tape from the inside. For the rest of the matchbox I used the foil technique with black and silver metallic paint.

I shall definitely be experimenting further with these, they are a joy to make! :)

Iz x