Dreams and Delights - an altered book
by Karen Hatzigeorgiou from Karen's Whimsy

One of my favorite parts of creating altered books is the opportunity to blend poetry and art work in unique ways. I usually choose a book with a provocative title and/or chapter headings. In addition, I have to select a book whose pages aren't too thin or flimsy, and I also make sure that the book has a stitched binding that will hold up to whatever art materials and methods I might use.

The book Dreams and Delights was exactly the kind of book I was looking for. It had beautiful chapter titles, lots of ornate, flowery prose, a stitched binding, and sturdy paper for the pages.

When I'm ready to start, I skim through the chapter looking for descriptive words to leap out of the page and grab my attention. If I find a word or phrase that appeals to me, I look deeper on the page to see if there is a poem waiting to be found in the surrounding words.

For this book, I found the words ". . . swam away on another wave of dream . . ." I thought these words were so beautiful that I looked above them to find a pronoun that I could use to start the poem. Luckily, I found the pronoun "she" on the first line, and I knew I had the beginnings of an interesting poem.

Sometimes I find the beginnings of a poem, sometimes I start with the end and work my way towards it. It's always a fun and exciting challenge to try and find a poem on the page. But if "she swam away on another wave of dream" had had nothing else to attach to it, I might have been forced to abandon that page and go on to another one.

As I find the words for my poem, I write them down on paper with paragraph and line numbers, so that I can find them again later.

When I think I have found a poem on the page, my next step is to mask out the words so that I can add the art work around the poem without obstructing the text. That's where the liquid Masquepen comes in so handy. It's perfect for covering over the text and protecting it from the different water media I use to decorate the page.

The Masquepen comes in a little bottle with a long tip that allows for near-perfect placement of the fluid. The liquid itself is blue, so you can easily see it on the page, and it has the consistency of a thinned down version of rubber cement.

Before using the Masquepen, however, I paint a thin layer of fluid matte acrylic medium over my book pages to seal them. That way I don' have to worry about the Masquepen lifting off the paper and text when it's removed later. After the matte medium is completely dry, I carefully apply the Masquepen liquid over the words of my poem. I use a toothpick to pick up fluid that goes astray and to move it into tight places. The liquid creates a water resistant film over the text. [You can read more about this technique in my article Tips for Using Masquepen.]

It's important to make sure that the Masquepen liquid is thoroughly dry before starting to paint or draw on the page. For Dreams and Delights I used acrylics and inks, as well as watercolor crayons and pencils to complete the artwork. The drawings of the two women were done on a separate piece of paper and then glued into the book.

After the art work is done, I use my fingers and a pair of tweezers to carefully roll and pull the Masquepen liquid from the page. I gently push and peel at the rubber coating until the words below are revealed.

If you're interested in seeing more examples of the Masquepen being used with found poetry in altered books, take a look at Altered Book Pages :: A Cup of Sky. In addition, you can read more ideas about creating found poetry in altered books at Found Poetry in Altered Books: Finding Your Voice. You can see more of my altered books at Altered Books :: Altered Books Art.