Crystal Lacquer Embellished Book Covers

Hi everyone!
Dale here, with my final DT project.  THANK YOU to Sakura Hobby Craft, Terri Sproul and the whole DT for a LOVELY experience.

As I have stated before, I enjoy shopping at thrift stores.  When I see old unloved books, I usually bring the real sad ones home.  I can use the pages for collage, or art journaling or make into paper fabric.
The book covers sometimes are falling off and that is where this week's project originated.

A set of book covers (sorry forgot to take photos right at the start) that I gessoed, then added all kinds of chipboard or textural embellishments with gel medium. I let them dry completely then gessoed the whole cover again.

This is where the FUN of 3D Crystal Lacquer and all the Terri Sproul Mixers comes in.

I put a blob of 3D Crystal lacquer onto my palette in 6 areas, then added the Mixers and mixed well. I, then, painted the areas on the book covers that I wanted with the bright colours.

Any leftover mixed 3D Crystal Lacquer/Mixer I painted on all the other areas, then used a baby wipe to rub off so it was a faded look.  Then, I cover the whole front and back covers with a layer of 3D Crystal Lacquer.

The coating of 3D Crystal lacquer made the covers more durable I think.
I added a hairband with a brad to the back cover, then used duct tape to make a centre binding (2 layers) before gluing thick scrapbook paper to the inside covers.

 I had a few sewn pages left from another journal, so I added plain copy paper (2 signatures) inside the 3 already sewn up pages and took them to the sewing machine. I set the stitch length longer than normal so it wouldn't tear the pages and slowly sewed thru all the layers.  Because of the duct tape, you will have to toss the needle after as the glue builds up on the needle.
To the front cover, I tied one of the bezel fobs to the hairband.

Now is a great time to try a project like this or one you like it, because you can get 20% off your entire purchase at Sakura Hobby Craft for the month ofAugust.  Just enter aug08 at checkout!